valuable white oak logs

How Much Are Oak Trees Worth?

Oak is the king of timber trees in the Eastern United States.  Here is Pennsylvania, timber export, logging and sawmills (the timber industry) is a 5.5 Billion dollar industry. Currently, the most valuable tree species is the White Oak.

There are about 90 species of oak found in the U.S. The most common species found in the forest here in PA are; Norther Red Oak, White Oak, Chestnut Oak, Black Oak and Scarlet Oak.  Occasionally, I come across some Swamp White Oak.

So, how much are oak trees worth?  The value of an oak tree, or any tree for that matter, varies greatly.  It depends on the species, the quality and the size.  If a tree is in a yard, it’s value is more in the aesthetics and shade than in the wood. 

This type of tree would have to be appraised by a certified arborist.  I will focus on timber trees in the woods.  An oak tree in a timber sale can be worth anywhere from 15 cents a board foot for pallet material quality up to $1.20 per board foot for high quality logs.

I had a buyer tell me a tree I had marked last week was worth $1,000. That’s a rare, veneer white oak growing in excellent soil.

In this blog post, we will discuss how to tell what your oaks are worth.

valuable white oak logs
These white oak logs are high quality and accessible for logging

How Are Oak Trees Appraised?

Several characteristics affect the value of oaks.

  • Species – different species have different wood characteristics
  • Quality
  • Size
  • Accessibility for logging

The amount of defect on the bole (trunk) of the tree is important.  If the trunk has 3 sides clear of any knots or scars that translates into the clear wood that can be cut from the log.  Different species tend to shed their branches better as the grow, providing more clear wood.

The clear wood in a log and the wood color and its ability to take stain and what is in style for floor in cabinets all influence the demand and therefor the price one can get “on the stump” or a tree standing in the woods.

Clear wood is greatly affected by the size of the tree.  A 25 inch diameter log has a lot of sapwood, which is usually clear of defects and has a consistent color and grain.

A stand of timber has to have enough volume and be accessible to where a logger can get to it and make it worthwhile to move equipment to the site, log enough volume to make a profit and get the logs trucked to a mill or export site. Sometimes, folks call me and want to sell some trees in their yard.

Although they may be big beautiful trees, it’s not worth while for anyone to come and set up a logging operation. Having said that, a perfect tree that can be dropped and hauled away without damaging buildings and one can get a truck to it to load it, might have some monetary value to the owner.

low quality oak tree
This oak is small and has many branches along the bole making it low quality

 

What is the Most Valuable Type of Oak Tree?

Back in the 80s and 90s, Northern Red Oak was king. If I had some red oak marked for sale and it had some volume, I could get sawmills from all over the state to come and bid on it.

Today, I don’t mark any unless I need to get more light to the forest floor for regeneration. Demand drives market prices.

Used to be, everyone wanted oak or cherry cabinets and red oak is an excellent choice for a darker colored hardwood floor with distinctive grain.  Today, nobody wants oak cabinets and manufactured flooring is much cheaper to install. The lighter colored woods are more in style now.

Where I often left white oak in the woods back then, today white oak is worth much more than red oak. This market is driven somewhat by the overseas economy and styles. For a while, it was a status symbol to have American oak hardwood finish in your home in China.

Today the demand for white oak is up due to the increase of the use of white oak whiskey barrels. Chestnut oak is in the white oak group but doesn’t usually grow in a nice straight form. So, today, white oak is the most valuable type.

Black and scarlet oak are in the red oak group. In other words they have a similar wood grain and color. However, they tend to not shed their branches as well as Norther Red Oak and therefor do not have clear wood in the logs. So, generally, they are the lowest priced trees.

How To Sell Oak Trees

If you want to sell your oak trees, then you must:

  • Assess what you have
  • Contact a Consulting Forester
  • Have your Forester appraise the timber so you know what its worth
  • Have your Forester represent you in a sale of the timber

Take a look at what the species, size, quality and accessibility is. Your trees have to be at least as large in diameter as the wheel on your car. You also have to have some volume.

The smallest timber sale I have ever done was about 5 acres, but that was some high quality timber. You can find a Consulting Forester on the web or you can contact your state Forester for a list of consultants in your area.

State forestry agencies always have a Service Forester for each region who’s job it is to help private landowners. They can give you some free information.

Once you find a Forester you like, contract with him to mark, tally and sell your timber. He will also oversee the logging job and make sure you get a good job and that environmental laws and Best Practices are complied with.

