Idaho timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Idaho — published stumpage values by species, and a free calculator that turns them into a figure for your own land.
Quick answer
These are stumpage prices for Idaho — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for cedar is $741–$893 per thousand board feet, reported by Idaho State Tax Commission harvest values for 2026. Delivered or mill log prices are a different and much higher number, because they include the cost of cutting and hauling the wood. TimberClear lists 95 Idaho foresters, buyers, loggers and mills who work this timber. What a particular stand brings is settled by a timber cruise, not by a price list.
If you own woodland in Idaho and you are wondering what it is worth, the number you want is the stumpage price — what a buyer pays you for timber while it is still standing. The most recent published figure for cedar in Idaho is $741–$893 per thousand board feet, reported by Idaho State Tax Commission harvest values for 2026. The full table is below.
Two prices get quoted in this business and they are not the same. Stumpage is what reaches you. Delivered, sometimes called the mill or log price, is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard — and the difference between them is the cost of doing all that work. Delivered prices are easier to find online, they are a good deal higher, and a landowner who mistakes one for the other walks into a sale expecting money that was never on the table. Everything on this page is stumpage.
Idaho stumpage prices by species
Idaho State Tax Commission harvest values, 2026
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Douglas-fir / larch | $213–$249 |
| Ponderosa pine | $136–$163 |
| Cedar | $741–$893 |
| Lodgepole pine | $166–$234 |
| White pine | $157–$189 |
Source: Idaho State Tax Commission harvest values, 2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Idaho?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,250 to $2,490 for pine and other softwood. Smaller trees, a thinner stand or a partial cut bring less. It's a ballpark, not an appraisal.
What is your timber worth?
The table above is the price. The calculator turns it into a figure for your land — it asks your acreage, your species, how big the trees are and how thick they stand, then works the estimate from the prices above. About a minute, and no email needed to see it.
What are my trees worth in Idaho?
A price list cannot answer that on its own, and any site that tells you otherwise is guessing. Three things decide what an acre brings, and only you can see them: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and what species they are.
Our free timber value calculator asks those three questions and works an estimate from Idaho's own published prices, the ones in the table on this page. It gives you a range rather than a single figure, because a range is the honest shape of the answer. It takes about a minute and it does not ask for your email to show you the number.
How much forest Idaho has, and who owns it
Idaho has 21.9 million acres of forest land. 1.8 million acres nonindustrial private across 17,231 owners; over 16 million acres are federal.
The wood itself: Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, grand fir, with western larch and western redcedar in the north. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
A non-resident logging operator cannot start work in Idaho without posting a performance bond of $200 per acre — minimum $5,000, maximum $15,000 — a protection Idaho landowners have that most states do not.
Sources: apps.fs.usda.gov · idl.idaho.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Idaho?
Before any commercial timber harvest on private land in Idaho, the operator, landowner or timber owner must file a Notification of Forest Practice with the Department of Lands — and work cannot start until the Department formally accepts it.
The notification is combined with a fire hazard management agreement and is valid up to two years. It does not apply to personal-use cutting, Christmas-tree plantations, grazing or routine road maintenance, and emergency practices after fire, flood or windthrow may be reported up to 48 hours after starting.
Source: idl.idaho.gov
Property tax on Idaho timberland
Forestland of five acres or more is taxed on its forest productivity rather than market value. Owners of 5 to 5,000 acres can instead choose the Bare Land and Yield Option, paying very low annual tax plus a 3% yield tax on the timber only when it is actually harvested.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 5 contiguous acres. Programmes like this usually carry a claw-back — take the land out of forest use early and the state wants the deferred tax back — so read the terms before you sign rather than after you have cut.
Source: legislature.idaho.gov
What the Idaho Department of Lands will do for you, free
Private Forestry Specialists give free technical help with management plans, tree planting, forest health problems and cost-share applications, and run post-wildfire damage assessments. An interactive map connects you to the specialist covering your area.
Worth taking. A state service forester does not bid on your timber and does not take a commission, so the advice comes without a stake in the outcome. They will not run your sale for you — that is a consulting forester's job — but they will tell you what you have before anybody makes you an offer.
Source: idl.idaho.gov
Getting the best price for your timber
The single biggest lever is competition. One buyer who turns up and makes an offer has no reason to bid against himself. A sealed-bid sale, run by a consulting forester who invites several buyers to price the same marked timber, routinely moves the final number by a wide margin — and it costs you a share of the sale rather than money up front.
Before any of that, have the timber cruised. A cruise is a forester walking your land and measuring what is actually standing, so you are selling a known quantity instead of taking somebody's word for it.
Ask how the wood will be measured and how you will be able to check it. Whatever the unit, a sale you cannot verify afterwards is a sale you are taking on trust.
And put the terms in writing before anybody starts: what gets cut, what stays, what the land looks like when they leave, and when you get paid.
TimberClear lists 95 Idaho foresters, buyers, loggers and mills. Every listing is free and complete, including the phone number the business already publishes. We have not vetted, verified or endorsed any of them — the listing tells you who they are and what counties they cover, and the choosing is yours.
95 Idaho timber businesses
Foresters, buyers, loggers and mills, with the counties each one covers. Free and complete.
Compare states side by side
Pick any states and see their prices next to each other.
Timber price questions in Idaho
What are timber prices in Idaho right now?
Idaho State Tax Commission harvest values reports cedar at $741–$893 per thousand board feet for 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Idaho are listed on this page, and they move every quarter.
What is stumpage value?
Stumpage is the price paid for timber while it is still standing — the money that reaches the landowner. It is not the same as a delivered or mill log price, which is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard. The gap between the two is the cost of doing that work, and it is large. A delivered price quoted as though it were stumpage will make timber look worth far more than it is.
How much is an acre of timber worth in Idaho?
It depends on three things the price list cannot tell you: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and whether they are sawtimber or pulpwood size. Sawtimber is worth several times what pulpwood is worth per ton. TimberClear's free timber value calculator asks those questions and works the estimate from Idaho's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Idaho?
Before any commercial timber harvest on private land in Idaho, the operator, landowner or timber owner must file a Notification of Forest Practice with the Department of Lands — and work cannot start until the Department formally accepts it. The notification is combined with a fire hazard management agreement and is valid up to two years. It does not apply to personal-use cutting, Christmas-tree plantations, grazing or routine road maintenance, and emergency practices after fire, flood or windthrow may be reported up to 48 hours after starting.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Idaho?
Idaho runs Forest Land Taxation — Productivity Option or Bare Land and Yield Option. Forestland of five acres or more is taxed on its forest productivity rather than market value. Owners of 5 to 5,000 acres can instead choose the Bare Land and Yield Option, paying very low annual tax plus a 3% yield tax on the timber only when it is actually harvested. It takes 5 contiguous acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in Idaho for free?
The Idaho Department of Lands. Private Forestry Specialists give free technical help with management plans, tree planting, forest health problems and cost-share applications, and run post-wildfire damage assessments. An interactive map connects you to the specialist covering your area.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Idaho?
Get more than one offer. A sealed-bid sale run by a consulting forester puts buyers in competition with each other, and that is the single biggest lever a landowner has. Have the timber cruised first so you know what you are selling, and put the terms in writing before anybody starts cutting. TimberClear lists 95 Idaho businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.