Additionally, the wildfires in the Northwest also contributed to glut of timber. The wildfires kill the trees, but usually don’t destroy the timber, which is s

Additionally, the wildfires in the Northwest also contributed to glut of timber. The wildfires kill the trees, but usually don’t destroy the timber, which is still good for harvest — however, it must be harvested quickly before it rots or gets infested by insects. Thus the owners of burned timberlands are scrambling to harvest the timber ASAP. This results in plenty of cheap logs, but since sawmills aren’t keeping up, its a double whammy to owners of burned timberlands: not only they have to harvest at less than optimal time, they also have to pay top dollar for logging crews as everybody else is also scrambling to harvest their burned timber, and selling the logs for cheap, as there are so many sellers and too little milling capacity.