If you search for “timber value per acre,” you’ll find a range of figures — some from university extension programs, some from timber industry publications, some from real estate sites. Most of those figures apply to someone else’s property in someone else’s county in a market condition that may no longer exist. They are not a useful starting point for understanding what your woodland is worth.
Per-acre timber value is not a fixed number. It’s the result of four variables that combine differently on every property. Two woodlots in the same township — separated by a gravel road — can differ by 300% in per-acre timber value based on species composition, log grade, volume, and access alone.
Here’s what actually drives per-acre timber value in Sullivan, Ulster, and Orange Counties, what realistic ranges look like, and why a forester walk is the only reliable way to get a number that applies to your specific acres.
Why “Timber Value Per Acre” Is Misleading Without Context
The per-acre figure is a useful shorthand — but only when it comes from a property-specific cruise, not a regional average. Regional averages blend high-value properties with low-value ones, cherry and oak stands with red maple stands, well-accessed flat ground with steep inaccessible terrain. The result is a number that describes no individual property accurately.
Landowners who anchor on regional averages make two common errors. Some discover their property is worth significantly more than the average suggested — and they sell too cheaply because they didn’t expect higher value. Others discover their property falls well below the average — and feel misled when an appraiser delivers a much lower number than what they read online.
The right use of per-acre figures is as a rough orientation — a sense of the range — followed immediately by a property-specific assessment that replaces the average with an actual number. NYSDEC publishes regional stumpage price reports at dec.ny.gov that provide a more useful regional benchmark than most online sources. But even those are averages. Only a timber cruise turns them into a property-specific value.
The Four Variables That Determine Your Per-Acre Timber Value
Every per-acre timber value calculation comes down to the same four inputs. Understanding each one lets you make a preliminary self-assessment before a forester ever sets foot on your property.
Species Composition
Species is the dominant driver of per-acre value. A stand dominated by black cherry and red oak carries dramatically higher per-acre value than a stand of the same density dominated by red maple and beech. In the Hudson Valley and Catskills market, the species hierarchy is consistent: black cherry and high-grade oaks at the top, sugar maple and yellow birch in the middle, soft maple and gray birch toward the lower end.
A rough species walk before calling a forester gives you the first orientation. If cherry and oak dominate your canopy, your per-acre value ceiling is high. If red maple dominates, the ceiling is lower — though still real. For a detailed breakdown of what each species means for timber value in this region, see my guide on how much timber is worth.
Log Grade and Stem Quality
Log grade multiplies or discounts the species value. Two black cherry trees of the same diameter can carry a 200% difference in per-acre value contribution based on stem quality alone. A straight, clear-boled cherry with 20 feet of defect-free butt log produces a #1 sawlog worth premium stumpage. A forked, knotty cherry of the same diameter produces low-grade material worth a fraction of that.
Per-acre value rises and falls with the proportion of high-grade logs in the stand’s merchantable volume. A stand with 60% #1 and #2 sawlogs produces dramatically higher per-acre value than a stand of the same species and volume with 60% #3 and below. For the field indicators of stem quality and how to read them on your own property walk, see my article on how to know if your timber is valuable.
Volume Per Acre
Per-acre value is also a function of how much timber the acre carries. A heavily stocked acre with 10,000 board feet of merchantable volume produces more stumpage income per acre than a lightly stocked acre with 3,000 board feet — even if both have the same species composition and grade distribution.
Volume per acre varies with stand age, stocking history, site quality, and past management. Old-growth-influenced stands with large-diameter trees accumulate high per-acre volume. Younger stands or recently harvested stands carry less volume. A timber cruise measures per-acre volume directly — no estimate or average substitutes for it.
Access and Terrain
Access is the variable landowners most consistently overlook. A logging operation costs money to mobilize and run. Those costs — equipment, labor, fuel, skidding, loading, hauling — come out of the gap between what the mill pays for delivered logs and what the logger can afford to pay in stumpage.
Difficult access — no existing roads, steep slopes, wet soils, stream crossings — raises logging costs, which reduces stumpage prices, which reduces per-acre value. In some cases, genuinely inaccessible timber has near-zero per-acre value despite high species quality and volume, because the cost of logging would consume most or all of the stumpage. Conversely, excellent road access on flat, well-drained ground with large-diameter timber produces the highest per-acre stumpage returns in any region.
Realistic Per-Acre Ranges for Sullivan, Ulster, and Orange Counties
With those four variables in mind, here is an honest per-acre range framework based on my experience cruising timber across these three counties for over 30 years.
Low end — $200 to $600 per acre: Red maple-dominated stands on difficult terrain with moderate volume, heavy invasive pressure, and limited road access. Some commercial value, but logging costs consume a significant share. Common on wet, marginal sites or stands with poor species composition after prior diameter-limit cuts.
Mid-range — $600 to $1,500 per acre: Mixed hardwood stands with reasonable species diversity — some cherry and oak, some soft maple, moderate stocking. Good site quality but mixed terrain. Accessible but not ideal. A typical unmanaged private woodlot in Sullivan or Ulster County that hasn’t been harvested in 15 to 25 years often falls in this range.
High end — $1,500 to $3,500 per acre or more: Black cherry and oak-dominated stands with good stocking, high proportion of #1 and #2 sawlogs, good road access, and gentle terrain. These stands are not the norm — they represent property that either started with excellent species composition or has been actively managed to develop high-value timber. When this kind of stand is sold through a competitive bid process, per-acre returns are real and significant.
