Regions & forests
MT DNRC timber sales: Montana stumpage prices
Montana DNRC's 60 green sawtimber sales on record (Jul 2025 to Nov 2026) sold for a median $21.01/ton, +43% over the minimum bid. All three land offices in one view; newest result Reid Divide OSR (Nov 4, 2026) at $21.50/ton.
Data through Nov 2026 · source last checked Nov 5, 2026 · page revised Nov 5, 2026
Cite
- Vol-weighted avg
About this data
- Source
- Montana DNRC timber sale bid summaries
- Series
- Average stumpage price and bid intensity
- Basis
- Stumpage; $/ton (per-ton sales)
- Geography
- MT DNRC timber sales: Montana stumpage prices
- Unit
- $/ton
- Calculation
- Volume-weighted monthly average of sold green sawtimber sales
- Last observation
- Nov 2026
- Update frequency
- Event-based
Montana DNRC's 60 green sawtimber sales on record (Jul 2025 to Nov 2026) sold for a median $21.01/ton, +43% over the minimum bid, volume-weighted $16.38/ton over 1,194,343 tons, with a median of 3 bidders per sale. One sale pulls the volume-weighted figure down: GNA West Fork Timber Sale (Apr 8, 2026) carried 242,012 tons, 20% of all the tons, at $1.69/ton; without it the volume-weighted figure is $20.12/ton. 25 of them are Good Neighbor Authority sales (federal timber sold on a state contract, the "GNA" in a sale's name), at a median $18.03/ton against $23.49/ton for the 35 state trust land sales. 8 salvage, deck or product sales are listed in the results table but kept out of these figures. Prices are neutral: high is good for the seller, a cost to the buyer.
Montana DNRC's 60 green sawtimber sales (Jul 2025 to Nov 2026) sold for a median $21.01/ton, up 43% over minimum with a median of 3 bidders per sale. Good Neighbor Authority sales lagged state trust land, $18.03/ton against $23.49/ton. Northwestern Land Office led with 39 sales at $22.81/ton median, while Southwestern posted the sharpest premium at +66% over minimum. Reid Divide OSR (Nov 4) sold at $21.50/ton.
| Land office | Sawtimber sales | Volume-weighted | Median | Median over minimum | Tons sold | Median bidders | Latest result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern Land Office | 15 | $12.00/ton | $21.13/ton | +66% | 566,784 tons | 4 | Oct 13, 2026 |
| Northwestern Land Office | 39 | $22.13/ton | $22.81/ton | +43% | 556,663 tons | 2 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Central Land Office | 6 | $6.34/ton | $7.65/ton | +15% | 70,896 tons | 3 | Aug 10, 2026 |
| Sale | Land office | Bid opening | Kind | Tons | Minimum | High bid | $/ton | Over minimum | Bidders | High bidder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reid Divide OSR | Northwestern Land Office | Nov 4, 2026 | Sawtimber | 4,430 | $94,758 | $95,245 | $21.50/ton | +1% | 2 | Weyerhaeuser NR Company |
| Luke Mountain 2 Salvage Timber Sale | Southwestern Land Office | Oct 23, 2026 | Salvage, deck or product | 7,029 | $14,058 | $92,853 | $13.21/ton | +561% | 4 | HALL WOOD PROCESSING INC |
| GNA Pine-ing Away Timber | Northwestern Land Office | Oct 22, 2026 | Sawtimber | 20,687 | $119,931 | $372,896 | $18.03/ton | +211% | 2 | Ron Cummings Hauling |
| Case for Potomac Timber Sale | Southwestern Land Office | Oct 13, 2026 | Sawtimber | 4,067 | $52,277 | $101,284 | $24.90/ton | +94% | 6 | Tightline Logging |
| Stryker Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Oct 6, 2026 | Sawtimber | 2,828 | $58,511 | $66,458 | $23.50/ton | +14% | 1 | STOKEN LOGGING INC |
| GNA Cutaway Decks SYU | Central Land Office | Sep 30, 2026 | Salvage, deck or product | 1,189 | $1,784 | $2,426 | $2.04/ton | +36% | 1 | Kanduch Logging Inc |
| Fast Horse Timber Sale | Southwestern Land Office | Sep 3, 2026 | Sawtimber | 5,931 | $100,708 | $166,661 | $28.10/ton | +66% | 3 | BULL CREEK FORESTRY INC |
| Short Star Blowdown Timber Permit | Northwestern Land Office | Sep 1, 2026 | Sawtimber | 2,490 | $29,880 | $87,399 | $35.10/ton | +193% | 3 | Adam Bishop Logging LLC |
| GNA Peters Mill Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 28, 2026 | Sawtimber | 32,122 | $214,254 | $638,264 | $19.87/ton | +198% | 4 | Tamarack Timber |
| Klinger Blowdown Salvage Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 27, 2026 | Salvage, deck or product | 2,122 | $31,490 | $44,562 | $21.00/ton | +42% | 2 | CUMMINGS HAULING |
| Section 36 Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 25, 2026 | Sawtimber | 27,104 | $135,520 | $139,586 | $5.15/ton | +3% | 1 | F.H. STOLTZE LAND & LUMBER CO |
| Butcher Blowdown Timber Permit | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 20, 2026 | Sawtimber | 2,405 | $28,860 | $83,838 | $34.86/ton | +191% | 4 | Burk Construction, Inc |
| GNA Reese's Pieces Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 19, 2026 | Sawtimber | 7,608 | $72,504 | $226,871 | $29.82/ton | +213% | 3 | Ryan Logging |
| GNA Bucklebury Ferry Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 17, 2026 | Sawtimber | 8,837 | $114,999 | $201,601 | $22.81/ton | +75% | 4 | Chas Vincent |
