Southern New England Stumpage Survey

Stumpage is the price landowners are paid for the tree "on the stump." Stumpage can be influenced by many factors, including but not limited to: timber quality, distance to market, accessibility of property, sale volume, market demand, season, skid distance, landowner requirements, method of sale (e.g., competitively bid, or directly negotiated) and logging costs.

For more than twenty years, stumpage data was gathered quarterly for MA, CT, and RI, through a mail survey and summarized on the basis of east or west of the Connecticut River. The mail survey was replaced by an online survey due to reduced capacity at UMass. Over time, the number of stumpage price surveys returned decreased, making it no longer appropriate for publishing the results due to the low response. 

Stumpage prices continue to be collected in Massachusetts on a quarterly basis through a joint effort of UMass and MA DCR. These stumpage reports that are collected are critical for helping to set the annual Ch. 61 current use tax program per acre rates. Loggers, public and private foresters, and sawmills are encouraged to submit stumpage surveys.

Data were compiled and summarized, by species and region (East or West of the Connecticut River in the tri-state region). Rather than using the average or mean, the median is used. The median represents the middle point in the range of reported prices: half of the prices are above the median, half are below. Medians are less subject to the influence of an extraordinarily high value, which might influence the arithmetic mean or average. The range of reported prices is also listed, indicating the high and low price by species and region. The number of reports which were used to determine the median and range is also listed, to provide an indication of the strength or rigor of the estimate.

No data checking was done to determine if double-reporting is occurring. For example, it is possible that a logger who is a Buyer of stumpage, and a forester representing a Seller, may submit data on the same sale. As a result, there may be over-reporting of that particular transaction.

While the estimate of the stumpage marketplace in southern New England is not guaranteed, it does represent the best attempt to characterize the relative value of standing timber.