Rayonier Inc, headquartered in Wildlight, Florida, is a timberland real estate investment trust ("REIT") with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Its core business segments are timber and real estate.
As of December 31, 2022, the company owned or leased approximately 2.8 million acres of timberlands overall, located in the U.S. South (1.92 million acres) and U.S. Pacific Northwest (474,000 acres). The company also has a 77% ownership interest in Matariki Forestry Group, a joint venture, that owns or leases approximately 417,000 acres of timberlands in New Zealand.[2]
Rainier Pulp and Paper changed its name to Rayonier, a portmanteau of the words rayon and Rainier, in 1937, when it became a publicly traded company. The following year, the company acquired timber stands in the southeastern United States, and began construction of a Fernandina Beach, Florida, pulp mill, which began production in 1939.[6]
In 1944, the company moved its offices to New York City. As World War II ended, Rayonier began making large land purchases in the Pacific Northwest. The Rayonier Foundation was created in 1952 to provide assistance to charitable, civic and education organizations in the communities where Rayonier did business.[citation needed]
Rayonier opened international sales offices in Europe and Asia during 1954. That same year, another pulp mill in the southeast was constructed at Jesup, Georgia. High demand prompted the facility to double its capacity by 1957.[citation needed]
ITT purchased the company in 1968 and the name changed to ITT Rayonier.[7]
The Jesup mill grew larger in 1974, becoming the largest pulp mill on earth.[8]
Diplomatic relations with China were restored in 1979. The following year, Rayonier received orders for pulp and logs. It took almost five years to receive permission to open an office in Beijing in 1985.[citation needed]
A log-trading office was opened in New Zealand during 1988. The New Zealand government sold Rayonier 250,000 acres (1,000km2) of timberland in 1992.[citation needed]
The company was spun off from ITT in 1994 with the company name reverting to Rayonier and shares again traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rayonier purchased 969,000 acres (3,920km2) of timberland in Florida, Georgia and Alabama in 1999, then relocated the corporate offices to Jacksonville, Florida, to be closer to company employees and properties.[9]
Rayonier converted to a real estate investment trust (REIT) on January 1, 2004.[10] TerraPointe LLC was established in 2005 to manage properties with development potential.[11]
The 2006 purchase of 228,000 acres (920km2) in six states brought the company's total of land owned, leased or managed to 2,600,000 acres (11,000km2) in the U.S. and New Zealand.
In March 2008, the company purchased 56,300 acres (228km2) for $215 million in southwest Washington state from Sierra Pacific [12]
In April 2013, the company increased its shareholding in the joint venture Matariki Forestry Group in New Zealand from 26% to 65% for $140 million.[4]
In May 2014, Rayonier named David L. Nunes as post-separation president and CEO for Rayonier.[14]
A class action against members of the former management team by certain shareholders was launched for the period from October 26, 2010, to November 7, 2014, claiming over-harvesting while communicating publicly harvesting below a sustainable rate.[15] On October 5, 2017, the court entered orders approving the settlement and a plan of distribution terminating these class actions.
In June 2014, Rayonier spun off its performance fibers business into an independent, publicly traded company, Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. (NYSE: RYAM).[16][17] Shareholders of Rayonier received one share of the new Rayonier Advanced Materials company for every three shares of Rayonier on June 27, 2014.[3][18]
In August 2015, Rayonier announced its ownership in the New Zealand joint venture will increase from 65% to approximately 77%, as part of an anticipated recapitalization of the JV.[19]
In May 2016, Rayonier announced upgrades to it Pacific Northwest timberland portfolio through the acquisition of 61,000 acres of timberlands in western Oregon for $263 million, and a disposition of 55,000 acres comprising predominantly pre-merchantable timber in Washington state for $130 million.[20]
In August 2017, Rayonier consolidated its corporate headquarters, real estate, and forest resources offices into a newly constructed, state-of-the-art building in Wildlight, Florida.[21] The company is currently constructing a 23,600 acre development in Wildlight.[22] It began work on phase two of the project in 2022, developing 15,000 acres of land.[23]
In May 2020, Rayonier acquired Pope Resources in the Pacific Northwest.[2]
Nassau County is the northeasternmost county of the U.S. state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county's population was 101,501 on July 1, 2023, up from 90,352 at the 2020 census.
Yulee is a census-designated place (CDP) located within Nassau County, Florida, in the United States. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 14,195, up from 11,491 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Yulee is a residential bedroom community for individuals commuting to Jacksonville, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and various locations in Southeast Georgia.
