Banner Photo: Big Brook Bog on former Connecticut Lakes property in Northern, New Hampshire,
Current Portfolio
The Lyme Forest Fund III acquired 72,500 acres of timberland
from the Wausau Paper Company in December 2011. The property, located in northwestern Wisconsin, is principally forested with red pine plantations and has unique geologic features and natural areas.
Lyme intends to explore possible conservation opportunities in partnership with The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and other local and regional conservation organizations.
Red pine plantation on the property in WI. Photo credit: Landvest.
Lyme acquired approximately 3,200 acres of forestland on Maine's 
Schoodic Peninsula, adjacent to Acadia National Park. The property is completely undeveloped and contains more than a mile of shore frontage, including the 15 acre Sargent's Island. This property has been a high priority for the conservation community for a number of years.
Lyme intends to conserve the property with its partners, including the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Acadia National Park, Friends of Acadia National Park and others. Simultaneously with the purchase, Lyme entered into an option agreement with the Maine Coast Heritage Trust to acquire a conservation easement on the southern portion of the property.
Aerial view of Schoodic lands in Winter Harbor, ME
Lyme Adirondack Forest Company (LAFCo)
Lyme acquired approximately 278,000 acres of land in New York’s Adirondack State Park from International Paper in 2006. The
property comprises the largest private forestland ownership in the state of New York and include some of the region’s highest quality sugar maple stands as well as a diversity of other hardwood and softwood species. The lands also include frontage on a number of scenic rivers and access to undeveloped ponds and lakes in the Adirondacks.
Lyme helped conserve the property through the sale of a working forest conservation easement to the State of New York in 2007. The lands are certified under the terms of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Council. Key partners included The Conservation Fund, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Wildlife patch cut, Adirondacks, NY
The GLS Woodlands property, purchased in 2008, consists of 22,150 acres of land on the east side of West Grand Lake in southeastern Maine. 
The ownership includes 17 miles of undeveloped shoreline on West Grand Lake, Lower Oxbrook Lake, and Big Lake. The property has been a major conservation priority due to the extent of its undeveloped shoreline, the lakes’ unique cold water inland fisheries and its location within a 400,000 acre area of conserved land.
This investment opportunity resulted from the successful partnership with the Downeast Lakes Land Trust, The Conservation Fund, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., the Sustainable Forest Futures of The Northern Forest Center and the State of Maine Department of Conservation. Lyme expects to sell a working forest conservation easement over nearly the entire ownership to the conservation partners who are jointly raising funds to support this transaction.The lands have been certified under the terms of the Forest Stewardship Council.
Aerial view of West Grand Lake, ME (Photo credit: Downeast Lakes Land Trust/ LightHawk)
Lyme’s Tennessee properties consist of 125,000 acres of land and timber interests in the Cumberland Mountains in northeastern Tennessee.
The lands were acquired in 2007 as part of a major conservation initiative sponsored by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen with support from the Tennessee chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Other conservation partners included the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Over 100,000 acres of the property have been permanently protected, and the majority of the ownership has obtained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. A portion of the property has been listed with the California Climate Action Reserve for future carbon credit sales with help from Finite Carbon, Lyme’s joint venture partner in the project.
View of the Cumberland Mountains, TN
The Clarion Timber Company lands are located in northwestern Pennsylvania, south of the Allegheny National Forest. 
This is an unusually productive hardwood region of the US, particularly renowned for the quality of its black cherry. The Clarion lands were purchased in 2004 and have been managed with an emphasis on value accretion. Lyme has sold approximately 17,000 acres of the holding and continues to manage the remaining 4,785 acres. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy was a conservation partner for Lyme in this deal.
Mature red oak stand on Clarion lands
Lyme's Berkshire properties
are part of a small conservation/ development investment in which Lyme aggregated 1,048 acres in southwestern Massachusetts in 2008. Lyme was not able to consummate a conservation sale, as originally planned, and is now exploring alternative sale options.
