What Forisk does

Forisk is an Athens, Georgia-based applied research and consulting firm serving senior executives and investors in the North American forest products, wood bioenergy, and timberland investing sectors. The company was founded by Brooks Mendell and has operated continuously since 1983 (via the Forisk Wood Fiber Review), operating today as Forisk Consulting with a headcount of 101-250. Its core analytical asset is the North American Mill Capacity Database, which tracks more than 2,300 wood-using mills across the US and Canada with location, capacity, current wood use, product mix, and announced or planned capacity changes over a two-year horizon.

Forisk monetizes this asset through three primary product lines: subscription research (Forisk Research Quarterly / FRQ with gated Custom Market Forecast / CMF deliverables on Q1 and Q3 production cycles, and the Forisk Wood Fiber Review / WFR), standalone data and report sales (the Mill Capacity Database as a one-time/perpetual license, multi-client studies, and individual research reports ranging $10-$1,250), and management consulting engagements covering strategic planning, due diligence, procurement strategy, and capital allocation. The 2026 launch of an online digital platform for the Mill Capacity Database represents a migration of the firm's traditional printed research distribution toward recurring, real-time digital access. Supporting assets include the proprietary silviculture surveys (4.3M acres in 2017 growing to 9.0M acres in 2021 across the Pacific Northwest), educational books, and applied finance courses.

The firm's go-to-market is sales-led, executed by senior team members (Nick DiLuzio, Brooks Mendell, Heather Clark) reaching buyers in TIMOs, timber REITs, wood-using manufacturers (sawmills, pulp mills, OSB, pellet plants), and financial advisors. Marketing relies on content marketing through a blog and email list (845+ subscribers as of 2026), webinars and Zoom events, podcast appearances, conference participation, and earned media (NPR, REIT Magazine). Customer segments are horizontally segmented across investor, manufacturer, executive, and financial-analyst buyer types within the forest industry rather than vertically focused on a single sub-sector.

Name

Forisk

Legal name

Forisk Consulting

Website

https://forisk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Forisk is an Athens, Georgia-based research and consulting firm serving timberland investors, wood-using manufacturers, and forest industry executives in North America via proprietary mill-capacity databases, subscription research (FRQ, WFR, CMF), and management consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Forestry Consulting and Research

NAICS

Support Activities for Forestry (1153), Support Activities for Forestry (11531), Support Activities for Forestry (115310)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Forestry (800), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Timberland Asset Management (Institutional/Private) (AFAMAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Timberland & Forest Asset Management (IMAMAJAA)

Keywords

• Timber market research
• Forestry consulting services
• Wood fiber analysis
• Timberland investment research
• Forest industry forecasting

Headquarters

HQ city

Athens

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Research Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions to Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ) providing price forecasts, economic analysis, industry research, and project databases. Subscription includes quarterly reports, executive summaries, Excel-based price forecasts, data files, and databases of wood bioenergy projects.
2. Wood Fiber Review Subscription: Quarterly review subscription of pulpwood, chips, logs, lumber, biomass markets, and trade in the US and Canada. Tracking wood fiber costs supports investment and operational decisions.
3. Custom Market Forecast (CMF): Market-specific analyses and price/cost forecasts available only to FRQ subscribers. Includes dashboard-style reports and Excel files with price/cost forecasts for custom market areas. Strategic CMF option available for enhanced customization.
4. Management Consulting: Direct consulting engagements for strategic planning, organizational restructuring, capital allocation, due diligence, procurement strategy, and special projects for forest products, wood bioenergy, and timber investing industries.
5. Mill Capacity Database and Studies: Standalone database sales and multi-client studies. Mill Capacity Database and GIS information sold separately. Includes comprehensive analysis ranking timber markets and detailing current/historic mill capacity by firm and sector.
6. Individual Research Reports: Individual reports and studies available for purchase including benchmarking studies, bioenergy analyses, and equity research reports ranging from $10 to $1,250.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Forisk conducts applied research on timber markets, wood bioenergy, and forest operations, providing management consulting, subscription-based research products (Forisk Research Quarterly, Wood Fiber Review), and the North American Mill Capacity Database to senior executives and investors in forest products and timberland investing sectors. The firm delivers basin-specific timber market analyses, stumpage and delivered price forecasts, and tracks over 2,300 wood-using mills across North America.