How Can You Tell If an Oak Tree is Dying?

Oak trees suffer from a lot of health problems. Gypsy moth has wiped out a lot of oak trees in Pennsylvania by defoliation in bad outbreaks.  Once a tree has been defoliated, it has to expend a lot of energy to make all new leaves.

This leaves the trees weak and vulnerable to other diseases.  Some insect attacks followed by drought, or in some cases, too much moisture can cause trees to succumb to root rot, fungus, oak wilt and other ailments.

5 Signs that Your Oak Tree is Dying
  • Yellow Leaves. Leaves should be dark green.
  • Foliage Loss. Oaks usually show dead branches and leaves at their tops before they die
  • Decaying Bark – if you see fungal growth on the side of a tree, it is going to die
  • Wood peckers – if wood peckers are pecking holes into the tree, there are wood-eating larvae under the bark
  • Rot at the base with black ooze and small, light colored leaves indicates armileria root rot

While a tree can live a long time with damage, they can also die from “sudden oak death” and they should be harvested right away. If the bark is tight on the trunk, they can be salvaged.

Conclusion

The value of an oak tree depends on its species and the demand for that species in the current marketplace.  It also depends on its size and quality.

The best way to find out what you have is to have a Forester come and take a look at your trees and advise you on value and whether it would be wise to have a timber sale.

36 thoughts on “How Much Are Oak Trees Worth?”

  1. Is there any formula or rule of thumb for establishing the value of an oak tree in a front yard? Some percentage of the property’s overall value? Some percentage of lot size?
    We had a large chestnut oak “tip over” rather than fall in high winds and heavy rains and had to have it removed. I’d like to know how this affected the value of my suburban home. I understand that its aesthetic value and shade value are greater than any timber value, all of which is very subjective. Again, there must be some general approach to establishing value.

    1. To estimate the value of a shade tree, you can call an arborist. They should be able to give you a value. For insurance purposes you could use that info along with a real estate appraiser to give you the difference between value with and without the tree

  2. The article doesn’t come close to answering its title. I’m very disappointed I was fooled into following the link to it.

      1. We had 4 huge oak trees that were knocked down by an 18 wheeler on accident…what would 50 year old trees be worth

  3. I don’t think anyone here is looking for the value of a standing f****** tree we want to know how much it’s worth down and you know to cut up or already cut up dude who cares about the value of a f****** standing tree seriously like if we’re loggers or whatever we are we don’t want to know the value of that particular tree went on the f****** ground

    1. hi mike, thanks for fucking comment. A fucking forester sells timber according to board feet of standing timber. We dont give a fuck about logs laying on the ground. we manage forests. Now and then I get a call from some fucker who wants me to look at a tree in the fucking yard. I usually tell him to call a fucking arborist to cut it down and call a log buyer to possibly pick it up. But they usually fuck that up by cutting the bole into 6 foot lengths so they can lift it with a skid steer. Then its fucking firewood.

      1. I think you gave too much helpful information to the know it all hack/wogger/Mike. 6 ft lengths are incredibly valuable as long as they’re on the ground lmfao!!!

        1. I have about 45 white oak trees on 17 acres of land next to Clear Lake, 4 miles from New Ulm, Mn. Most of the trees must be 80 to 100 years old. The trees need to be partly taken down to clear part of the land for a potential expanding a nearby camping park for additional camper trailers. The trees all look pretty good and should be of fairly good oak lumber.
          I would like an estimate on value before starting to cut down trees to prepare logs to sell.
          sincerly
          Larry Zeig

  4. Hi. My parents’ property in CT has four huge white oaks with trunks that are from 5 to 6 feet in diameter. They are limbless up about 30 ft, then have numerous branches. If they sell the property, whoever buys it will probably have to take the two closest trees out. What is the harvest value for one tree, and to be specific, 6 ft diameter white oak, 30 ft no limbs. These trees are probably 350-400 years old too. Thanks. -Chuck

    1. Hey Chuck,
      Hard to say. A tree that old might not be sound. If you are taking them down, make sure the guy removing it will drop it in one long log. A log buyer would probably take a look at it and make you an offer after looking at the log.