Boise Cascade Company is an American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
The Weyerhaeuser Company is an American timberland company which owns nearly 12,400,000 acres of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional 14,000,000 acres of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a century. It operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT).
PotlatchDeltic Corporation is an American diversified forest products company based in Spokane, Washington.
Temple-Inland, Inc. was an American corrugated packaging and building products company. It was acquired by International Paper in 2012.
Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. was a timberland owner and manager, as well as a forest products, mineral extraction, and property development company, until it merged with Weyerhaeuser Company. It was headquartered in Suite 3100 at 601 Union Street in Seattle.
Tembec Industries Inc., known as Tembec, was a paper company in Canada, founded by Frank Dottori. In 2011, Tembec had approximately 3000 employees, with locations in Canada, United States, and France. Tembec's operating divisions included Forest Products, Pulp, Paper & Paperboard, and Chemicals.
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) is an American building materials manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 and LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels. Currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, LP is the world's largest producer of OSB and manufactures engineered wood building products. LP products are sold to builders and homeowners through building materials distributors and dealers and retail home centers.
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The St. Joe Company is a land development company headquartered in Panama City Beach, Florida. Founded in 1936 and until 1966 known as St. Joe Paper Company, the company still operates a forestry division but is primarily engaged in real estate development and asset management. The company's land holdings are concentrated in Northwest Florida with the vast majority located in Bay and Walton counties. Of the 110,500 acres The St. Joe Company owns that fall within the Bay-Walton Sector Plan, 53,000 acres were placed into conservation by the company. The company develops its land for a variety of uses including residential neighborhoods, hotels, apartment communities, leasable commercial space, office buildings and medical facilities among others.
The Simpson Investment Company is a privately held holding company based in Seattle, Washington in the US Pacific Northwest that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company is now owned by the Reed family.
Crown Zellerbach was an American pulp and paper conglomerate based in San Francisco, California, purchased in a hostile takeover in 1985. Most of its pulp and paper assets were sold to James River Corporation, now part of Georgia-Pacific.
Western Forest Products Inc. is a Canadian lumber company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Interfor Corporation is one of the largest lumber producers in the world. The company's sawmilling operations have a combined manufacturing capacity of over 5.2 billion board feet of lumber with sales to North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Interfor is based in Vancouver, BC and employs approximately 5200 people. In May 2014, Interfor opened its corporate office for the USA south-east region at Peachtree City, Georgia.
Rayonier Advanced Materials recently rebranded as RYAM. RYAM is an American company recognized globally for its cellulose-based technologies. Specializing in high-purity cellulose specialties, RYAM produces natural polymers extensively used in manufacturing filters, food, pharmaceuticals, and various industrial applications. Additionally, the company produces products for the paper and packaging industries. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RYAM. RYAM is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, with manufacturing operations in the U.S., Canada, and France. The company was formed in 2014 when Rayonier, Inc. divided into two separate entities: Rayonier retained its real estate and forest resource operations, while RYAM took over the management of the performance fibers division.
The wood industry or timber industry is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products and secondary products like wood pulp for the pulp and paper industry. Some of the largest producers are also among the biggest owners of forest. The wood industry has historically been and continues to be an important sector in many economies.
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company was a lumber products company with large sawmills and significant land holdings in Minnesota, Florida, British Columbia, and Central Oregon. The company was formed in 1901 with its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Beginning in 1915, its main lumber production facility was in Bend, Oregon. For many years, its Bend sawmill was one of the largest lumber producers in the world. In 1969, the company created Brooks Resources to broaden its business base beyond timber production. Brooks-Scanlon's Bend sawmill was closed in 1994. Today, Brooks Resources is the only vestige of the company that is still in business.
Pope & Talbot, Inc. was a lumber company and shipping company founded by Andrew Jackson Pope and Frederic Talbot in 1849 in San Francisco, California. Pope and Talbot came to California in 1849 from East Machias, Maine. Pope & Talbot lumber company was very successful, with the high demand of the 1849 Gold Rush. Andrew Jackson Pope was born on Jan. 6, 1820, in East Machias, Maine, and died on Dec. 18, 1878, in San Francisco. Frederic Talbot was born on February 26, 1819, in East Machias, Maine and died on December 20, 1907, in San Francisco.
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US$909 million (2022) [2] 
