About The Lyme Timber Company · Hanover
The Lyme Timber Company is a private timberland investment management firm founded in 1976, specializing in forest-related investments across the United States and Canada. It manages a portfolio of approximately 1.3 million acres of third-party certified working forests, focusing on sustainable forest management, conservation, and ecosystem services. The company also offers advisory services and raises capital through private equity funds, while supporting local forestry operations through investments in sawmills and log distribution yards. It is now 100% owned by current employees, following the buyout of original owners in 2022.
Established in 1976, The Lyme Timber Company LLC is a private investment firm focused on timberland and forestland assets in the U.S. and Canada. Its portfolio spans over 1.3 million acres across multiple regions including the Northeast, Appalachian, Lake States, and the U.S. South. The company emphasizes conservation, sustainable forest management, and ecosystem services, having conserved over 900,000 acres in the past 30 years. It also develops business lines in wetland mitigation banking and carbon sequestration. Lyme seeks to combine environmental stewardship with operational performance to generate income from sustainable timber harvesting. The firm raises capital through private equity funds and offers timberland investment management for individual accounts. It is now 100% employee-owned, following the buyout of original owners in 2022.
- In business
- since 1976
- Serves
- United States and Canada
About Us
Founded in 1976, The Lyme Timber Company is a private timberland investment management company that focuses on forest-related investments in the US and Canada. The Company’s current portfolio includes approximately 1.3 million acres of third party certified working forest in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Lyme is a leader in land conservation, sustainable forest management, and ecosystem services, having conserved over 900,000 acres of working forest over the past 30 years and developed business lines in forest management services, wetland mitigation banking, and carbon sequestration.
History
The Lyme Timber Company began investing in timberland and rural real estate in 1976. During its first 25 years, Lyme made a series of $1 million to $10 million investments in forestland properties throughout the eastern US. Proceeds from Lyme’s early timberland investments and from offerings of limited partnership units in 1993 were used to capitalize Lyme Properties, a subsidiary company focused on the development of commercial real estate. Between 1993 and 2006, Lyme Properties became the largest life sciences property developer in New England. The Lyme Properties business was sold in a series of transactions culminating in 2007. In 2022, The Lyme Timber Company LLC bought out the remaining passive interest of the original owners and is now 100% owned by current employees.
Portfolio
Our portfolio includes approximately 1.3 million acres with timberland holdings in the Northeast, Appalachian region, Lake States, and US south. Lyme seeks to combine its conservation strategies with operational performance to generate attractive income yields from sustainable timber harvesting.