For more than 30 years, SGR has advised timberland owners, managers and others in the forest products industry in connection with all legal aspects of acquiring, owning and managing timberland properties. Comprised of lawyers from our Real Estate, Corporate, Tax, Environmental, and International practice groups, SGR’s Timber Law group advises clients on acquisitions and dispositions of timberland properties all across the United States. While our group has represented clients in some of the largest timberland transactions on record involving hundreds of thousands of acres, our depth and experience allow us also to handle small tract transactions in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Our timber group advises on the full range of operational issues related to timberlands, including assisting our clients with forest carbon projects, the leasing of timberlands for solar and wind projects, and the negotiation of wood supply agreements, working forest conservation easements, and wildlife management agreements. As a number of our clients are foreign investors, we advise on entity structuring and tax issues for those clients, as well as on required regulatory filings.

The following is a representative list of major timberland transactions which Smith, Gambrell & Russell timber law attorneys have closed:

• $1.39 billion acquisition of 1.1 million acres of timberlands located in Texas
• $650 million credit facility secured by timberlands in Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida
• Acquisition and subsequent sale of 900,000 fee and leasehold acres in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas
• Acquisition of 500,000 acres of fee lands in Nova Scotia, Canada
• Acquisition of 900,000 acres in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee
• $80 million loan secured by timberlands in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Washington, South Carolina, and North Carolina
• Acquisition of 629,000 fee acres in Maine and New Hampshire
• Sale of 600,000 acres of timber rights in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia
• Acquisition of 370,000 fee acres and 34,000 leasehold acres in Alabama
• Acquisition of 280,000 fee acres in Virginia
• Acquisition of 201,000 acres of fee and leasehold acres in Alabama and Mississippi
• $50 million loan secured by 68,000 acres of timberlands in Alabama
• Acquisition of 160,000 fee acres in California, Oregon, Mississippi, and North Carolina
• Acquisition of 280,000 fee acres and 30,000 leasehold acres in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Alabama, and Mississippi
• Acquisition of 225,000 fee acres in Oklahoma and Arkansas
• Acquisition of 440,000 fee acres in Maine
• Acquisition of 56,000 fee acres and 5,000 leasehold acres in Louisiana and Texas