The Magazine of the American Landowner is an essential guide for investors, landowners, and those interested in buying or selling land. The award-winning quarterly is known for its annual survey of America's largest landowners, The Land Report 100.
Issue link: https://landreport.epubxp.com/i/738657
A paramount example of this would be American Timberland's Carter Stilley Wetland and Stream Mitigation Bank. The 3,170-acre tract near South Carolina's Myrtle Beach was prime wetlands until a paper and forest product company acquired it in the mid-1900s. After felling the hard- woods, Carter Stilley was ditched, drained, and converted to upland to facilitate faster growth. For the next 70 years, it was a pine plantation. When American Timberlands acquired it in 2014, it was in rough shape. "By virtue of our experience working for forest product companies, it's very easy for us to identify sites where this kind of thing has taken place," Rowland says. First, the pine trees were harvested. Then, native hardwood species were planted. At the same time, wetlands were restored. Today, Carter Stilley looks much like its former self. Not your typical timber investment, right? Well, there's an added twist. Take the initial timber value of the pine. Restore the wet- lands to create a mitigation bank. Then sell the credits. The result is a hefty ROI. The Clean Water Act states that there can be no net loss of wetlands in the United States. This means that no matter if you are the US Department of Defense, a state high- way department, a real estate developer, or a private landowner, you cannot impact, fill, or destroy wetlands without supporting the creation of another wetlands within the same region. So building a highway or a shopping center can also mean buying credits from a mitigation bank such as Carter Stilley. The creation of a wetland mitigation bank develops a valuable income stream from a timberland investment that enhances typical timberland yields. It also adds to the recre- ational and aesthetic value of a property. In addition, it also benefits the environment while simultaneously providing for economic development. With Carter Stilley, American Timberlands knew it was sitting on a good investment. The tract was located in a coastal wetland, and after doing some due diligence, manage- ment realized that the bank would be the first in South Carolina to have coastal stream restoration credits. "There were many stream restoration credits available but not coastal stream credits, so we knew that there was a market there," Rowland says. 70 The LandReport | FA L L 2 0 1 6 LANDREPORT.COM SHUTTERSTOCK