Product overview

Forisk is a research and consulting firm serving the forest business, bioenergy, and timberland investment communities. The company operates a platform-plus-subscriptions model centered around its core North American Mill Capacity Database, which tracks over 2,300 wood-using mills across North America. The flagship product is the Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ), an annual subscription combining price forecasts, economic analysis, and industry research. Complementary products include the Custom Market Forecast (CMF) for market-specific timber analyses and the Forisk Wood Fiber Review (WFR) for quarterly wood fiber market tracking. The company also offers management consulting services, stumpage price forecasts, and specialized research studies on timber REITs, bioenergy markets, and timberland investments. Additional offerings include educational books like Forest Finance Simplified and Aunt Fanny Learns Forestry.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ): Annual subscription including price forecasts, economic analysis, industry research, and project databases.
• Forisk Wood Fiber Review (WFR)
• Custom Market Forecast (CMF)
• North American Mill Capacity Database

Products and services

• North American Mill Capacity Database Comprehensive digital platform tracking over 2,300 wood-using mills in North America, including location, capacity, current wood use, and product data, along with announced and planned capacity changes or greenfield mill construction over the next two years by firm, mill type, and geography.
• Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ) Annual subscription providing price forecasts, economic analysis, industry research, and project databases. Combines thorough coverage of North America's forest industry with localized analysis and forecasts, including access to consulting services and custom timber market studies.
• Custom Market Forecast (CMF) Market-specific analyses and price/cost forecasts of a client's wood baskets or timber markets in the US South and Pacific Northwest. Delivered via dashboard-style reports and Excel files. Available only to FRQ subscribers, with two CMF reports per year per market.
• Forisk Wood Fiber Review (WFR)

Quantifiable outcome

• 2,300+ wood-using mills tracked in North American Mill Capacity Database
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Hancock Natural Resource Group (Manulife): Hancock is one of the largest global timberland investment managers, employing in-house timberland research teams that overlap functionally with the audiences and analytics Forisk serves.
• RISI / Fastmarkets Forest Products: Fastmarkets (formerly RISI) is the dominant global forest products pricing and market intelligence provider, covering pulp, paper, lumber, and wood biomass markets with recurring subscriptions and multi-client studies — direct overlap with Forisk's FRQ, WFR, and CMF products.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights (Wood Markets / Pulp & Paper): S&P Global's commodity insights division covers wood fiber, pulp, and timberland analytics at global scale; competes with Forisk on multi-client studies and market intelligence subscriptions aimed at institutional investors and manufacturers.

Direct peers

• Forest Economic Advisors (FEA): FEA provides forest products economics consulting, timber price forecasts, and market analysis to investors and manufacturers, closely mirroring Forisk's consulting + forecasting model and targeting the same TIMO and wood-using manufacturer segments.
• Random Lengths Publications: Random Lengths publishes weekly and quarterly lumber, panel, and pulpwood pricing intelligence widely used by timberland owners, mills, and traders; a deeply comparable subscription research product for Forisk's WFR/FRQ franchise.
• Wood Resources International: WRI publishes quarterly international wood fiber price reports and timber market analyses for sawmills, pulp mills, and biomass facilities, structurally analogous to Forisk's Wood Fiber Review and Custom Market Forecast in methodology and customer profile.
• Resource Information Systems Inc. (RISI) Forest Products Team alumni / Fisher International: Fisher International provides global pulp and paper business intelligence and benchmarking, with overlap in wood-fiber cost analytics, capacity tracking, and mill-level data subscriptions — adjacent to Forisk's Mill Capacity Database.

Emerging players

• Timberland Investment Resources / National Timberland Advisory: Niche US-based forestry investment consultancies serving family offices and smaller TIMOs with due diligence and portfolio analytics; partial overlap with Forisk's financial-analyst customer segment and consulting offer.
• Fourroux Consulting / Renfrew County Forest Services-style timber consultants: Smaller regional forestry management consulting practices offer timberland advisory services to private landowners and investors; overlap with Forisk's consulting work at the high-end of the market and represent partnership or roll-up opportunities.

Others

• PotlatchDeltic Corporate Development / Weyerhaeuser Sustainability Analytics: Large timberland-owning REITs and manufacturers run internal market intelligence functions and occasionally publish research, representing both institutional customers of Forisk and potential competitive threats from in-house capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Forisk-Consulting-461035730588835

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forisk