Hayden Swamp on Berkshires property
Talisheek Pine Savanna, acquired in 2008, consists of 2,510 acres of land adjacent to an important Nature Conservancy preserve in eastern St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. 
The property contains wetlands, working forests and endangered species (namely, the gopher tortoise). Lyme and its joint venture partner, Ecosystem Investment Partners, have established this property as an approved wetland and endangered species mitigation bank. An initial batch of mitigation credits were released and sold.
Restoration work will include removal of the existing pine plantations through timber harvesting and the restoration of a mosaic of longleaf pine savannas, slash/pond pine cypress woodlands, and bayhead swamps through replanting and controlled burns. The restoration of longleaf pine habitat in this area is a high conservation priority because less than 2% of the original habitat remains in Louisiana. The restoration work will also include removal of invasive species and restoring natural hydrology to some portions of the property that have been altered by roads, ditches and culverts.
Restored long leaf pine stand, Louisiana
Nanticoke Headwaters was purchased by Lyme in December 2007 with partners Ecosystem Investment Partners and another investor.
It consists of 1,206 acres of land in southern Delaware and will be established as a wetland and endangered species mitigation bank with credits available for sale on the open market. The property lies within the Cypress Swamp Forest Legacy Area, a conservation priority for the State of Delaware, and contains habitat for the federally listed Delmarva fox squirrel. Over the past two hundred years, the properties have been extensively ditched and drained, resulting in significant alteration of the natural wooded wetlands. Restoration work will return the lands to a natural functioning wetland. Lyme expects to sell a working forest conservation easement on the property. Important conservation partners include The Conservation Fund and the Delaware Department of Parks and Recreation.
Swamp in Nanticoke Headwaters
Great Dismal Swamp, a 1,037 acre in-holding in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
in southeastern Virginia was purchased in 2007 with Ecosystems Investment Partners. The property has been approved as a wetland and endangered species mitigation bank and the initial round of credits has been sold. Restoration work consisted of removing an old airfield, plugging and filling the ditches that had drained the wetland for agriculture, re-contouring the property and replanting nearly 300,000 native trees and shrubs. The land is protected by a conservation easement held by the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Restored wetlands in Great Dismal Swamp
Past Portfolio
The 85,500 acre Chateaugay Woodlands property is located in the northern part of New York's Adirondack State Park. 
It was purchased in 2004 as part of a larger conservation transaction in which The Nature Conservancy acquired the adjacent 20,000 acres in fee and the right to purchase an assignable conservation easement on the lands acquired by Lyme. Lyme obtained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its timber operations and sold a working forest conservation easement on the property to the State of New York. Lyme sold the property to a private timberland investment group in 2009.
Chateaugay Woodlands can generally be categorized as upland woodlands, with mountainous terrain, stream cut valleys and numerous wetlands. Lyme incorporated the protection of all of these sensitive features into its forest management plan and the working forest conservation easement. Its conservation was possible due to Lyme's partnerships with the New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Open Space Institute.
View of Chateaugay Woodlands from Owls Head Mountain
Connecticut Lakes Timber Company
The 146,400 acre Connecticut Lakes Timber Company property is located in northern New Hampshire in the headwaters forest of the Connecticut River. 
Lyme acquired this property in 2002 as part of a larger effort to conserve 171,000 acres in the region, in which 25,000 acres was acquired by NH Fish & Game Department, subject to a conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy. Lyme was selected to buy the remaining 146,000 acres. At the time of Lyme's ownership, it was the largest private land holding in the state.
Lyme sold a working forest conservation easement over the entire property to the New Hampshire Department of Forests and Lands and obtained third-party certification under the guidelines of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on the conserved forests. Conservation partners included the New Hampshire Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the New Hampshire Department of Forests and Lands and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. In 2009, Lyme sold the property to a private timberland investment group.
First Connecticut Lake, Northern NH
Amherst Woodlands, purchased in 2006, consisted of 5,400 acres of timberland in central Maine. 
