Contribute your sales
Help build an independent record of Michigan’s private timber market, from the sales you made, managed or bought.
Why your sales matter
Michigan’s state-forest price reports describe public timber in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. Private sales can add evidence from southern Michigan, including potential coverage of black walnut, tulip-poplar and hickory, and of different selling arrangements. That is a market worth understanding in its own right.
We’re building the private record with contributors. One well-described sale adds evidence: its species, region, timing and actual selling terms. Use the same form for lump-sum and scaled sales: enter volumes by species and any known species prices. If any species price is unknown, enter the total sale price. Grade and acreage are optional.
What a contributor is
The program accepts qualified Michigan forestry professionals — foresters and timber buyers, including loggers and mills — who add the results of their own timber sales to the private record. Published results describe one of three broad regions: the Upper Peninsula, Northern Lower Peninsula or Southern Michigan. They remain separate from the public DNR record.
You separately agree to regional publication for each sale. A result can represent one sale, with its sale count shown. Contributor names and precise locations are not published, but someone who knows a transaction may recognize it: anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Earlier submissions are not included unless you explicitly opt them in.
What contributors get
Pro from the day your application is accepted, at no charge through December 31, 2026; the first ten are recorded as founding contributors. Pro is $1,500 a year after that. From 2027, each accepted sale takes $75 off the next year’s Pro renewal, up to $750 — the renewal never falls below $750, and credit never carries past the next year.
An accepted sale is one you submitted that passed the entry checks and is still on the record. Stumpage reviews contributed sales and may reject one, with a note you will see on your own ledger. A rejected sale is removed from all published results and does not earn renewal credit. The terms set out what you grant and what you keep.
Who can apply
Applications are open to qualified forestry professionals with one of the credentials below. Timberland ownership alone does not qualify. Every role, including other forestry professionals, requires a professional credential and Stumpage’s review.
- Membership in the Association of Consulting Foresters — your name as the ACF directory lists it.
- Michigan Registered Forester — your registration number.
- SAF Certified Forester — your CF number.
- A timber buyer, mill or logger that purchases timber — your company’s name as it appears on DNR bid sheets, and your role there.
How it works
Apply below. Stumpage checks your professional credential using the relevant directory or DNR bid record and you hear by email, usually within a few days. Approved contributors add sales from their account. The decision is Stumpage’s; there is no automatic approval.