Timber Market Analysis Class

September 30th – October 1st

 

The “Timber Market Analysis” class walks through the process to understand, track, and analyze the price, demand, supply, and competitive dynamics of local timber markets and wood baskets through the use of case studies. It is divided into two half-days of course content where Day 2 builds on Day 1.

Register Online

 

2026 Event Details

• Dates: Wednesday, September 30th and Thursday, October 1st
• Hours: 10:30am – 2:00pm each day (US Eastern Time)
• Location: Virtual – Live Zoom Webinar
• Registration Fees:
  • Early Registration Fee: $550 (until Sept. 16)
  • Late Registration Fee: $650 (after Sept. 16)
  • Registration closes on Tuesday, September 29th.
• Registration Method: Online registration form
• Instructors: Brooks Mendell, Amanda Lang, and Shawn Baker
• Delivery Method: Group
• Field of Study: Specialized Knowledge – Technical
• Program Level: Basic
• Prerequisites: None
• Advanced Preparation: (materials will be sent by Forisk)
  • Pre-Read 2026 “Introduction to TMA”: Compiled Posts and Readings (14 pages)
  • Pre-Read 2010 FRA Technical Release: Screening Wood Bioenergy Projects (2 pages)
• Course Agenda: Click here to view the 2026 Agenda
  • The class is divided into two half-days of course content. The topics in Day 2 build on the concepts from Day 1.
• This class will be recorded for online viewing afterwards, however, we can only offer Continuing Education Credits to the people who attend the live webinar sessions day-of.

Continuing Education Credit

• This class will qualify for up to 6.0 Hours of continuing education credit for the following: CFE (Forestry), CLE/MTH (Georgia Master Timber Harvester / Logger), Georgia Real Estate/Appraiser, and CPE (Accountancy).
• Day 1 qualifies for 3.0 hours and Day 2 qualifies for 3.0 hours. Attendees can attend both days to receive the full 6.0 hours, or attend one day to receive 3.0 hours.
• In order to be awarded the full credit hours, you must be present for the entire class and you must respond to all polling questions during the presentation.
• Forisk Consulting LLC is not responsible for your licensure or program status. Please contact your respective agency directly to renew or reinstate your license.
• Please note: We can only grant CE credit for people who attend the live webinar (not the recorded version).
• Forisk Consulting LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.

Course Materials

Attendees receive digital copies of course materials and handouts to conduct and deliver assessments of wood baskets and timber markets to clients and managers. Attendees also receive a PDF copy of the PowerPoint presentation used by the instructors.

Who Should Attend?

Anyone who wants a step-by-step process to understand, track, and analyze the price, demand, supply, and competitive dynamics of local timber markets and wood baskets. Previous participants include forestry consultants and analysts, timberland owners and investors, wood procurement professionals, bioenergy project managers, finance and accounting professionals and attorneys.

Course Objective

Attendees will learn a detailed approach and set of practical skills for analyzing timber markets and wood raw material basins. Primary applications include investing in and managing timberlands and wood-using facilities.

Learning Objectives

• Scope a TMA study with an interview guide that specifies the objectives, target audience, decision deadline, required deliverables, and available data and budget.
• Delineate an operable, analyzable market boundary by applying the Four S’s (shape, size, symmetry, supplies) and local data availability.
• Classify wood raw materials as primary, secondary, or tertiary supply sources, and quantify standing pine inventory by product class (pulpwood, chip-n-saw, sawtimber) from filtered USFS FIA data.
• Estimate market-level wood demand by adjusting each mill’s capacity for procurement-area overlap and capacity utilization, and rank the leading competitors by share of market demand.
• Calculate growth-to-drain ratios and net growth, and use them to judge whether a market can support a new mill (e.g. 800,000 tons/year of pine grade).
• Assess existing mill risk using five criteria (operating status, end market, recent capital investment, commitment, parent-company strength), and determine when static analysis suffices versus when a forecast is required.
• Evaluate local logging capacity using county-level BLS employment, business counts, and productivity trends, and identify supply chain constraints that affect delivered wood costs.
• Construct Base, High, Slow, and special-case scenarios that test assumptions about housing starts, regional production shifts, and wood bioenergy demand.
• Project market-specific wood demand by end use, screening announced mill projects for viability based on technology and key milestones.
• Apply timber supply model outputs (e.g. SRTS) to forecast changes in inventory and growth-to-drain as harvest levels respond to demand.
• Forecast stumpage prices in priority order (level, direction, magnitude, timing), project logging and hauling costs from diesel price drivers, and critique third-party forecasts through back-testing.
• Rank competing markets for sawmill or timberland investment with a scoring framework, and structure results into an executive summary that states key findings, assumptions, risks, and recommendations.

Course Topics

2026 Class Agenda Available Here

• Timber market frameworks
• Defining “operable” and “analyzable” markets
• Specifying types and sources of wood and timber supplies
• Baselining wood demand and competition
• Evaluating supply chain issues
• Current vs. Future timber/wood market analysis
• Developing industry scenarios
• Projecting market-specific wood demand
• Projecting market-specific forest supplies
• Forecasting stumpage and delivered prices
• Comparing markets and communicating results