South Dakota timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in South Dakota — 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 South Dakota — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for ponderosa pine sawtimber is $21.61–$23.49 per hundred cubic feet, reported by USDA Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest for 2025–2026. 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 18 South Dakota 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 South Dakota 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 ponderosa pine sawtimber in South Dakota is $21.61–$23.49 per hundred cubic feet, reported by USDA Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest for 2025–2026. 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.
One thing to know before you read the table. South Dakota publishes no stumpage price report, so these are the rates bidders pay for standing ponderosa pine on Black Hills National Forest sales — the same market a Black Hills landowner sells into.
South Dakota stumpage prices by species
USDA Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest, 2025–2026
| Timber | per hundred cubic feet |
|---|---|
| Ponderosa pine sawtimber | $21.61–$23.49 |
| Non-saw roundwoodpulp | $0.35–$0.91 |
| Miscellaneous convertible productspulp | $1 |
Source: USDA Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest, 2025–2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in South Dakota?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $750 to $1,490 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 South Dakota?
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 South Dakota the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $23.49 while pulpwood tops out at $1 — 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 South Dakota'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 South Dakota has, and who owns it
South Dakota has 1.9 million acres of forest land. 730,938 acres nonindustrial private, across 6,255 owners.
The wood itself: Ponderosa pine in the Black Hills; ash, spruce and pine statewide. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
South Dakota's timber economy is essentially one ecosystem — the state's own audit calls the Black Hills a unique ponderosa pine ecosystem and one of the most time-honoured success stories of forest management in the United States, so statewide price talk is really Black Hills ponderosa talk.
Sources: apps.fs.usda.gov · danr.sd.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in South Dakota?
South Dakota has no state permit and no notification requirement for cutting timber on your own land. The state's forestry best management practices are voluntary, not law.
The Black Hills is where nearly all commercial harvesting happens, and operators there submit to periodic voluntary BMP field audits rather than a permit system.
Source: danr.sd.gov
Agricultural land classification: what South Dakota charges to hold woodland
Land whose principal use is growing and harvesting timber can be assessed as agricultural land rather than at market value. There is no forest-specific program.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 20 acres, or part of a management unit of at least 80 acres — or a $2,500 annual income test. 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: law.justia.com
Free help from South Dakota's state forestry agency
The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Resource Conservation & Forestry. Technical assistance to private forest landowners through the Forest Stewardship Program, to help owners more actively manage their forest, plus Tree Farm and best management practice resources.
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: danr.sd.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 18 South Dakota 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.
18 South Dakota 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 South Dakota
What are timber prices in South Dakota right now?
USDA Forest Service, Black Hills National Forest reports ponderosa pine sawtimber at $21.61–$23.49 per hundred cubic feet for 2025–2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in South Dakota 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 South Dakota?
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 South Dakota's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Does South Dakota publish its own timber prices?
South Dakota publishes no stumpage price report, so these are the rates bidders pay for standing ponderosa pine on Black Hills National Forest sales — the same market a Black Hills landowner sells into.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in South Dakota?
South Dakota has no state permit and no notification requirement for cutting timber on your own land. The state's forestry best management practices are voluntary, not law. The Black Hills is where nearly all commercial harvesting happens, and operators there submit to periodic voluntary BMP field audits rather than a permit system.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in South Dakota?
South Dakota runs Agricultural land classification. Land whose principal use is growing and harvesting timber can be assessed as agricultural land rather than at market value. There is no forest-specific program. It takes 20 acres, or part of a management unit of at least 80 acres — or a $2,500 annual income test.
Who can help me manage my timber in South Dakota for free?
The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Resource Conservation & Forestry. Technical assistance to private forest landowners through the Forest Stewardship Program, to help owners more actively manage their forest, plus Tree Farm and best management practice resources.
How do I get the best price for my timber in South Dakota?
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 18 South Dakota businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.