This is the first in a series related to Forisk’s research of U.S. timberland ownership.

Since 2010, Forisk has tracked U.S. timberland ownership to support its forestry investment research and study of timberland investment vehicles.  In 2012, we published for the first time a detailed Timberland Owner List with state-level holdings of the primary owners of private timberland in the United States. As of 2014, “industrial” and “institutional” and “investable” acres include:

• 92.2 million acres of timberlands; and
• 302 organizations that own/manage at least 10,000 acres each.

The 2014 group includes the addition of 36 organizations that own at least 10,000 acres of U.S. timberlands and the removal of 20 organizations that liquidated their holdings or merged with other firms over the past twelve months.

Industrial timberland ownership and management in the U.S. skews strongly to larger firms.  Economies of scale and the significant resources required for operations drive this reality.  Of the 92.2 million timberland acres captured, 85.5 million (93%) acres are with organizations that own or manage 100,000 acres or more each.  The figure below breaks down the 100,000+ acre owners by type. Institutional investors and TIMOs (timberland investment management organizations) represent 43% of these acres, while public timber REITs (real estate investment trusts) account for 21%.

US Timberland Owner by Type for Organizations with 100,000+ Acres

To learn more about the 2014 Timberland Owner List, click here or contact Heather Clark at hclark@forisk.com, 770.725.8447.