If a tree falls in the woods, will someone buy it?  Who?  What will they use it for?  How much will they pay for it?  How many other trees will they need this year?  Next year?  A rigorous timber market analysis (TMA) process helps prioritize questions, aggregate data, conduct analysis and communicate results and recommendations.  Much of the data required for TMA in the United States is readily available.  The following list includes a sample of free and fee-based data sources for supply, demand and price data:

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from the U.S. Forest Service.  The FIA Program includes a “continuous forest census” to help project how U.S. forests are likely to change over the next 10 to 50 years. Specific data from the FIA Program includes, for example, inventory, growth and removal data for hardwood and pine. The USDA Forest Service manages the FIA Program in cooperation with state and private forestry organizations. The McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of 1928 created the FIA Program, which initiated the first forest inventories in 1930.

• http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/

Timber Product Output (TPO) data from the U.S. Forest Service. The TPO Database includes a standard set of consistently coded data variables for each U.S. state and county related to forest harvesting and tree removals.  Specific data includes, for example, the volume of roundwood products harvested, logging residues left behind, and the wood and bark residues generated by primary wood-using mills. The latest data available from the TPO Database is dated 2009. When using TPO data, Forisk often projects the base numbers to the current year by applying annual changes in wood demand.

• http://srsfia2.fs.fed.us/php/tpo_2009/tpo_rpa_int1.php

Wood Demand data from the Center for Forest Business at the University of Georgia.  The Wood Demand Research Program collects wood use data from participating mills on a quarterly basis. In addition, the Program publishes Forest Industry Shapefiles that track all forest industry facilities.  These shapefiles are updated two times per year and can be used with GIS/map-making software.

• http://www.ugacfb.com/research/wdrp/

Timberland owner data from Forisk Consulting. Forisk tracks hundreds of the largest private timberland owners and managers in the United States that own 10,000 acres or more. This is part of Forisk’s ongoing research program of timberland investment vehicles and is updated annually.

• http://www.foriskstore.com/servlet/the-41/2013-Forisk-Timberland-Owner/Detail

Wood bioenergy project data from Wood Bioenergy US. Forisk analyzes the U.S. wood bioenergy sector through tracking and screening all announced and operating wood-using bioenergy projects in the United States. In addition, WBUS tracks and analyzes project development over time. This is part of Forisk’s ongoing wood bioenergy research program and the WBUS database is updated every two months.  The project lists provide a means for evaluating the relevance and implications for wood bioenergy to specific timber and wood markets.

• http://www.foriskstore.com/servlet/the-31/Wood-Bioenergy-US/Detail

Several organizations provide regional and local stumpage and delivered price information.  State forestry and natural resource departments sometimes track sales from public and/or private lands.  A good example is the Oregon Department of Forestry.  One source specific to the U.S. South is Timber Mart-South.  Managed by the independent, non-profit Frank W. Norris Foundation located at the Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia, Timber Mart-South publishes quarterly and annual reports of stumpage and delivered prices in the US South. Timber Mart-South has surveyed and reported timber prices since 1976.

Timber markets are uniquely local.  Decision-supporting analysis of timber markets depends on a process of systematically evaluating and tracking local wood raw material markets for investing in and managing timberlands and wood-using facilities.