Buy a Forest Reserve stand

Goal: get a load of mature timber without waiting for your own to grow.

1. Scroll the side panel to Forest Reserve. The header shows how many stands are for sale (for example “26 of 40 stands for sale”).
2. Read the line under the intro, for example “Stumpage at 63% of log value · plentiful”. The percentage is the price index. It is lower when many stands are ready and higher when few are.
3. Look at the listed stands. Each button gives the stand number, species and stage, its price and about how many logs you will get (“R27 · White pine, mature timber, 1,017 bd ft · ~11 logs”). The panel lists the four best-value ready stands.
4. Check the payout before you buy. Open the mills in Timber bids after purchase, or work it out from the species bids you saw earlier. In one test, 11 white pine logs from a 1,017 bd ft stand paid 1,416 at Springston, a gain of about 400 bd ft.
5. Make sure you have the lumber and a free crew-day. Click the stand.
6. The stand’s logs arrive at your landing after the haul loss for that stand. The ledger reads “Bought and cut Reserve stand R27: Western white pine. 12% lost hauling it to your landing.”
7. Haul the logs to a mill as usual (see choose the best mill).

The stand regrows from zero after you cut it, and others buy stands over time.

What can go wrong

Each purchase uses a crew-day and wears the saws by 20%. Two quick clicks buy two stands. The list shifts after every purchase, so the button under your cursor is a different stand the second time.

Stand prices are fixed at the moment you buy, and the haul loss varies by stand. Expect 8% to 25%.

If lumber is short or the crew is resting, the stand buttons are greyed out.

In the current prototype, lumber from hauled Reserve logs also counts toward the 10,000 bd ft deed goal, even though they did not grow on your claim.

The stands belong to the land office, not to other players. Only the town and simulated settlers buy from it.

Rules and numbers: forest reserve.