Flat market cooling county timber sales

Wahkiakum County should expect another year of low revenue from state managed county trust timberland, county officials learned Tuesday.

A decline in log prices has led the Department of Natural Resources to reduce its estimate of revenue expected from a county trust timber sale.

DNR District Manager Steve Ogden told county commissioners that they could expect $921,840 from the Mill Fir Sorts timber sale in 2016, which, he said was down from an earlier estimate a bit over $1 million.

And in 2017, the agency has planned a sale that should generate around $825,000, he said.

Revenue from the sale of trust timber is an important part of the revenue for the county's Current Expense Fund, which includes most courthouse services. Officials would like to see $1.3 million or more per year to keep the fund healthy.

Ogden said the timber market is softening for a couple of reasons, but overall, agency economists expect it to stay steady into 2016.

First, the value of the US dollar is strengthening, which hurts the export market. That leaves more wood for the domestic market, the destination of logs from state managed forests. Second, the domestic housing market has rebounded somewhat from the recession, but overall it has remained flat.

"So, we expect a flat to slight decline in the log markets," Ogden said.

Ogden said log prices are normally highest around March, and the agency will put the county's next sale on the market then. However, if the predicted El Niño weather pattern holds and provides a dry, warm winter, loggers will be able to fill log yards as they did last winter, and that will keep prices low.

Commissioner Dan Cothren added that Weherhaeuser Company is logging heavily to generate cash flow, and that is adding lots of timber to the markets,

"There's got to be major changes on legislative stuff for this county to survive," Cothren said.