Seeing Douglas-fir delivered slide about $30/MBF since July in Lane County, mills are pressing harder on take-or-pay and longer payment terms. What continuing ed has moved the needle for you in price discovery and counteroffers — a solid 1–2 day workshop on sale appraisal or mill procurement strategy, ideally in OR/WA or live online in Q1?
I’d target the Oregon Logging Conference business seminars in February (Eugene) and OSU Extension’s timber sale appraisal short course — Q1 dates usually post here: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/forests/events. What’s moved the needle for me is a one‑pager that reverse‑engineers stumpage from delivered price with current mill specs and haul, then using it to frame a counter at the OLC log market panel — like haggling with a tape measure instead of a hunch. If you need live online, AOL’s contract terms workshop sometimes runs in winter; I can share a contact.
Quick example: a PNW log scalers grading/merch spec short course gave me the ammo to price the sort mix, then a 1‑day negotiation clinic through our local SAF chapter let us role‑play counters off delivered‑to‑stump netbacks. If you can’t find dates yet, ping @hankMills_22’s OSU contact and your SAF chair, and I can DM the simple counteroffer worksheet we used — haggling with a mill is easier when your math talks.