PENNVEST has approved loans totaling nearly $50 million to an affiliate of The Lyme Timber Company LP for land purchases in northwest Pennsylvania.

Lyme purchased a 163,500-acre hardwood property in southern West Virginia from affiliates of The Forestland Group (TFG).

Lyme purchased 52,800 acres and secured the purchase of an additional 15,000 acres in northwest Pennsylvania and southwest New York, a region known for its high-quality hardwoods, including black cherry. The lands link national forest land and existing state-owned land and because of their location at the headwaters of the Allegheny River and Susquehanna River watersheds, have been identified as conservation priorities.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced PENNVEST’s $25.4 million loan commitment to an affiliate of the Lyme Timber Company LP to create new forest-related jobs, leverage private sector investment in the local economy, and ensure clean water for surrounding communities. The commitment contemplates the donation of a working forest conservation easement on 9,362 acres of the property to be purchased, as well as an acid mine drainage restoration project.

Funds sponsored by The Lyme Timber Company sold 78,986 acres of timberlands located in northwestern Wisconsin to Hancock Timber Resource Group. Lyme is proud to have been part of the largest land conservation effort in Wisconsin’s history. As a result of its investment activities, over 90 percent of the land being sold to Hancock will be managed in perpetuity under the protection of conservation easements that restrict development and ensure responsible forest management.

Fund IV acquired 71 acres of undeveloped land in northern San Diego County in order to establish a wetland mitigation bank. The property was formerly a golf course, and will be restored to re-establish historic stream, riparian, floodplain, wetland, and upland habitats. Site restoration will also benefit a number of listed species.

Located in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee, this tract is part of a larger 200,000-acre conserved forest.  The property was conserved by a prior owner and is third-party certified as sustainably managed by FSC.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved the purchase of a conservation easement on 7,090 acres of the Lyme Solon Springs Forest, which is part of Wisconsin’s Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest.

The grant, announced by CEI Capital Management today, is the last phase of a 2009 New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing that protected 22,000 acres of forestland to support the outdoor recreation industry, including sporting camps and lodges and professional guiding.

The project represents a unique interpretive opportunity, demonstrating how commercial timber harvesting can create young forest habitat for wildlife in a carefully planned, science-based, sustainable manner over many decades.