| Weeksville Timber Sale | Northwestern Land Office | Aug 13, 2026 | Sawtimber | 10,005 | $115,158 | $140,470 | $14.04/ton | +22% | 1 | CR LOGGING INC |
| Program | Sawtimber sales | Median $/ton | Volume-weighted $/ton | Median over minimum | Tons sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State trust land | 35 | $23.49/ton | $22.15/ton | +39% | 366,648 tons |
| Good Neighbor Authority (federal land) | 25 | $18.03/ton | $13.83/ton | +75% | 827,695 tons |
Previous weeks
Week of Oct 15, 2026
Montana DNRC's 59 green sawtimber sales (Jul 2025 to Oct 2026) sold for a median $20.91/ton, +43% over minimum with 3 bidders per sale. State trust land median $23.49/ton against $18.03/ton for 25 GNA sales; GNA West Fork Timber Sale (Apr 8, 2026) with 242,012 tons at $1.69/ton pulls the volume-weighted figure to $16.36/ton.
About MT DNRC timber sales: Montana stumpage prices
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) sells timber through two programs. One is state trust land: about 793,000 forested acres of the land Congress granted Montana at statehood, whose timber revenue goes to the trust beneficiaries: K-12 public schools, the state universities and other state institutions. The other is Good Neighbor Authority, under which DNRC plans and sells timber from national forest and BLM land using state contracts, and the revenue goes back into restoration work. Both programs' sales are run out of DNRC's land offices, and this page puts every land office this site tracks into one table, then hands off to each land office's page for the sale-by-sale record.
Montana sells by the ton. The minimum and the bids are rates per ton, every load is weighed on a certified scale, and the buyer pays the bid rate on the weighed tons; the totals shown here are the bid rate times the sale's estimated tons, the way DNRC's bid summary adds them up. So every Montana price here is in dollars per ton and is never averaged with the dollars per MBF that Oregon and Washington sell in. DNRC's bid summaries print the conversion it used for the cruise: GNA West Fork's Apr 8, 2026 summary listed 242,012 tons of sawlogs at 6.90 tons per MBF, an equivalent 35,074 MBF, so its $1.69 per ton winning rate works out to about $11.66 per MBF. That factor changes with species and log size from sale to sale, which is why a Montana per-ton price and an MBF price cannot be compared on one fixed ratio; timber price per ton vs per MBF works through a full example.
Unlike Oregon, Montana publishes the minimum bid on every sale, so the premium over the minimum is shown here as well as the bidder count. Upcoming sales are posted with their notice, prospectus, bid form and appraisal on DNRC's timber sales page; bids are opened at the DNRC Forestry Building in Missoula unless a notice says otherwise. Montana's advertised sales are not on this site's upcoming auctions calendar; their results land here and on the land-office pages after each bid opening. Every agency's results rank together on the public timber board. Source: Montana DNRC timber sale bid summaries.
Common questions
What are MT DNRC timber sales?
Auctions of standing timber run by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, from state trust land and, under Good Neighbor Authority, from federal land. Each sale is advertised with a minimum bid per ton, and at the bid opening the highest rate per ton wins. This site has 68 completed Montana DNRC sales on record across 3 land offices.
How much does Montana state timber sell for per ton?
Green sawtimber at Montana DNRC sales has sold for a median $21.01/ton (Jul 2025 to Nov 2026, 60 sales), with a volume-weighted $16.38/ton. By land office the median ran $21.13/ton in the Southwestern Land Office, $22.81/ton in the Northwestern Land Office and $7.65/ton in the Central Land Office. Rates swing widely from sale to sale with species, log size, haul distance and how many bidders show up.
What does GNA mean in a Montana timber sale name?
Good Neighbor Authority. Federal law lets DNRC plan and sell timber from national forest and BLM land under state procedures and contracts, and DNRC puts "GNA" at the front of those sales' names. On this site's record the 25 GNA green sawtimber sales sold at a median $18.03/ton, against $23.49/ton for the 35 state trust land sales.
How do I compare a Montana price per ton with a price per MBF?
Only through the sale's own conversion factor. DNRC's bid summary lists the tons per MBF it used for the cruise, and that factor varies with species and log size, so no single ratio converts every sale. Timber price per ton vs per MBF works one Montana sale through the arithmetic.
Where are upcoming MT DNRC timber sales posted?
On DNRC's timber sales page, with each sale's notice, prospectus, bid form, appraisal and sample contract. Results are posted as bid summaries after the bid opening, and they appear on this page and the land-office pages once posted.