Indiana state timber sale bonds.
From $100.
Before a licensed timber buyer can bid on state forest timber, the Indiana DNR Division of Forestry wants a bond on file: the State Timber Sale Surety Bond, State Form 56877, which stands behind every timber sale contract you enter. You size it to your bidding plans, and premiums cost 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum.
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How much does an Indiana state timber sale bond cost?
2% of the bond amount, from $100. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. One sitting.
Sales close on a fixed date and a bond that is not on file yet is a bid you cannot place. There is no underwriting queue here:
Apply online
Your business details, your Indiana timber buyer’s license number, the penal sum you want, and an effective date. That is the application.
Issued
Most applications approve instantly and the executed bond is generated as soon as you pay. Larger penal sums may draw a brief underwriter review — the application includes a credit consent, but it authorizes a soft credit pull only, a soft inquiry that never affects your score.
File with the Division of Forestry
Send the executed bond to the DNR Division of Forestry, 402 W. Washington Street, Room W296, Indianapolis. The Division asks bidders to allow enough time for the bond to be entered in the system before the sale you are targeting — file it well ahead of the bid date, not the morning of.
What it is and who needs it.
What the state timber sale bond actually guarantees
Indiana’s state forests are working forests, and the DNR Division of Forestry sells standing timber off them by competitive bid. The bond is what lets you play. Under the Division’s online timber sale system a bidder must have a surety bond or an irrevocable line of credit on file before bidding; when you submit a bid the system holds five percent of that bid against your bond as a performance deposit. Lose the sale and the deposit goes straight back into your available bond for the next bid. Win it, and the amount stays held until the contract is complete, at which point it is released back into your total bond — nothing is refunded because nothing was ever paid over.
The bond itself, State Form 56877, is short and unusually clear about what it covers. The principal is bound to the State of Indiana in the penal sum written on the face, on the condition that the principal will enter into one or more timber sale agreements with the Indiana DNR for the purchase of timber from state-owned lands for the cutting and removal of stumpage; that those contracts are entered into during the existence of this bond; and that if the principal faithfully carries out and observes all obligations assumed in each timber contract and observes all the rules, regulations, and applicable laws of the DNR, the obligation is void — otherwise it remains in full force and effect without limit in time until the bond is duly canceled. A surety can only walk away on 120 days notice to the Division, and even then cancellation does not touch liability already incurred.
This is not the timber buyer license bond, and one will not substitute for the other. Registration as an Indiana timber buyer requires its own bond filed with the Department under IC 25-36.5-1-3 and 312 IAC 14-3-2 — a separate instrument that starts at a principal amount of $5,000 for annual purchases of $10,000 or less, adds $100 for each additional $1,000 of purchases, and is capped at $50,000; it may be posted as a surety bond, as cash deposited with the Division of Forestry, or as an assigned certificate of deposit. The state timber sale bond sits on top of that license and secures your contracts with the state. You need the license active — the bidding system checks it — and you need this bond sized for the sales you intend to chase.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the Division of Forestry. Send the executed bond to the DNR Division of Forestry, 402 W. Washington Street, Room W296, Indianapolis. The Division asks bidders to allow enough time for the bond to be entered in the system before the sale you are targeting — file it well ahead of the bid date, not the morning of.
What sets the price
The premium is 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, priced on the spot.
These are the actual issuing fields — have your Indiana timber buyer’s license number to hand. The credit consent in this application authorizes a soft pull only.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Indiana bonds.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get the bond on file before the next sale closes.
Enter a penal sum that covers your open and planned sales and file it with the Division of Forestry. From $100, soft pull only. Free until issued.