Vermont timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Vermont — 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 Vermont — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for white ash is $260–$358 per thousand board feet, reported by Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation for 2023. 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 80 Vermont 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 Vermont 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 white ash in Vermont is $260–$358 per thousand board feet, reported by Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation for 2023. 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.
Vermont stumpage prices by species
Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, 2023
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Red oak | $165–$200 |
| White pine | $125–$141 |
| Sugar maple | $111 |
| White ash | $260–$358 |
Source: Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, 2023. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Vermont?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,260 to $2,510 for pine and other softwood and $1,520 to $3,040 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 Vermont?
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 Vermont'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 Vermont has, and who owns it
Vermont has about 4.6 million acres — 78% of the state. Families and individuals care for more than 80% of Vermont's forests; public lands make up just 19%.
The wood itself: Northern hardwoods — sugar maple, beech and birch. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Vermont's heavy-cut notice is the only harvest trigger in the country that counts past cuts across a geographic radius — prior heavy cuts within five years totalling 40 acres within 1,000 feet or 80 acres within two miles pull a new cut into the filing requirement even if the new cut alone is small.
Sources: fpr.vermont.gov · legislature.vermont.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Vermont?
An ordinary Vermont timber harvest needs no state permit. But a heavy cut of 40 acres or more requires a notice of intent filed with a state field forester at least 15 days before cutting starts.
The 40-acre trigger is cumulative — prior heavy cuts within the past five years totalling 40 acres within 1,000 feet, or 80 acres within two miles, also trigger it. Harvests consistent with an approved management plan are exempt.
Source: legislature.vermont.gov
Property tax on Vermont timberland
Enrolled forestland is taxed on its value for growing wood rather than its development value, and plans must be kept current for as long as the parcel stays enrolled.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 25 acres, excluding any house site, 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: fpr.vermont.gov
Free help from Vermont's state forestry agency
The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Every county has an assigned county forester — described by the state as your first and most valuable resource for learning how to manage your land — who advises landowners and reviews Use Value Appraisal plans and maps.
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: fpr.vermont.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 80 Vermont 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.
80 Vermont 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 Vermont
What are timber prices in Vermont right now?
Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation reports white ash at $260–$358 per thousand board feet for 2023. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Vermont 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 Vermont?
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 Vermont'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 Vermont?
An ordinary Vermont timber harvest needs no state permit. But a heavy cut of 40 acres or more requires a notice of intent filed with a state field forester at least 15 days before cutting starts. The 40-acre trigger is cumulative — prior heavy cuts within the past five years totalling 40 acres within 1,000 feet, or 80 acres within two miles, also trigger it. Harvests consistent with an approved management plan are exempt.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Vermont?
Vermont runs Use Value Appraisal, also called Current Use. Enrolled forestland is taxed on its value for growing wood rather than its development value, and plans must be kept current for as long as the parcel stays enrolled. It takes 25 acres, excluding any house site. A written forest management plan is required.
Who can help me manage my timber in Vermont for free?
The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Every county has an assigned county forester — described by the state as your first and most valuable resource for learning how to manage your land — who advises landowners and reviews Use Value Appraisal plans and maps.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Vermont?
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 80 Vermont businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.