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How about a private company (Weyerhaeuser) owning 12.4 million acres of timberlands. It's about twice the size of Maryland!

by tcbawo 8y ago

megaman22 8y ago
That's a result of them buying Plum Creek. Also the decline of the paper industry making the kind of vertical integration that Boise and Meade and International Paper and others formerly engaged in less useful.
jobu 8y ago
Growing timber like Weyerhaeuser does should probably be counted as cropland. They grow mono-culture trees the same way most farmers grow corn, but instead of harvesting every year it's every couple decades. The very last line is what bothers me the most: "since 2008 the amount of land owned by the 100 largest private landowners has grown from 28 million acres to 40 million, an area larger than the state of Florida." That much land-wealth locked up by a handful of individuals seems like yet another knock against economic mobility. At one time people feared that sort of wealth concentration could mean a return of the aristocracy and was slowed somewhat through estate taxes.
- fipple 8y ago
  If Ted Turner is who they’re talking about it’s mainly useless land and he doesn’t even own the mineral rights.
- 13of40 8y ago
  I think they actually do get a property tax break because it's farmland.
poulsbohemian 8y ago
Comparing their ownership to a state sounds like a lot, until you realize that Maryland is 12,400 square miles and that 12.4 million acres is really only 19,400 square miles (if my math is correct). Just a reminder that Alaska is 665,384 square miles by itself. So put in those terms, over the entire land mass of the US, Weyerhaeuser doesn't look so out of balance.
- tcbawo 8y ago
  Not that it matters, but Maryland is 12,400 square miles by total area, but 9,700 in land area. Maybe Vermont (9,600/9,200) is a better example. Using either example, that's a lot of land! Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... Also, here's an article with an interesting map of their holdings: https://www.opb.org/news/article/weyerhaeuser-plum-creek-timberland-timber-merger/ https://www.opb.org/news/article/weyerhaeuser-plum-creek-tim...

How about a private company (Weyerhaeuser) owning 12.4 million acres of timberlands. It's about twice the size of Maryland!

by tcbawo 8y ago

How about a private company (Weyerhaeuser) owning 12.4 million acres of timberlands. It's about twice the size of Maryland!

megaman22 8y ago

That's a result of them buying Plum Creek. Also the decline of the paper industry making the kind of vertical integration that Boise and Meade and International Paper and others formerly engaged in less useful.

jobu 8y ago

Growing timber like Weyerhaeuser does should probably be counted as cropland. They grow mono-culture trees the same way most farmers grow corn, but instead of harvesting every year it's every couple decades. The very last line is what bothers me the most: "since 2008 the amount of land owned by the 100 largest private landowners has grown from 28 million acres to 40 million, an area larger than the state of Florida." That much land-wealth locked up by a handful of individuals seems like yet another knock against economic mobility. At one time people feared that sort of wealth concentration could mean a return of the aristocracy and was slowed somewhat through estate taxes.

fipple 8y ago
If Ted Turner is who they’re talking about it’s mainly useless land and he doesn’t even own the mineral rights.
13of40 8y ago
I think they actually do get a property tax break because it's farmland.

poulsbohemian 8y ago

Comparing their ownership to a state sounds like a lot, until you realize that Maryland is 12,400 square miles and that 12.4 million acres is really only 19,400 square miles (if my math is correct). Just a reminder that Alaska is 665,384 square miles by itself. So put in those terms, over the entire land mass of the US, Weyerhaeuser doesn't look so out of balance.

tcbawo 8y ago
Not that it matters, but Maryland is 12,400 square miles by total area, but 9,700 in land area. Maybe Vermont (9,600/9,200) is a better example. Using either example, that's a lot of land! Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... Also, here's an article with an interesting map of their holdings: https://www.opb.org/news/article/weyerhaeuser-plum-creek-timberland-timber-merger/ https://www.opb.org/news/article/weyerhaeuser-plum-creek-tim...