Dr. Brooks Mendell loves trees, numbers and words. Formerly as an academic and currently as CEO of Forisk, Brooks publishes research and analysis of timber markets and investments, forest finance and operations, wood bioenergy, and business strategy. This page includes select publications and white papers.

Forisk Strategy Notes

  1. Forisk Strategy Note 2020 Q1: Risk Coronavirus
  2. Forisk Strategy Note 2019 Q3: Technology Pulp
  3. Forisk Strategy Note 2019 Q2: Substitution Plywood
  4. Forisk Strategy Note 2019 Q1: Risk Pellets
  5. Forisk Strategy Note 2018 Q4: Reinvention Pallets
  6. Forisk Strategy Note 2018 Q3: Disruptions

Select Trade Publications, Technical Releases and White Papers

  • Mendell, B.C. 2016. From Cigar Tax to Timberland Trusts: A Short History of Timber REITs and TIMOs, Forest History Today, Spring/Fall 2016: 32-36.
  • Lang, A.H., S.A. Baker and B.C. Mendell. 2016. Forest Management Practices of Private Timberland Investors and Managers in the US South (2016 Update), FRA Technical Release 16-R-17.
  • Mendell, B.C. 2014.  Learning from mistakes in the media to improve the communication of wood bioenergy research, BioResources. 9(1): 1-3.
  • Mendell, B.C. and A.H. Lang. 2012.  Biomass supply availability: is there enough wood to go around?  FRA Technical Release 11-R-6.
  • Mendell, B., A.H. Lang and S. Freeman. 2011.  Current compensation approaches for hauling logs.  FRA Technical Release 11-R-5.
  • Mendell, B. and A.H. Lang. 2010.  Screening announced wood bioenergy projects.  FRA Technical Release, 12(1): 20-21.
  • Mendell, B.C. 2009. Divest and conquer: exchange rates, the political environment, and the nature of the asset are all factors behind foreign investment in US forests, Industry Today, 12(1): 6-7.
  • Mendell, B.C. 2006. The high price of rebuilding: benchmarking construction cost changes, American Reconstruction. September. Begins on B1.
  • Clutter, M., B.C. Mendell, and D. H. Newman, 2005. The changing landscape of industrial timberland ownership in the South Carolina Forestry Magazine, November, p. 25-27
  • Clutter, M.L., B.C. Mendell, D.H. Newman, D. Wear, and J. Greis. 2005. Strategic factors driving timberland ownership changes in the U.S.  South. USDA Forest Service, 15 pages. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/econ/pubs/southernmarkets/

Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Publications

  • Mendell, B.C., A.H. Lang, W. Caldwell and D.L. Garrett. 2015. Chemical use and forest certification: productivity and economic implications, Journal of Forestry, 113(4): 157-163.
  • Lang, A.H. and B.C. Mendell. 2012. Sustainable wood procurement: what the literature tells us, Journal of Forestry, 110(3): 157-163.
  • Mendell, B.C., T. Sydor and A.H. Lang. 2011. U.S. investor perspectives of international timberland investments and Colombia, International Forestry Review, 13(4): 1-5.
  • Sydor, T., B. Mendell, J. Siry, R. De La Torre, T. Harris, B. Izlar and A. Hamsley. 2009. A framework for tracking forest industry health: case study of Georgia, Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, 33(4): 157-163.
  • Mendell, B.C., N. Mishra, and T. Sydor. 2008. Investor responses to timberlands structured as real estate investment trusts (REITs), Journal of Forestry, 106(5): 277-280.
  • Sydor, T. and B.C. Mendell. 2008. Transaction evidence analysis: stumpage prices and risk in Central Georgia, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 38(2): 239-246.
  • Mendell, B.C., V. Morales, Z. Bennadji, A. Moreno, and J. Siry. 2007. Financing Uruguay’s forestry sector: survey and case study, Journal of Forestry, 105(3): 125-130.
  • Hamsley, A.K, W.D. Greene, J.P. Siry, and B.C. Mendell. 2007. Improving Timber Trucking Performance by Reducing Variability of Log Truck Weights, Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, 31(1): 12-16. 
  • Mendell, B.C., J. Haber and T. Sydor. 2006.  Evaluating the potential for shared log truck resources in middle Georgia, Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, 30(2): 86-91.
  • Mendell, B.C., T. Sydor, and N. Mishra. 2006. Capital structure in the US forest products industry: the influence of debt and taxes, Forest Science, 52(5): 540-548.
  • Mendell, B.C. 2006. Corporate use of derivatives for hedging in the forest products industry, Journal of Forest Products Business Research, 3(5): 1-9.
  • Mendell, B.C. 2006. Hedging urea for forestry applications in the US South, Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, 30(3): 142-146.