Made this post not so long ago that fits in with this OP.
Good article worth a read by JR.
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Here is a list of the 100 largest landowners in the USA. Gates is 49th and new to the list. The largest landowners are privately held timber and ranching families. Much of the timberland was originally in private ownership from federal grants associated with expansion of the railroads. The list does not include large ownerships traded as corporate shares (this may not be true at present but at one time Chevron was largest owner of ag and in California) or REITs (for example the largest ownership of timberland in the USA, about 7 million acres, is Weyerhaeuser, that is described in wiki as a REIT and not the world's largest lumber producer). For various reasons, I once knew way more about large timberland transactions in the western USA than anyone should.
http://landreport.com/americas-100-largest-landowners/Large timberland owning families at the top of the list
#2 Emmerson (Sierra Pacific Industries)
"owns 1.9 million acres of woodland in northern California and western Washington. He was the third largest landowner in the US in 2016"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Aldis_Emmerson#3 Reed (Simpson Investment / Green Diamond)
"The Reed family is an American business family who focuses on landownership. The family currently controls Simpson Investment Company, established 1890, and its spin-off Green Diamond Resource. The family owns 1.37 million acres across California, Washington and Oregon and is currently the fifth-largest private landowner in the United States."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_family#15 Ford (Roseburg Resources / Lumber)
"Kenneth W. Ford (August 4, 1908 – February 8, 1997) was an American businessman and lumber mill owner from Asotin, Washington, who founded Roseburg Forest Products in 1936. As of 2017, his family was the 12th largest private landowners in the United States owning 783,000 acres in the Pacific Northwest, North Carolina and Virginia"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_W ... usinessman)
#18 Stimson
"Today, Stimson Lumber Company stretches across Oregon, Idaho and Montana. We employ more than 750 people; operate seven mills in Oregon and Idaho; and own and sustainably manage over 500,000 acres of forest land in the western United States. We are proud to be active partners in the communities where we live and do business."
https://www.stimsonlumber.com/company/about-us/#23 Fisher (Humboldt and Mendocino Redwoods, The Gap)
"“The Fisher family's roughly $10 billion in assets are spread across an opaque web of globe-spanning investments. One of their main money vehicles is Sansome Partners, the San Francisco- and Seattle-based investment firm that owns Mendocino Redwood Company and its northerly affiliate, Humboldt Redwood Company. The purpose of Sansome Partners, the company's web site proclaims, is to make “long-term investments in high-quality businesses and assets.”
Best known as owners of The Gap and Banana Republic retail clothing empire, family matriarch Doris Fisher and her sons Robert, William, and John (best known in some circles as the majority owner of the Oakland A's) are all billionaires. Within the Fishers' 440,000 acres of forestland in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma counties, the family may own more coastal redwood forest than any private entity ever has."
https://www.savethemattolesancientfores ... sherfamily
Note Simpson is and was the largest owner of redwood. Simpson owned about 400,000 acres of north coast redwood land (formerly Hammond Lumber, Arcata Barrel, etc) and added the 300,000 acres of Arcata Redwood in late 1980s plus some former Louisiana Pacific lands in Humboldt county. The Fisher's bought Maxxum / Pacific Lumber (minus the Headwaters Forest) and the former Georgia Pacific / Union Lumber tracts in Mendocino and Sonoma.
#33 Collins (Collins Pine, etc)
Know that Collins Pine has about 250,000 acres associated with Collins Pine (once part of Red River Lumber / Walker ownership) in California plus timberland in PA and OR.
"Collins is a family-owned American forest products company that began in operations July 28, 1855. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Collins was the first privately owned forest products company in the United States to have all of its hardwood and softwood forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). In addition to its forests and sawmills, Collins also manufactures siding and trim, particleboard, hardwood, and softwood lumber, and operates retail hardware and lumber yards in northern California. Divisions include: Collins Pine Company, Kane Hardwood, Collins Hardwood LLC, Collins Products LLC, Collins Builders Supply, and the Almanor Railroad."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collins_Companies?? Walker Family (should be listed, formerly Red River Lumber and while most lands were sold, some remain to present managed in family trust relationships)
The Walker family came to prominence via its progenitor, T. B. Walker (Thomas Barlow Walker), a highly successful American businessperson who acquired timber in Minnesota and California and built one of the largest forest products corporations in the nation at the time. He collected art that he made available to the public, and founded the Minneapolis Public Library.[1] He is also the founder and namesake of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Descendants of his son, Clinton Walker, continue to live in Northern California and own 142,500 acres of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified sustainable timberland known as Shasta Forests.[2]
cut
The Walker family's flagship business, the Red River Lumber Company (RRLC), was formed in 1884. It built and operated mills in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Northern California. RRLC was also the "home" of legendary character Paul Bunyan. Stories about Bunyan, a mythical lumber jack, were created by RRLC's publicist using local lumber jack stories. Bunyan eventually became synonymous with RRLC products. Walker's sons took control of RRLC soon after the first mill in California was built in 1912. Walker built several company towns during this time including Akeley, Minnesota, and Westwood, California.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_family