At closing, the Forest Society of Maine acquired a transferable three-year option to buy the property from Lyme. In 2009, the Forest Society of Maine transferred their purchase rights and Lyme sold the property to the State of Maine Department of Conservation.
Partridge Pond in Amherst, Maine
This 5,768 acre property in central Maine was purchased by Lyme in 
2002 and sold in 2005. It was considered high priority conservation land because of its 16,000 feet of frontage on undeveloped Eagle Lake and is adjacent to another property protected by a working forest conservation easement.
Aerial view of Eagle Lake, ME
In 2000, Lyme purchased the 5,484 acre 13 Mile Woods in Northern New Hampshire. 
The property features mature hardwood and softwood forests, nine miles of frontage along the Androscoggin River, Munn Pond, and many opportunities for public recreation. 13 Mile Woods was identified as an important wildlife corridor in the region, linking Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge to the White Mountain National Forest.
Lyme successfully conserved the majority of the property by selling a working forest conservation easement to The Trust for Public Land. Other important conservation partners included the State of New Hampshire Land and Community Investment Program, the Town of Errol and the US Forest Service Forest Legacy Program. In 2005, the easement encumbered property was acquired by the Town of Errol to be managed as a community forest.
Map of 13 Mile Woods, NH
⇑ back to topThe Mascoma River/Smarts Mountain property, consisting of 6,200 acres in western NH, 
adjoined the Appalachian Trail corridor and a vast holding of conservation land in the area. After its purchase in 1991, Lyme sold an initial conservation easement over 2,130 acres to the State of New Hampshire Land Conservation Investment Program and the Trust for New Hampshire Lands then later sold an additional conservation easement over 2, 230 acres to the US Forest Service. Subsequently, portions of the land were sold in fee to the National Park Service and the US Forest Service to be added to the Appalachian Trail corridor. The balance of the easement encumbered land was sold to a private investor in 1999.
View of Smarts Mountain, NH
The Chittenden Timber Company lands consisted of 8,038 acres in central Vermont and was purchased by Lyme in 1998. At the time, it was the largest private land holding within the Green Mountain National Forest and had been identified by the conservation community as a high propriety for acquisition by the US Forest Service. In 2001, 7,500 acres were sold to the US Forest Service while the remainder was held by Lyme for selective timber harvesting. In 2003, Lyme sold the remainder of the property to a private investor subject to an easement held by The Trust for Public Land.
In 1998, the 2,660 acre Fiery Mountain/Little Pond property in southern Maine was acquired by the Lyme Timber Company. At the time of purchase, Lyme sold a conservation easement covering 30% of the property to the State of Maine Department of Conservation. In addition, Lyme sold portions of the property in fee to the State of Maine Department of Conservation, abutting landowners and a private buyer. In the next two years, other portions were sold to private buyers. In 2001, the balance of the land was sold to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
In 1993, Lyme purchased approximately 10,250 acres of forestland in 40 parcels ranging in size from 80 acres to 2,300 acres in southern Maine. The property contained high quality forestland with 14.4 miles of public road frontage and 4.4 miles of pond and river frontage. Between 1994 and 1996, Lyme sold approximately 10,000 acres to private investors. In 1999, the remainder of the land, including two miles of sensitive river frontage on the Saco River, was sold on a bargain-sale basis to the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to be conserved.
Located in central Pennsylvania, the 2,500 acre Kingwood Forest Tract was managed as a long term, high quality forestland holding, operated on a sustained yield basis. The property includes three miles of frontage on Laurel Hill Creek, a regionally important trout stream. This property was purchased in 1991 and sold in 1998.
Vermont Forest Conservation Fund
Lyme organized the Vermont Forest Conservation Fund to invest in Vermont forestland with significant conservation values. In1996, the Fund purchased 3,654 acres of forestland in northern Vermont adjacent to the Long Trail. In 1999, a conservation easement was sold to the Vermont Land Trust over the entire property and in 2001 the easement encumbered land was sold to a private investor. Another conservation partner in this transaction was the Catamount Trail Association.