STUMPAGE
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Stumpage in the press

Company information, three findings from the data, supporting sources, downloadable logos and media contacts.

Stumpage: the Michigan stumpage price record. What timber like yours has sold for on the state forest land the DNR reports on, since 1994, with the receipt.

What it is

Three things, plainly

The record. MI DNR stumpage price reports dating back to 1994, searchable by species, DNR region and management unit. Searchable report history begins in October 1994; coverage varies by reporting period, species and geography. These are sales of public timber: standing timber the state sells from Michigan’s state forest land, in the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula, which is where the DNR reports stumpage prices. Stumpage describes what the market did; it never advises the trade.

The receipt. Every figure published from the DNR record links to a page naming the source document behind it, the day Stumpage fetched that exact file, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of its bytes, so a subscriber can follow any number back to the state’s own document. Receipts are for subscribers; the DNR’s files themselves are public, and the “Verify it” links under each story below go straight to them. The contributed private record keeps its own receipts, for Pro subscribers.

The bid record. Beside the price reports sit the DNR’s own recorded bid-opening results for advertised state timber sales since fiscal 2004: who bid, what each bidder offered on each species line, which sales drew no bid at all, and which were offered again. It covers the whole state, southern counties included, and is searchable by county as well as by DNR office. The DNR publishes each opening as its own document; Stumpage assembles them into one searchable record, sale by sale. How the record is built.

Stories

Three findings from Michigan timber-sale data

Bidders on a sold state sale have halved since fiscal 2004

How many bidders a sold state timber sale drew, by DNR fiscal year, from the MI DNR timber sale bid summaries.

In fiscal 2004, a sold state timber sale drew 5.3 bidders on average; in fiscal 2026 it drew 2.3, half as many.

So far in fiscal 2027, 6% of the 17 sales opened drew no bid. In fiscal 2026, the last complete year, 29% of the 479 sales opened drew no bid.

Bidders on a sold sale, fiscal 2004
5.3
Bidders on a sold sale, fiscal 2026
2.3
Sales opened, fiscal 2026
479
No-bid share, fiscal 2026
29%
Sales opened, fiscal 2027 so far
17
No-bid share, fiscal 2027 so far
6%
Verify it

Half of contested state sales cleared the runner-up by 11.0% or more

The gap between the winning bid and the runner-up on every state timber sale that drew two or more bidders, from the MI DNR timber sale bid summaries.

Across 9,628 state sales with at least two bidders since fiscal 2004, the winning bid exceeded the runner-up by $109,971,106 in total.

The median gap was $5,039 a sale. Measured against the runner-up on each sale, the median gap was 11.0%. These are two medians of the same sales, not two figures from one sale.

Those are sale totals from the DNR’s own bid summaries, not stumpage prices per unit.

Sales with at least two bidders
9,628
Median gap % over the second bid
11.0%
Sales counted since
fiscal 2004
Verify it

The sawtimber index fell 19.8% over 2017–2025; consumer prices rose 29.8%

The annual Michigan Timber Index for sawtimber, statewide, beside the Midwest consumer price index over the same calendar years.

Between 2017 and 2025 the Michigan Timber Index for sawtimber moved −19.8% while consumer prices rose 29.8%.

Michigan Timber Index, sawtimber, 2017 to 2025
−19.8%
Consumer prices, 2017 to 2025
+29.8%
Calendar years compared
2017 to 2025
Verify it

Figures computed on Oct 14, 2026 from the record as it stood: price reports through Jun 30, 2026, bid record through Oct 13, 2026.

By the numbers

What the record holds

Price lines
164,568
Source documents on file
665
Reporting periods
306
Record begins
Oct 1994
Record through
Jun 2026
State timber sales
14,075
Bidders on record
1,172
Bid record begins
fiscal 2004
Bid record through
Oct 13, 2026

Calculated from the available data on Oct 14, 2026. The home page’s How it works section sets out the rules behind them.

Assets

Marks you may use

The wordmark is set in Archivo; numbers are set in IBM Plex Mono. Stumpage is not affiliated with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which publishes its stumpage price reports as public records.

Boilerplate

The paragraph to paste

Stumpage brings together MI DNR stumpage price reports dating back to 1994 and recorded state timber-sale bid results since fiscal 2004, with source documents, fetch dates and hashes behind the figures. Price-report coverage varies by reporting period, species and geography. Stumpage, LLC publishes the record by subscription and describes the market; it does not advise on any sale.

Contact

Interviews and comment

Interviews and comment: Brandon Baird, Founder, Stumpage, LLC (hello@stumpage.net)

Printing this page prints the three briefs, one to a page.