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South is for sale by timber giants Page 1 of 2 4 Posted on Tue , Aug . 05 , 2003 IMIARASMWMkT South is for sale by timber giants THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MADISON , Ga . - Soaring property taxes and increasing debt have forced giant timber companies to put millions of acres of timberland up for sale across the South . The Georgia office of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Co . plans to sell roughly 30 , 000 acres in Morgan , Putnam and Oconee counties for more than $ 3 , 000 an acre . The company also announced plans to sell 174 , 000 acres in Tennessee and 170 , 000 in the Carolinas . Weyerhaeuser' s land sale is one of the biggest in Georgia , and it ' s part of a modern land rush occurring in the South . Giant timber companies are selling forest land as they try to cut costs to offset mergers and operational changes . Plus , larger tracts and corporate lands are taxed at market value . In areas such as north Georgia , where land values are rising rapidly , taxes are making it too expensive for corporations to hold on to their forests . " It seems like the whole South is for sale , " said Ken Driggers of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation in Columbia , S . C . Last year, more than 1 . 2million acres of timberland in the South were sold for nearly $ 1billion . Among this year' s big land sales , Bowater Inc . - the second - biggest producer of newsprint in North America - has sold 82 , 000 acres of it property in northeast Georgia to an investment subsidiary of Wachovia . The timber company plans to sell another 264 , 000 acres in the Carolinas later this year . Texas - based TempleInland intends to put 160 , 000 acres of its land in Georgia in a " high - value " category , making its forests too valuable for timber production . TempleInland has hired an Atlanta real estate group to investigate development potential . For now , it seems investors are the most interested in purchasing timberlands . The U . S . Forest Service estimates that 12million acres of Southern forest land - an area equal to about two - thirds of South Carolina - will be developed during the next 20 years . Forestry experts say ownership changes will hurt wildlife and the environment by dividing whole forests among developers . "The large forest tracts help protect air and water quality , " said Andy Stone , president of the Georgia Forestry Association . " But many of the new buyers are not interested in keeping the large tracts intact . " The state currently leases tens of thousands of forest acres from timber companies for wildlife http : //www . tallahassee . com/mld/democrat/6457649 . htm? template=contentModules/printst . . . 8 / 18 /2003