This post includes data from Forisk’s 2023 North American Timberland Owner & Manager List and the Q2 2023 Forisk Research Quarterly.

Forisk marked its eighteenth year of tracking timberland transactions and aggregating timberland owner data. Currently, this tracking includes 308 organizations in the United States and Canada.  Each organization owns or manages at least 10,000 timberland acres. Over the past 12 months, this list “churned” about 6.6%. Consequently, about 1 in 15 entities changed, reflecting the addition or removal from divestiture or acquisition of significant timberland holdings. This provides support to the notion that timberland owners are continuing to review and modify their businesses and total portfolios.

Timberland Owners

The table below lists the 2023 top 10 timberland owners in the U.S. and Canada. Each organization has a minimum ownership of 1 million acres. The list and order for 2023 is unchanged from 2022. Again, Weyerhaeuser leads all other firms considerably with 10.6 million acres. Their ownership alone comprises 38% of the acreage in the top ten. This is about the same level as the next four firms combined.

Timberland Managers

Of the top 10 timberland managers in the U.S. and Canada, TIMOs, who manage timber assets on behalf of institutional investors and large private investors, hold seven slots. These TIMOs account for 14.7 million acres. This comprises 58% of the 25.2 million acres managed by the top 10 firms (versus 26.0 million in 2022). Also, three forestry consulting and management firms, including the largest organization on this list (American Forest Management), account for the balance. New additions to the list include Anew (Blue Source Sustainable Forests), who purchased the former holdings of the Forestland Group in late 2022[1], and BTG Pactual.

[1] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/11/02/2546812/0/en/Anew-and-OHA-Led-Investor-Consortium-Acquire-1-7-Million-Acre-Timberland-Portfolio-to-Expand-Improved-Forestry-Management-for-Climate-Action.html