Unclear what land sale means to county
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

More than a week after Temple-Inland announced it would separate into three companies and divest itself of 1.8 million acres of timberland, little more has been said by the company.

The day after the announcement was made public, the Temple-Inland office in Jasper was surrounded by dozens of dusty pick-up trucks, as men and women who work in the forestry divisions attempted to find out what impact this would have on their jobs.

Temple owns 1.2 million acres of timberland in Texas, 260,000 acres in Jasper County, according to Carolyn Elmore, communications director.

That translates to 406 square miles of Jasper County's 937 square miles; 43 percent.

Tom McClurg, executive director of the Jasper Economic Development Corporation, said he anticipates no immediate change in economic status.

"Basically, the real estate changes hands but timber still goes to mills," McClurg said. Other large corporations like Weyerhauser, Louisiana Pacific and International Paper have all gone the route of divesting themselves of land ownership, without mills or logging suffering any drastic changes.

Temple Inland was the last large land holder, the single largest timberlands owner in the country.

"I'm hoping we will continue along the same lines," McClurg said. "Instead of one central land holder, we will be dealing with timber investors. The only immediate impact, I don't know, might be in foresters and property managers."

Trent Ashby, executive director of the Pineywoods Economic Partnership, said much the same thing as McClurg.

"I would be guessing at this point. At some level it will have an impact on East Texas but it would be premature to speculate on just how much it will affect us and what our land ownership picture will look like in the coming years," Ashby said.

Ashby has heard of reports that the high value Temple property near Atlanta, GA, will likely be spun off into real estate development, but he considers that unlikely in East Texas.

"I haven't had any conversation with any Temple employees. I guess the question on everybody's mind is how that will change the make-up and fabric of our region. We'll just have to wait and see," Ashby said.

Temple-Inland press releases do say that land sales will include agreements to fulfill mill contracts for timber harvest.

In the Lufkin Daily News, Temple-Inland chairman Kenneth Jastrow II was quoted as saying, "Let me be a little bit vague on that (transfer of timber to real estate) since we haven't completed the work...but certainly you would expect a good portion of that would be around Atlanta."

Jasper County extension agent Ricky Thompson said, "Surely it's going to have an effect, but whoever comes in, (the land) is going to remain in timber as far as I can see. My perspective is that as long as it stays in timber, regardless of who owns it, it is the same benefit to our county.

"We really won't know where this is headed until we know who buys its. Temple has been a good steward. We can only hope the next company will do as well, but I don't see any drastic change as a result of this announcement," Thompson said.

Ron Hufford is executive director of the Texas Forestry Association, a 3,000 member group representing the timber interests of landowners, loggers and mills throughout East Texas.

Hufford said, "We've seen various companies sell to real estate investment trusts. In every situation thus far, we've seen long-term cutting agreements, land stewardship and forest management plans as part of the contracts.

"It's still too early, but I would imagine they (whoever buys Temple properties) will also enter into long-term contracts. When International Paper sold their land to two major management companies the land sale was based on 30 and 50 year contracts with mills and on sustainable forestry practices.

"I think Temple-Inland's press releases have been very positive and that they are trying to look to the future and keep the manufacturing plants open. They are basing their decision on what's best for the operation of the mills, and I think that's a very positive thing," Hufford said