Minnesota timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Minnesota — 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 Minnesota — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for red pine sawtimber is $149 per thousand board feet, reported by Minnesota DNR Public Agencies Stumpage Price Review for 2021. 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 321 Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 red pine sawtimber in Minnesota is $149 per thousand board feet, reported by Minnesota DNR Public Agencies Stumpage Price Review for 2021. 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.
Minnesota stumpage prices by species
Minnesota DNR Public Agencies Stumpage Price Review, 2021
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Sawtimber, all species | $141 |
| Red pine sawtimber | $149 |
| Timber | per cord |
|---|---|
| Aspen | $30.73 |
| Red pine, cord productspulp | $36.67 |
| Oak | $27.88 |
| Balsam fir | $8.13 |
Source: Minnesota DNR Public Agencies Stumpage Price Review, 2021. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Minnesota?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,060 to $2,130 for pine and other softwood and $1,060 to $2,130 for hardwood. 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 Minnesota?
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.
Size matters more than anything else on that list. In Minnesota the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $149 while pulpwood tops out at $36.67 — the same tree, grown on, is worth several times more. That is the whole argument for knowing what you have before anybody makes you an offer.
Our free timber value calculator asks those three questions and works an estimate from Minnesota'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 Minnesota timber is measured
Minnesota uses more than one unit, which trips people up. Sawtimber is priced by the thousand board feet, written MBF, and other products are priced by the cord. Never compare a figure in one unit against a figure in another — they are not the same measurement of wood.
Worth knowing about the Minnesota market
Minnesota's figures come from what bidders actually paid at public timber auctions, which covers roughly 80% of the state's public timber sales.
How much forest Minnesota has, and who owns it
Minnesota has 15.8 million acres of timberland. 6.7 million acres nonindustrial private, across 102,780 owners.
The wood itself: Aspen/birch (6.4 million acres) and spruce/fir (4.3 million acres) dominate. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Minnesota is one of the few states that pays landowners cash to keep woods as woods — the Sustainable Forest Incentive Act sends an annual per-acre cheque rather than just lowering the tax bill.
Sources: fs.usda.gov · revenue.state.mn.us
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Minnesota?
Minnesota has no statewide permit or notification requirement to harvest on your own land, and the state's timber harvesting guidelines are voluntary by statute.
Counties and cities do regulate near water — under the state shoreland model ordinance, clearcutting to change the land use is a conditional use requiring a permit, and intensive clearing in the shore impact zone is prohibited.
Source: revisor.mn.gov
Property tax on Minnesota timberland
Class 2c drops your classification rate. The Sustainable Forest Incentive Act instead pays you cash each year — a per-acre payment depending on whether you sign an 8, 20 or 50-year covenant.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 20 acres for both, and a written forest management plan is required. 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: revenue.state.mn.us
What the Minnesota DNR, Division of Forestry will do for you, free
A stewardship forester will walk your goals with you and help you get a woodland stewardship plan, then approve cost-share reimbursement of 50 to 75% for tree planting, invasive removal and timber stand improvement.
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: dnr.state.mn.us
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 321 Minnesota 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.
321 Minnesota 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 Minnesota
What are timber prices in Minnesota right now?
Minnesota DNR Public Agencies Stumpage Price Review reports red pine sawtimber at $149 per thousand board feet for 2021. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Minnesota 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 Minnesota?
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 Minnesota'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 Minnesota?
Minnesota has no statewide permit or notification requirement to harvest on your own land, and the state's timber harvesting guidelines are voluntary by statute. Counties and cities do regulate near water — under the state shoreland model ordinance, clearcutting to change the land use is a conditional use requiring a permit, and intensive clearing in the shore impact zone is prohibited.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Minnesota?
Minnesota runs Class 2c Managed Forest Land, and the Sustainable Forest Incentive Act. Class 2c drops your classification rate. The Sustainable Forest Incentive Act instead pays you cash each year — a per-acre payment depending on whether you sign an 8, 20 or 50-year covenant. It takes 20 acres for both. A written forest management plan is required.
Who can help me manage my timber in Minnesota for free?
The Minnesota DNR, Division of Forestry. A stewardship forester will walk your goals with you and help you get a woodland stewardship plan, then approve cost-share reimbursement of 50 to 75% for tree planting, invasive removal and timber stand improvement.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Minnesota?
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 321 Minnesota businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.