Timber Talk 7/29/25

Jenna Reese
Jul 28
7 min read

OFA Update

The Paul Bunyan Show is around the corner

We are fast approaching our 2025 Paul Bunyan Show at the Guernsey Co. Fairgrounds in Cambridge, Ohio. Over 160 exhibitors will join us to showcase their products to thousands of excited attendees. We would like to thank our members who are participating, and will be sending out complimentary tickets to all members in the coming weeks. We would greatly appreciate if you can share the QR code or ticket link on the right with your friends and family and tell them about the show. We look forward to seeing so many of you in October

Register for our Kiln Drying Short Course

August 19-21, 2025

Yoder Lumber Company

7100 County Rd 407

Millersburg, OH 44654

This 3-day course taught by Bob Pope, William Smith, and Chad Niman will cover all things related to kiln drying from moisture content to new procedures and equipment. Explore the 4 stages of drying lumber with us this August in Millersburg.

VIEW DETAILS/REGISTER

Market Update

HardwoodReview Forecasting

The potential for turbulent summer markets is high, with the pending reinstatement of U.S. import tariffs and traditional summertime lulls. Yet, with few exceptions, hardwood lumber prices have not yet collapsed under the weight of disrupted international trade. U.S. domestic demand remains relatively good and lumber production has been constrained—to the point that prices for some items have climbed, and are projected to climb further, even as demand uncertainties remain. That could potentially change if Vietnam is unable to sustainably offset Chinese demand for hardwood logs, and/or if drier summer weather suddenly improves log availability. However, a lack of loggers is a bigger issue than weather in many areas, and few mills will risk higher production without a more confident outlook.

It is also possible that U.S. consumer confidence could be shaken if the country is drawn deeper into the Israel-Iran conflict, or if the civil unrest in major U.S. cities worsens. Still, however the tariff and trade deals play out this summer, at least they should play out, which will begin to issue in some clarity about future demand, even with the Section 232 determinations about the national security impacts of U.S. imports still to be determined.

Ohio Sales Tax Holiday

Ohio will have a sales tax holiday from 12:00 a.m. Friday, August 1 until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, August 14, 2025. During the holiday, the exemption will apply to all sales of goods that are $500 or less except for certain watercraft, motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, vapor products, or an item that contains marijuana. For more information regarding the sales tax holiday, please refer to the Ohio Department of Taxation’s Sales Tax Holiday Information Sheet available on the ODT website at https://tax.ohio.gov/salestaxholiday

If you have any additional questions regarding this information, please contact ODT at 1-888-405-4039 or e-mail us at https://tax.ohio.gov/help-center/email-us .

Legislative Update

The following is brought to us by our national partner, the Forest Resources Association (FRA)

Transportation

The FRA team continues engaging House offices to build support for the Safe Routes Act, which now has 11 cosponsors, with Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR-04) being the latest to join. Additionally, FRA has formally endorsed the upcoming FRESH Act, sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA-10). This legislation would allow commercial vehicles transporting certain perishable commodities, including raw forest products, to operate on federal highways at state-authorized weight limits, aligning with the Safe Routes framework. Rep. Collins has informed FRA that the FRESH Act will be introduced in September. Together, these efforts strengthen our advocacy for safer, more efficient transportation options across forest supply chains. FRA recently compiled a list of transportation committee staffers along with the forestry economic data for House Members. If you would like to reach out to your members of Congress and encourage them to support the Safe Routes Act—contact information can be found here.

Resources:

Safe Routes Act Issue Brief

Safe Routes Video

Southeast Region Research

Lake States Region Research

Farm Bill

House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA-15) appears to have moved off his goal of marking up Farm Bill reauthorization legislation before the August recess. He had signaled to committee staff in late June that he wanted to proceed on a Farm Bill markup in late July. He is now signaling that his committee will try to proceed in mid-September. The FRA team continues to advocate for full funding and authorization of the Wood Innovation and Community Wood grant programs, as well as a robust Forest Inventory and Analysis program, binding biomass carbon neutrality language, and inclusion of Jobs in the Woods Act provisions.

