The time has come. Timber Market Watch is a reality, and we have a lot of people to thank for it. If you’ve contributed data, programming time, or time selling the Timber Market Watch concept to the folks of the forest industry and if you’re reading this, you know who you are. To you we owe not just this moment of joy, but all the future years of satisfaction Timber Market Watch will bring to so many people. Thank you.

But this first Stump Talk is for all you new folks who are considering what Timber Market Watch is, why we do what we do, and whether you should spend your hard-earned money on a TMW subscription.

Timber Market Watch is simply one thing…market price data for timber stumpage around the United States. Period. Our vision is simple…to become the “Blue Book” of timber stumpage prices. A source of reliable, accurate, and timely data for people and companies who need to know the price of timber in specific locations around the country, when they need to know it.

But at this point in time, March of 2025, Timber Market Watch is the equivalent of the Wright brothers first flying machine at Kitty Hawk. We’ve built something that looks pretty cool, gets us off the ground, and gives us a vision of what can be done with more commitment, effort, and partners. It’s good in some timber states, fair in others, and not yet helpful in a few. Our goal is to become great in all of them over the next five years.

If you’re looking for timber market data for California, the Four-Corner mountain states, the Great Plains, Illinois, or Massachusetts and it’s little brothers, sorry, no data yet. In Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Vermont we have a little, but not much.

But in every other state we have what I call “critical mass”, that is, enough stumpage data to arouse your interest, cause you to think about some things, and whet your appetite for more. So if you’re interested in real-time timber prices in these highlighted states…

Then you’ll probably feel good about your subscription, especially in coming months as data contributions accelerate. Because once the timber industry sees Timber Market Watch is real, and here to stay, we’re confident our contributor recruitment will get a lot easier.

That’s our primary focus…data contributor recruitment. So much so, that 50% of your subscription dollars flow back to our data contributors in annual payments. And they always will. So feel good that your subscription tangibly rewards those forest professionals who’ve contributed their sales data so that you can make better and more profitable decisions.

If you need to watch stumpage prices, go ahead and subscribe to Timber Market Watch. Take note as the data gets denser and more timely. Play with the report features…it’s amazing what you can pull out of such a simple tool when you spend just a little time with it. Let us know what needs to be better, and we’ll add it to the To Do List. And make some money with it.

Welcome to the data world of Timber Market Watch.