These ranges are illustrative, not guaranteed. Any specific property can fall above or below these ranges depending on its combination of the four variables. The only number that matters for your decision-making is the one that comes from a cruise of your actual property.
Why Two Adjacent Properties Can Differ Dramatically
The range framework above explains something landowners often find surprising: two neighboring properties can produce radically different per-acre values. This is not unusual. It’s the expected result of the four variables operating independently on each property.
Consider two 50-acre woodlots separated by a fence line in Sullivan County. One was actively managed thirty years ago — a selective harvest that removed the worst species and retained the best cherry and oak. The other was never managed. Today, the first property has a mature cherry and oak canopy with high stocking and good log grades. The second has a dense red maple and beech stand with suppressed cherry struggling for light.
The managed property might cruise at $2,000 to $2,800 per acre. The unmanaged property might cruise at $400 to $700 per acre — for the same location, the same soils, and the same market. The difference is entirely in how the two stands developed over thirty years. This is why management history matters as much as location when assessing per-acre timber value.
Per-Acre Value vs. Total Sale Value — Which Number Matters More
For most timber sale decisions, total sale value matters more than per-acre value. Per-acre value is useful for comparing properties or estimating potential — but the number you actually negotiate from is total stumpage income.
A 20-acre parcel at $2,500 per acre produces $50,000 in total stumpage. A 100-acre parcel at $800 per acre produces $80,000. The second property has a lower per-acre value but generates more total income from a single sale. For a landowner deciding whether a sale makes sense financially, the total value — not the per-acre figure — is the relevant number.
Total sale value also determines whether a competitive bid process is worth managing. Most professional timber sales require enough total volume to attract multiple qualified buyers. A stand with high per-acre value but limited total acreage may not generate the volume that draws competitive bids from multiple buyers simultaneously. For the full sale process and how competitive bids affect what you receive, see my article on how to sell timber from your land.
How to Get an Accurate Per-Acre Estimate for Your Property
The only reliable per-acre estimate comes from a timber cruise by a licensed consulting forester. The cruise measures the actual species, volume, and grade on your specific acres — not regional averages, not aerial photo estimates, not a buyer’s walk-through assessment.
A timber cruise on a 50-acre property takes one to two days of field work. The result is a written appraisal with per-acre volume broken out by species and grade, current stumpage prices applied to that volume, and a total stumpage value estimate. That number is your baseline for any sale conversation.
Before that cruise, a consulting forester walk-through — less formal than a full cruise, but more informed than a self-assessment — can give you a preliminary read on whether the property is likely to fall in the low, mid, or high range before you invest in a full appraisal. For what a timber appraisal involves and what the report contains, see my article on how to get a timber appraisal on your property. For the full picture on timber buyers and why independent valuation matters before any offer, see my article on timber buyers vs. consulting foresters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a high timber value per acre always better than a lower one?
For timber income purposes, yes — higher per-acre value means more stumpage income per acre harvested. But per-acre value is not the only metric that matters for a forest property. A stand with moderate per-acre timber value and excellent wildlife habitat, scenic quality, or long-term growth potential may serve a landowner’s full range of goals better than a maximum-value timber stand. Per-acre stumpage value is one dimension of woodland value — not the only one worth considering.
How often does per-acre timber value change?
Per-acre timber value changes continuously — both from the stand’s own growth and from market fluctuations. The stand’s contribution grows every year as trees add diameter and volume. Market stumpage prices shift with mill demand, regional log supply, housing starts, and export conditions. A property cruised three years ago may carry a meaningfully different per-acre value today. This is particularly true in active pest or disease situations — EAB-affected ash stands lose per-acre value rapidly as crown decline advances and wood quality deteriorates.
Can I use per-acre averages to estimate what my timber sale will return?
You can use them for a rough orientation — to understand whether you’re likely in the low, mid, or high range before investing in a cruise. Don’t use them to set a price floor in a negotiation or to evaluate a buyer’s offer without independent verification. A buyer’s offer priced against your regional average assumptions is still a buyer’s offer — it reflects what works for his operation, not what your specific timber is worth at current market prices. The timber cruise is what replaces the average with an actual number.
How Environmental Forest Products Can Help
I’ve been cruising timber and producing per-acre value estimates across Sullivan, Ulster, and Orange Counties for over 30 years. Every estimate I produce comes from the field — not from regional averages applied to acreage figures. Before any sale conversation, before any buyer meeting, I give landowners the property-specific per-acre number they need to make an informed decision.
Here’s what I can do for a landowner evaluating per-acre timber value:
- Walk the property and give a preliminary per-acre range assessment before committing to a full cruise
- Conduct a complete timber cruise — field inventory, volume calculation by species and grade, current stumpage price application — producing a written per-acre and total stumpage value estimate
- Compare your property’s per-acre value against current NYSDEC regional data to confirm whether it’s above, below, or at the regional benchmark
- Advise on whether current market conditions support a sale now or whether a brief wait improves the timing
- Manage the full competitive bid sale process if the per-acre and total value support proceeding
If you want to know what your timber is worth per acre — not what someone else’s was — call me. That number starts with a walk.
Request a Free Per-Acre Timber Value Assessment
Call me directly: (845) 754-8242
Email: henry@eforestproducts.com
Serving Sullivan County NY, Ulster County NY, Orange County NY, Pike County PA, Wayne County PA, and Sussex County NJ.
Henry Kowalec is a licensed consulting forester and member of the Society of American Foresters with over 30 years serving private landowners in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Environmental Forest Products | Westbrookville, NY 12785 | Licensed in NY, PA, NJ.
