Timber Talk 5/20/25
- Jenna Reese
- May 19
- 9 min read
OFA Update
Registrations are open for our 2025 Summer Outing!
Major thanks to our sponsors from Pixelle Specialty Solutions, Superior Hardwoods of Ohio, Maverick Environmental Equipment, Hummel Group, Powell Valley Millwork,
R.L. Lute Logging, Scioto Land Company, and Rudd Equipment.
Schedule of Events:
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
4:00 PM - Reception
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
5:00 AM - Registration at Sawmill Creek Resort
6:00 AM - Registration at Wild Wings Marina
6:30 AM - Fishing Tournament
1:30 PM - Boats return to Wild Wings Marina
A valid Ohio fishing license is required to participate. Please plan for extra time to purchase one at the marina if you do not already have one
Please bring a cooler to transport your fish home.
Hotel rooms must be booked before June 8th to receive a discounted rate.
Camp Canopy is approaching
From June 8-13th, Camp Canopy will welcome a group of promising young students into the outdoors, lead by a group of knowledgeable instructors within the forestry industry for a week to remember. We are pleased to have a fantastic group of both new and returning students ages 13-18 join us for a well-rounded curriculum at the beautiful Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum in Carrollton, Ohio. Camp Canopy combines educational sessions with instructors from Ohio’s top natural resource organizations (like the Ohio Department of Natural Resources) and industry experts from the state’s top educational institutions with the adventure of the great outdoors. Plus, the traditional summer camp activities (campfire, anyone?) we all know and love.
Market Update
HardwoodReview Forecasting
With China’s 125% tariff on U.S. lumber and 100% ban on U.S. log imports, virtually nothing will ship directly to China in the coming months, though some portion of that displaced volume will ultimately make it to China via transshipments through other markets. However, it will take some months for supply chains to figure out workarounds, as they did during the first trade war, and the initial shock to the market could be significant for species heavily dependent on lumber and/or log ex-ports to China, like Red Oak, Ash, Cherry and Walnut. And, with Canada being the second-largest global buyer for each of these species, its own tariff on U.S. lumber won’t help.
Ash and Cherry production are low enough that price declines won’t likely be large. Nor is the Chinese log ban likely to push Walnut lumber production high enough to tank lumber prices; in part, because China has long dominated global demand for Walnut lumber, so moving significantly higher production volumes would be difficult. However, Red Oak is the most abundant, most produced and most exported U.S. species. To sustain recent Red Oak price gains, mills will need to reduce production or quickly find new homes for the 15 MMBF of lumber and 15,000 m3 of logs that were moving to China every month.
Legislative Update
The following is brought to us by our national partner, the Forest Resources Association (FRA)
Federal Lands
This week, FRA participated in the Federal Timber Purchasers Committee meeting in Minneapolis on May 13-14, joining industry leaders and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) representatives from Washington, D.C., and nationwide for in-depth discussions on federal land management.A key focus of the joint meeting was the USFS Chief’s directive to increase timber sales volume by 25% over the next four years. Timber program leadership from Washington, D.C., outlined an ambitious goal of reaching 4 billion board feet annually within that timeframe—a target that, if achieved, would surpass the originally proposed 25% increase.Additionally, language in Section 80314 of the House reconciliation bill directs the agency to raise timber harvest levels by at least 25%. Industry representatives encouraged the USFS to leverage existing tools, including categorical exclusions, the Good Neighbor Authority, and regular timber sales, to meet these increased timber volume targets on national forest system lands.Agency personnel were urged to utilize the tools best suited to their specific region, forest, or district to effectively achieve timber sales goals.House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR-04) is a strong proponent of forest health and increasing active management of our federal forest landholdings. FRA will advocate for this provision as the budget reconciliation process progresses.
Tax
On Wednesday, the House Ways & Means Committee concluded a marathon markup of its portion of the budget reconciliation bill. The measure was reported out on a party-line vote of 26-19.The following key business tax benefit provisions are included in the bill:
100 percent bonus depreciation/full expensing: Language allows taxpayers to immediately expense 100 percent of capital investments in machinery and equipment made on or after January 20, 2025, and before January 1, 2030. House GOP leaders entered the reconciliation process hoping to extend this benefit permanently, but opted for a 5-year extension based on cost concerns. We understand there is a strong appetite in the Senate to modify this provision to make it permanent.
Research & Development (R&D) Credit: The provision allows taxpayers to fully write off their R&D costs in the same year in which those costs are incurred. Recall, this benefit expired in 2022. The bill makes the R&D credit retroactive to January 1, 2025, and extends it through December 31, 2030. Again, the Senate is interested in making this benefit permanent.
Section 199A: The 20 percent deduction for S-Corporations and other pass-through structures expires at the end of this year. This benefit would not only be made permanent, but it would also be increased to 23 percent.
Section 179: The proposal increases the maximum amount a business may write off certain expenses to $2.5 million and increases the phaseout threshold amount to $4 million.
EBITDA: The bill restores EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) as the measure for calculating business interest expense. The current standard established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) is EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes), which is not as generous and makes companies less competitive, particularly in a high-interest rate environment.
Estate and Gift Tax Exemption: The basic estate and gift tax exemption amount and the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption would be permanently increased to $15 million. The TCJA had temporarily increased it to $10 million (adjusted for inflation), but that increase is expiring next year. The $15 million exemption amount would be indexed for inflation after 2025.
