ABSTRACT
Investors felt comfortable enough about both the short-term and long-term future to move to take advantage of the market growth and cost trends that they thought they could foresee. One can argue that a private forestry investment plan or strategy is possible only on a long-term basis. One aspect of private forestry investments is that they can be viewed as being both site-specific and investor-sensitive--which tends to make it difficult to rationalize private forest investment strategy. A judicious investor could purchase a forest property and soon earn enough after taxes by harvesting the mature timber to recoup the original capital. Several factors distinguish nonindustrial private investments in forestry from industrial investments and are relevant from the standpoint of investment strategies. Private forestry investment offers an excellent opportunity for estate building on several counts. The small private forest investor has available a limited investment tax credit that could largely offset the out-of-pocket costs of intensifying the assetbuilding process.
