From the Fields - George Hollister

By George Hollister, Mendocino County forester

The log price is very much dependent on the wholesale lumber price, which is off by roughly 50% from where it was a year ago. That has had a significant impact on Douglas fir prices, and it puts a lot of uncertainty into selling logs because there’s more people trying to sell logs than there is mill capacity.

The wholesale lumber price is back to pre-COVID levels. The major factor is demand for lumber going into new housing is way off because of interest rates. Also, the remodel and repair market that took off during COVID is back to where it has been traditionally.

Even though redwood is the primary thing I’m managing, there’s always Douglas fir that goes with that. The Douglas fir price is important because sometimes there’s quite a bit of Douglas fir, so that is a consideration.

The wet winter we had has been a factor because my main haul road that goes through the property has a slip-out that I need to repair this month. It’s going to be dry enough, so I should be able to repair it. Then I’ve got additional road construction to do to get into where I want to be logging this year. I’m probably not going to be ready to log until August. Then we’ll just have to see what the market is at that point.

There’s a lot of mortality from the drought. I see it, not on my property, but in unmanaged stands where I see a lot of dead and dying Douglas fir trees. That’s going to be a continued problem until those trees decompose to the point where they’re not going to be carrying a fire in their crowns.

We could potentially have a lot of vegetation later in the year that could increase fire risk. It depends on if we get some intense fire weather, meaning low humidity, wind and lightning strikes. That is what drove the fires in the last few years.