| dc.description.abstract |
Forestry in the United States has changed rapidly in the past 20 years. Ownership
of private forest land has changed from Integrated Forest Products Firms (IFP) to
smaller landowners and investors. TIMOs have proliferated and purchased land rapidly
following the sale of many IFP tracts. With the bevy of land sales, conservation
groups have taken notice and have also been trying to obtain land, through fee sales
as well as conservation easements in order to protect and prevent the rapid development
that has replaced many traditional forest lands. One of the more interesting phenomena
that has occurred amidst these swift changes in ownership and status of forestlands
is the partnership between strictly for profit TIMOs and non-profit conservation groups
to obtain adequate returns to investors yet preserve working landscapes and prevent
development. Interviews with fifteen TIMO and conservation group managers (seven
TIMO executives, seven conservation group specialists, one retired individual that
worked for both entities) was able to provide insight into the motivation for these
agreements, nature of the relationships, management objectives, and areas for further
research. Issues investigated in this paper include, structure of agreements, easements,
emerging markets, profit shelters for non-profits, Conservation TIMOs, the future
for TIMO holdings, and conservation labeling.
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