State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction: Language in the bill raises the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000.
This bill and legislation reported by other House committees were rolled up into a comprehensive 1116-page measure that the House Budget Committee considered this morning. During that panel’s deliberations, House conservatives on the committee expressed concern about spending in the measure and ultimately voted against the legislation. The bill failed on a 16-21 vote.Negotiations with these legislators are expected over the weekend, and we will likely see changes to the bill and another vote early next week. Assuming the Budget Committee ultimately reports the legislation, the House Rules Committee will take it up prior to floor consideration. Speaker Mike Johnson’s goal is to have this bill pass the House before the Memorial Day recess begins on Thursday.
Transportation
(Georgia) Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed House Bill 164 into law, removing the sunset provision on truck weight limits established in HB 189 during the 2023 session—delivering a major win for Georgia’s forestry and agricultural industries. HB 164 provides long-term certainty for forest product haulers by maintaining the 10% variance, allowing 5-axle trucks to continue hauling up to 88,000 lbs. on state and local roads.
Congratulations to Georgia Forestry Association for their efforts to make this happen!
Resources
WOTUS
FRA signed on to a multi-sector letter led by the National Mining Association that would direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the appropriations process to conform with the Supreme Court’s decision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Sackett v. EPA(2023) that only wetlands and permanent bodies of water with a “continuous surface connection” to traditional interstate navigable waters fall under the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction. The letter calls on appropriators to ensure that the agencies fully comply with the Court’s ruling and align their approach with the intent of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) framework.
Small Businesses
FRA supported a letter sent to Representative Jason Smith (R-MO-08), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to support the budget reconciliation bill tax provisions that support small businesses. The letter states, “Provisions key to the Main Street community include increasing the Section 199A deduction to 23 percent while making it permanent. This provision recognizes the importance of reducing tax rates for the 26 million businesses that rely on the 199A deduction. Coupled with a permanent 37-percent top rate, the legislation would bring the top rates paid by pass-throughs into closer parity with the 21-percent corporate rate.”
Safety Update
Workers’ Compensation and Managed Care - best practices for recordkeeping, documentation and injury reporting
Open Enrollment for MCO selection lasts through Friday, May 23. It is an opportunity for Ohio employers that have state-funded workers’ compensation coverage to select an important resource to organize and resolve workplace injuries. Sedgwick Managed Care Ohio is a key partner for our workers’ compensation program and happens to be Ohio’s largest MCO – by far – in both claims managed and employers served.1
Recordkeeping and Documentation
One of the roles of an MCO is to collect the essential data elements of a workplace injury to initiate a workers’ compensation claim. Depending on the approach to collecting and arranging this information, the MCO can be an excellent warehousing partner for injury-related data.
Sedgwick MCO provides clients a series of value-added reports designed to facilitate record keeping obligations of OSHA and PERRP. Many report options include an ongoing tally of lost workdays associated with each claim, as well as the number of modified duty workdays. Access to this information on a monthly, quarterly and especially an annual basis (early January) can help employers complete their OSHA 300 and PERRP posting that is due each February.
MCOs should also be able to account for additional datapoints to help determine whether a workers’ compensation claim is OSHA-recordable. For example, if medications are prescribed in the treatment of a workplace injury, it may be OSHA recordable despite having incurred no lost or modified workdays. Similarly, if treatment for an injury includes services that exceed what is considered first-aid in nature, the injury may also be recordable despite involving no lost time. An example of this would be a laceration that involves stitches, but the employee returns to work immediately. Referencing medical billing codes to identify specific covered treatments can be a simple way to gather information that simplifies the OSHA and PERRP reporting process.
Injury reporting
The claim filing process depends on information from multiple parties, including the injured employee and the treating physician. But Sedgwick MCO encourages employers to take action as quickly as possible after a workplace incident to control this vital early stage of the process. Establishing post-injury protocols that include thorough documentation of the incident, as well as compiling information required by BWC, can accelerate a sound claim allowance decision. Early clarity on the nature of incident and injury can help frame the scope of the claim and define the medical conditions that are included for treatment.
The First Report of Injury (FROI) is the standard BWC form that accommodates the required information and typically initiates a new claim. Many employers keep the FROI on-hand to serve as an incident report. Sedgwick Managed Care Ohio will provide clients with an Injury Reporting Packet, which can include the FROI and other forms and information to help guide both the employer and the injured employee through the claim process.
Many employers have developed an incident report that collects much of the information required for the workers’ compensation claim. Consider modifications to your incident report that may facilitate a more efficient claim filing process. One of the best steps an employer can take to promote speed and accuracy in claim filing is to have an incident report completed quickly and sent directly to the managed care organization.
Contact Sedgwick Managed Care Ohio
We encourage you to review objective data on the MCO Report Card to evaluate MCO performance metrics. You will find that Sedgwick excels in areas that make a difference for Ohio employers, and brings a great deal of value, simplicity, and efficiency to the claim process. If you feel there is room for improvement with your organization’s injury management program, or if you can use assistance organizing data for OSHA recording, Sedgwick MCO can help. Every work environment is different, and Sedgwick can talk through your circumstances to build a process that works for you and your employees. Visit Sedgwick MCO online to explore performance metrics and service features, or reach out directly at ClientServices@Sedgwickmco.com.
Additional Links
NEOFA May Newsletter
ECOFA June Newsletter
Sedgwick Safety Article
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