  5. I cut a large white oak it is beautiful on out side but has rot on inside comes up tree about 30 feet but is small is tree worth any thing

    1. If someone could saw some boards out of it, it will still be worth something. Have a log buyer take a look at it but try to imagine how many 1X6 inch boards could be sawn from the log. If it looks good to you, seek out a log buyer

      1. I have a 34ft tall red oak that at the base is 8’3″ diameter and at the top diameter goes down to about 6’5″ diameter. Its almost straight as an arrow but had few branches coming off it. I had cut it into 2 logs at 17′ each. Is this something worth hauling off to a saw mill or should I make it firewood? Just asking before I pay someone bunch of money to haul it to only get couple hundred from the mill. Thanks

  6. Pingback: The Many Benefits Of Shumard Oak Trees – SabinoCanyon.com

  7. I have parcel of land, 15 acres next to Clear Lake in Minnesota about 3 miles south of New Ulm Minnesota.
    This parcel of land contains 50-60 Oak trees that should be going to Sawmill to create boards for marketing. CAN SOMBODY SEND ME INFO OF MY AREA SAWMILLS WHO WILL COME TO SEE TREES AVAILABLE AND GET ME AN ESTIMATE OF POSSIBLE PAY AMOUNTS AVAILABLE?
    Thank you,
    Larry Zeig

  8. I have parcel of land, 15 acres next to Clear Lake in Minnesota about 3 miles south of New Ulm Minnesota.
    This parcel of land contains 50-60 Oak trees that should be going to Sawmill to create boards for marketing. CAN SOMBODY SEND ME INFO OF MY AREA SAWMILLS WHO WILL COME TO SEE TREES AVAILABLE AND GET ME AN ESTIMATE OF POSSIBLE PAY AMOUNTS AVAILABLE?
    Thank you,
    Larry Zeig

  9. There’s a huge oak in my yard and whoever wants it can have it for free! But they have to assume all costs involved to remove it and the stump from my property.

  10. Daniel, what area are you in? (I’ve got 20 acres of mixed hardwood and pines. Loggers cut the pine and stripped a lot of the bark off 458 hardwood trees (r/w oak, ash, sweetgum, dogwood, other species) . 350 of those trees will be dead in a year. )

  11. Please dont write me asking how much a yard tree is worth. Shade trees are valued with aesthetics as part of the value, not the timber value. Foresters sell timber by the thousands of board feet per acre in a forest, not from someone’s yard. Call a local Arborist for that. Thanks

  12. LARRY ZEIG
    NOVEMBER 2, 2022 AT 3:23 PM
    I have parcel of land, 15 acres next to Clear Lake in Minnesota about 3 miles south of New Ulm Minnesota.
    This parcel of land contains 50-60 Oak trees that should be going to Sawmill to create boards for marketing. CAN SOMBODY SEND ME INFO OF MY AREA SAWMILLS WHO WILL COME TO SEE TREES AVAILABLE AND GET ME AN ESTIMATE OF POSSIBLE PAY AMOUNTS AVAILABLE?
    Thank you,
    Larry Zeig

  13. NOVEMBER 2, 2022 AT 3:23 PM
    I have parcel of land, 15 acres next to Clear Lake in Minnesota about 3 miles south of New Ulm Minnesota.
    This parcel of land contains 50-60 Oak trees that should be going to Sawmill to create boards for marketing. CAN SOMBODY SEND ME INFO OF MY AREA SAWMILLS WHO WILL COME TO SEE TREES AVAILABLE AND GET ME AN ESTIMATE OF POSSIBLE PAY AMOUNTS AVAILABLE?
    Thank you,
    Larry Zeig

    1. NOVEMBER 2, 2022 AT 3:23 PM
      I have parcel of land, 15 acres next to Clear Lake in Minnesota about 3 miles south of New Ulm Minnesota.
      This parcel of land contains 50-60 Oak trees that should be going to Sawmill to create boards for marketing. CAN SOMBODY SEND ME INFO OF MY AREA SAWMILLS WHO WILL COME TO SEE TREES AVAILABLE AND GET ME AN ESTIMATE OF POSSIBLE PAY AMOUNTS AVAILABLE?
      Thank you,
      Larry Zeig

      1lmze@newulmtel.net

  14. As a logger/stumpage buyer here in the Carolinas, I receive thousands of calls every year to buy timber. About half of those calls are from people who want to sell the trees in their yard – or “just come take it down in exchange for the wood.” I always have to tell them “If you can count the trees that you want to sell, it’s not a commercial logging job. It’s a tree service job. You’ll have to call tree service if you really want that tree gone.” Commercial logging equipment is expensive to move and it is HUGE. It takes a lot more money to move a piece of equipment than any single tree is worth – and it takes a lot more than a front yard to set up a full scale logging operation.

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