Daily edition
September 9, 2026
Prepared from public sources. Links lead to original material.
What matters this morning
- Fuel is becoming an immediate logging-margin problem. The American Loggers Council says diesel costs have reached a tipping point while many wood haulers are not receiving the fuel surcharges paid to other freight carriers serving the same mills.
- Washington DNR has moved from emerald ash borer preparedness to active management guidance after the state's first confirmed EAB detection. The practical first step is simple: inventory ash now, identify high-value trees and expensive removals, and decide where treatment versus replacement makes sense before decline begins.
- Washington DNR's current unsold-sales list shows several late-August timber offerings still available at minimum appraised value, including 4,960 MBF at Q Parody Peak and 5,238 MBF at Country Boy.
- A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pay-as-cut timber sale at Red River Army Depot closes September 10, offering an estimated 12,200 tons of pine and hardwood sawtimber, chip-n-saw and pulpwood across roughly 384 acres.
- Contract Lumber has acquired HT Building Products in Houston and Dallas, extending a major regional lumber and building-products supplier deeper into Texas and the Southwest.
Markets & Pricing
United States — Logging & Trucking
Diesel pressure is exposing the fuel-surcharge gap for log haulers
American Loggers Council executive director Scott Dane says fuel costs have reached a tipping point for loggers and log-truck contractors, with mills often paying no surcharge or one that does not cover the increase in fuel cost. Wood Central reported a national diesel figure of $5.85 per gallon late last week; the latest published EIA weekly U.S. on-highway average available for comparison was $5.599 on August 31, up sharply from July levels.
The operational issue is not simply expensive fuel. A conventional freight carrier can often pass part of a fuel shock through a surcharge schedule, while a logger or dedicated wood hauler may face a delivered-wood rate that moves slowly or not at all. That puts the shock directly into harvesting and trucking margins and can reduce contractor willingness to take longer-haul wood.
Wood Central / American Loggers Council report → · EIA diesel price series →
Forestry & Timber
Pacific Northwest — Forest Health
Washington's first EAB detection changes the management question from “when?” to “what now?”
Washington DNR published new management guidance September 8 following the August 19 confirmation of emerald ash borer in Hazel Dell near Vancouver. All true ash are vulnerable, including native Oregon ash as well as planted green, white, European and narrow-leaved ash.
DNR's advice is aimed at managers rather than just identification: pull existing inventories, locate ash concentrations, flag trees that would be expensive or hazardous to remove, identify healthy high-value trees that might justify treatment, and begin replacement planning. New ash planting is no longer recommended in Washington. The agency also points users to a Washington-specific EAB Resources and Management Guide and an Urban Forest Pest Readiness Playbook.
Under the Radar
Washington — Timber Auctions
Several recent DNR offerings remain unsold at minimum value
Washington DNR's live unsold-sales page currently lists three late-August offerings that received no bids at their initial auctions: Q Parody Peak in Stevens County at 4,960 MBF and a $1.28 million minimum, Country Boy in Cowlitz County at 5,238 MBF and $870,000, and Raw Bin Hood in Mason County at 272 MBF and $88,000.
DNR makes unsold sales available at minimum appraised value during the next scheduled regional auction while the appraisal remains valid. Three no-bid offerings are not enough to define the broader Pacific Northwest market, but the list is a useful buyer-appetite signal — particularly because the two larger sales together represent more than 10 MMBF.
Market Opportunities
Texas — Government Timber
Red River Army Depot sale offers 12,200 tons; bids close Thursday
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' pay-as-cut sale at Red River Army Depot in Texarkana covers roughly 384 acres in Compartment 22. Estimated volume is 2,100 tons of pine sawtimber, 1,500 tons of pine chip-n-saw, 2,500 tons of pine pulpwood, 2,700 tons of hardwood sawtimber and 3,400 tons of hardwood pulpwood.
Sealed bids open at 10 a.m. local time September 10. The solicitation requires an $18,000 bid deposit for Item 1, and the contract runs through December 31, 2027. For east-Texas and Ark-La-Tex buyers, the mix is notable because it combines pine and hardwood products under one pay-as-cut contract rather than a single-product offering.
Industry Ecosystem & Service Providers
Texas / Southwest — Lumber Distribution
Contract Lumber adds Houston and Dallas through HT Building Products acquisition
Ohio-based Contract Lumber has acquired HT Building Products, adding established operations in Houston and Dallas. The company describes the deal as an expansion of capacity and reach across Texas and the Southwest rather than a stand-alone financial investment.
The acquisition sits downstream from primary manufacturing, but it matters to mills and wholesalers because regional consolidation can change purchasing scale, product mix and distribution channels. Contract Lumber is already a major supplier to professional builders; HT gives it a larger physical footprint in two of the country's largest construction markets.
Government / Funding / Trade
Washington — Community Forestry
$300,000 maintenance-grant round closes Friday with no match required
Washington DNR's 2026 Community Forestry Assistance Grant round closes September 11 at 4 p.m. Pacific. Up to $300,000 is available, with individual requests from $10,000 to $60,000 and no matching-funds requirement.
Eligible work includes pruning, removal and replacement, small-scale tree nurseries and other specialized maintenance on public property. The timing is relevant given Washington's new EAB detection: communities reviewing ash inventories may now have a clearer picture of near-term maintenance and replacement exposure.
New Publications, Data & Tools
Fuels Treatment Effectiveness Reporting Dashboard
CAL FIRE's dashboard tracks where wildfires have intersected fuel-reduction treatments and provides incident-level reporting on how those treatments affected fire behavior and suppression. The September 8 refresh makes it a useful current evidence source for managers evaluating treatment performance rather than relying on general claims about fuels work.
The tool includes a statewide treatment overview plus an impact-details view for individual fires and treatments. For foresters planning thinning, prescribed fire or other vegetation-management projects, it can help identify the treatment types and site contexts that have actually been tested by wildfire.
Opportunities worth watching
- Fuel surcharges may become a procurement issue rather than just a contractor complaint if diesel remains elevated. Watch for mills or large timber buyers moving to indexed haul adjustments to keep marginal trucking capacity in the market.
- Washington's EAB detection will quickly turn ash inventories into budget documents. Municipalities, utilities and land managers with concentrated ash exposure may create near-term demand for inventory work, treatment, removals and replacement stock.
- The two large no-bid Washington DNR sales are worth following into the next auction cycle. If they clear only at minimum value — or remain unsold — that will be a more useful signal than asking prices about buyer appetite in those specific wood baskets.
Special Opportunity
A few spots remain in the next Forest Business School Essentials cohort
The Forest Business School's six-month Essentials program begins October 7, 2026. The program is free to accepted participants through partner funding and is built for mid-career working-landscape professionals and small business owners in forestry, logging, wood products, land management, and related fields who want to improve how they work, lead, and run their organizations. Nearly weekly one-hour evening video sessions combine assigned reading/listening with peer discussion and practical application — no grades, papers, or busywork.
Interested in applying? Email Steve Bick directly → · Learn more at forestenterprise.org →
Featured Book
Wet Woods: Flux, Flex and Change in Our Forestry
Loggers, foresters, and mill operators adapting to climate change, volatile markets, and other pressures in the Northeast — told through the people doing the work.
Look for a special feature each Thursday