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International Paper Sells 218,000 Acres of Southern Timberland

International Paper announced it will sell off 218,000 acres of forestlands in 10 states for $300 million in the single largest private land conservation sale in the history of the South. The purchasers include the Nature Conservancy, which will acquire more than 173,000 acres in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Conservation Fund, which will acquire more than 5,000 acres in Florida and 500 in North Carolina. The two organizations will jointly purchase 39,000 acres in South Carolina.

IP will receive approximately $1376 per acre based on the purchase price announced at their website. Closing is expected in the second quarter. The tracts include some of International Paper’s most ecologically important lands. The majority of the land will remain working forests. Under the terms of the agreement, timber will be harvested from some tracts and a set amount of timber volume will be supplied to International Paper for local production.

This historic transaction demonstrates the compatibility of environmental, recreational, and economic interests, and is a testimony to International Paper’s legacy of sustainably managing healthy, working forestlands and protecting special forestlands for 108 years, said John Faraci, International Paper chairman and chief executive officer.

- Eric O'Keefe