Wood shortages due to wet summer in areas.

MN is about the last place you need a wood shortage.

Woody Stover said:

MN is about the last place you need a wood shortage.

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Yeah, the central (away from the coasts) northern states get brutally cold for long periods. Hope they get wood or it's not as severe for them this winter.

I can back up what WMUR says for New Hampshire; most suppliers I've spoken with are out of dry wood (the only guy left wants $460 a cord ). The kiln-dried sources are backed up through January.

BruceNorEast said:

Yeah, the central (away from the coasts) northern states get brutally cold for long periods.

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Tell me about it; Spent my first 30 years in WI. Granted, it was southern WI but still...

This story is a mix of some fact and a lot of fiction. The wood shortage is far more a result of market conditions than wet weather. The 2009 economic downturn and following period saw the crash of the wood market, sawmills closed due to lack of demand, paper mills shut down, and loggers went out of business. The market has improved but not come back. But loggers are now in short supply. Add to that the pressure the mills are putting on the loggers for low prices, and available loggers are not cutting the wood.

Where I live, in the forested part of the dark purple on the temperature map, the loggers simply are not cutting the wood because the prices are too low to make a reasonable profit. The mills are asserting that there is a lack of wood. There is no lack of wood. A representative of the mill association recently appeared before a Cass County agency and asked that Cass County, a major wood supplier from public land, open up more land for cutting. The response was that about 50% of the existing contracts for cutting have not been cut, and until the timber under contract is cut, additional wood will not be made available. The response also was it is a price issue, not a supply issue. The reality of the complaint of lack of wood is market hype, not fact.

My personal experience is the same. I have been in contact with several loggers in my area for timber harvesting on my land, all upland, "summer" accessible, not wetland impacted -- timber that could be cut today. The answer has been that they are fully committed into late spring in 2015 at existing prices, and that until prices move up and make harvesting more profitable, the situation is not likely to change.

Anyone who is harvesting now for this year heating with wood is more of a day late and a few dollars short. Wood needs at least a full summer, if not longer, to dry to burning moisture content. Wood cut for burning now is green, smoking, creosote laden wood that does nothing but pollute, cause chimney fires, and burn down houses. I have no sympathy for those who can't get firewood or have to pay a very high price which they are reluctant to pay. I could supply 100's of cords of wood, but I would not supply a single cord of that wood for burning this heating season.

MN does not have a wood shortage. The rate of harvesting in MN is far below the sustainable rate of harvesting. There is plenty of wood. But there is a lack of common sense plus demand at prices that suppliers are unwilling to meet.

In the northeast and I expect Minnesota, there is no money in cutting firewood only. The cost for the labor and equipment far exceeds the value of the wood. Firewood and pulp wood just contributes a bit to the bottom line when the sawlogs are sold

The price for most wood species in New England is still quite low and thus most landowners are holding back on cutting sawlogs so therefore there is less firewood.

jebatty said:

MN does not have a wood shortage. The rate of harvesting in MN is far below the sustainable rate of harvesting. There is plenty of wood. But there is a lack of common sense plus demand at prices that suppliers are unwilling to meet.

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In saying that, do you mean processed wood - or wood still on the stump?

There is also apparently a wood shortage way over here too. The hard winter last year is being given most of the blame, both in the using up of what had been cut and preventing of normal harvesting. I don't really know for sure though, as we're fortunate to have our own trees, so haven't gone looking to buy.

I mean wood on the stump and ready to be logged. This is wood that has been available to cut. The article said there was a

.. significant shortage of firewood is on the horizon, brought on by a wet summer that prevented loggers from getting into the woods to fell trees.

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So, the article is talking about wood that would have been cut this summer for sale this fall, normally insufficient to dry for stove wood.

I don't consider a tree as firewood myself until it has been processed (cut & split) - so maybe there are some things & opinions in common in all of this situation, depending on interpretation. Tree shortage no, firewood shortage yes. I think I would also term processed but unseasoned wood as firewood, even though I wouldn't burn it until a year or two after it had been processed - although unfortunately lots of people burn it (or try to or think they do) pretty well as soon as it's processed.

There is al kinds of wood by me. SOme is already dry. Here is a pic I took today. Almost all hardwood, very little popple ar pine. I got ash, maple and some locust today. And I can't for the life of me figure out how a logger can make money on cordwood.

I don't understand TBH. So most people buy wood? Or does it mean the majority cannot get out into the bush?

My silly I-P'own won't allow that article to appear.

Can't speak for other states, but around here a person can get 2 yrs worth of wood off CL . I can say tho I do give wood to an elderly couple at times mainly because they aren't able to get it for themselves. Just gotta go get it yourself

I thought about starting a small firewood business, that was until I found out that a few people in my area were also doing the same thing. I spoke to a couple of them and they all said basically the same thing "there is no money here, once I'm out of logs, I'm done" A guy I know took his business up a couple notches, built a high-end splitter, got an all metal shipping container and built a kiln, he said he's doing it for more of a hobby / busy work for the winter, (he's a landscaper in the summer and snow removal is unpredictable) The cost of getting lengths delivered to the yard and then the labor of processing yields a very tight profit margin, sometimes you only break even. For some reason around here if tree companies have logs they either save them, chip them, or resell them, there is ever hardly anyone willing to dump them for free or pay to get rid of them, and the companies that do get rid of them for nothing already have friends of friends and family that will tae them on the "farm" or something. It's easier to try to score a free load every once in a while from a tree company, but to start a business and depend on free deliveries is like peeing with the wind at your face.