Institutional Timberland Ownership in the US South: Magnitude, Location, Dynamics, and Management

Author： Zhang Daowei Butler Brett J. Nagubadi Rao V.

Publisher： Society of American Foresters

ISSN： 0022-1201

Source： Journal of Forestry, Vol.110, Iss.7, 2012-10, pp. : 355-361

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Abstract

We have compiled an exhaustive list of timberland investment management organizations (TIMOs) and timberland real estate investment trusts (REITs) and used USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory Analysis data to quantify their acreage, distribution, dynamics, and management practices. We find that TIMOs and REITs own/manage about 16 million ac or 10% of the timberland across 11 southern states and that they manage these forests in a sustainable fashion in terms of growth-to-removals and reforestation. Furthermore, TIMOs and REITs own/manage more forest plantations than other owners and harvest more hardwood than is grown. Most of the timberland owned and managed by TIMOs and REITs, located mainly in the southern coastal plain and Piedmont regions, were previously owned by forest industry firms.