By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
Lyme Timber Company, a Hanover, New Hampshire-based timber manager, has increased its exposure to natural capital in the Appalachian corridor. One of Lyme Timber’s affiliates has teamed up with the Kestrel Land Trust and The Trustees of Reservations to purchase 2,864 acres of timberland in western Massachusetts from family-owned lumber company W.D. Cowls in a conservation push.
Timber and natural capital are increasingly viewed as resilient asset classes amid ongoing economic headwinds, offering investors a hedge against inflation, market volatility and broader uncertainties like interest rate fluctuations and geopolitical tensions. For example, the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) has been an active backer of timberland managers this year, reportedly earmarking $210 million to Lyme Timber’s open-ended Lyme Forest Fund VI and $210 million to BTG Pactual’s Open Ended Core U.S. Timberland Fund, bringing the investment tally to $420 million to timberland in 2025.
Back to the deal at hand, Lyme and Kestrel will work together to maintain public access of the land for recreational purposes while securing them indefinitely to support wildlife habitats, bolster climate resilience and improve water quality. Lyme’s portfolio comprises 1.3 million acres of third-party certified working forests across New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Lyme Timber Managing Director Peter Stein stated, “Lyme is pleased with the opportunity help acquire these additional forested tracts for conservation, adding to the hundreds of thousands of acres of land we’ve permanently protected with partners across New England. Each of these newly acquired properties is critical to maintaining connectivity to benefit wildlife habitat and water quality in the Connecticut River Valley and is part of a broader national effort to protect the broader Appalachian landscape.”
According to the announcement, North Amherst–based W.D. Cowls has negotiated the conservation sale of 19 timber parcels in Hampshire and Franklin counties to an affiliate of the Lyme Timber Company, with Kestrel Land Trust leading the effort. The tracts are situated alongside existing reserves, extending a contiguous conservation footprint across the region. In a conservation initiative, Lyme will work with Kestrel and The Trustees of Reservations to keep the properties open to the public and place them under permanent protection for wildlife habitat, climate resilience and water quality. The project is expected to be completed by year-end.
The conservation initiative protects cold-water fisheries critical to the Connecticut River watershed. These include 6,000 feet of the North Branch of the Manhan River, 3,000 feet each of Rice Brook and Foundry Brook, and 1,550 feet of Tucker Brook. Also safeguarded are local peaks such as Breakneck Hill, with an elevation of 1,331 feet, Cub Hill at 1,380 feet, and Catamount Mountain, standing 1,400 feet. The project also safegauards key headwater areas, including Johnny Brook, Bean Brook, Roaring Brook, Nye Brook and Beaver Brook, as well as multiple large wetland complexes, such as part of Lily Pond.
Lyme Timber’s latest initiative builds upon a separate recent acquisition, also from W.D. Cowls, that spanned 2,396 acres across Pelham, Belchertown, Amherst, Gill and New Salem. That earlier deal locked in two of Massachusetts’ biggest unprotected forest blocks, preserved several miles of the Robert Frost Trail and brought parts of the Metacomet-Monadnock National Scenic Trail back to its original path. Together, these back-to-back efforts highlight a ramp-up in long-term land conservation across the Connecticut River Valley.
The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.