H-2B Visas

This week, the Department of Labor announced that it received a sufficient volume of applications to complete the randomization process for the first half allocation of H-2B visas. A total of 2,421 applications were selected, collectively requesting 47,488 workers. Among those selected were tree-planting contractors across 17 states, who will now proceed to the next stage of the application process. Notably, demand for H-2B workers continues to increase—underscoring ongoing labor shortages in seasonal forestry operations and related sectors.

FRA continues to reach out to members of Congress on the Judiciary and Rules Committees to encourage them to support the Certified Seasonal Employer language that was passed out of the House Appropriations Committee. FRA joined more than 200 organizations this week, sending letters to leadership in the House Rules, Judiciary and Appropriations Committees, and House Leadership.

H-2B Workforce Coalition Letters:

What’s ahead: Congressman Bergman (R-MI-01) and Congressman Smucker (R-PA-11) will be introducing separate legislation that would provide a permanent fix to the H-2B visa program. We will share this legislation when we have a draft.

Forest Service Budget

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on July 10 on the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) Fiscal Year 2026 budget. The proposed budget reduces funding for Forest Service functions and delegates wildfire management to the Interior Department. Chief Schultz was the sole witness. During questioning, Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) asked Chief Schultz if the Forest Service would prioritize the implementation of language in the recently enacted budget reconciliation legislation to increase timber production on federal lands. Chief Schultz responded that the USFS would take the necessary steps to ensure that an increase of 250 million board feet of timber is produced from federal lands year over year, going forward from 2026 to 2034. It is FRA’s understanding that the agency timber program leadership will be meeting in the first week of August to outline a strategy to meet the direction of the One Big Beautiful Bill to increase timber outputs.

Chief Schultz noted that the budget proposal recommends transferring the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program from the Research and Development branch to the National Forest System account to better align its operational focus with on-the-ground forest management and practical data requirements.

Chief Schultz’s testimony can be found here. Watch the hearing webcast here.

Trade

On July 7, President Trump signed an executive order extending the deadline for forging trade deals with competing countries from July 9 to August 1. The action effectively extends the baseline additional 10 percent “reciprocal” tariff on all countries (except Mexico, Canada, and China) until August. This pause is an extension of the original pause in the “reciprocal” tariffs that were announced on April 2. The pause has been in place since April 9.

The President sent letters to 14 countries that have not yet come to the table to negotiate a new trade agreement with the U.S. You can see the list of countries contacted and the new tariff rates here.

Although the White House has signaled that trade agreements are being forged, no new trade deals have been announced. The White House has hinted that some deals may be revealed in the coming days.

We are also monitoring developments closely on the Section 232 investigation into national security implications tied to imports of lumber, timber, and derivative products. FRA has heard that results from the investigation are expected any day.

Clean Energy Credits

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced substantial changes to the clean-energy tax credits established under the Inflation Reduction Act. The article linked below outlines these key modifications, including revised phase-out timelines, tightened domestic content requirements, and new foreign-entity restrictions. One Big Beautiful Bill Act Cuts the Power:… | Frost Brown Todd.

Safety Update

Sedgwick Safety Services

True-up process

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) provides workers’ compensation coverage based on estimated payroll. Therefore, at the end of the policy year, BWC asks employers to report their actual payroll for the prior policy year and pay any shortage (or receive a refund for any overage) in premium. This process is called a true-up. If the true-up is not completed timely, the following may occur:

· Employer will not be eligible for prior year rebates and incentives

· Employer will be removed from current year programs

· Employer will become ineligible for programs the following year and will continue to remain ineligible for all future years until all past true-ups are completed.

How to report payroll and complete the true-up

Although employers may contact BWC at (800) OHIO-BWC (800.644.6292) and complete their true-up report over the phone, BWC anticipates high call volumes and long wait times. They strongly encourage employers to complete their true-up report online through their BWC e-account at www.bwc.ohio.gov. If you do not have an e-account, simply select the Create E-Account Link to begin. You will need your BWC policy number and/or Federal Tax Identification Number.