Expert: Steve Summers - 10/19/2004

Question
Is Southern Pacific railroad still biggest landowner in California?
thanks  

Answer
Hi Glenda,

Not any more. Sierra Pacific Industries is the largest. One of the largest landowners in the US, SPI owns 1.5 million acres of California timberlands. SPI produces millwork, lumber, and wood fiber products and aluminum clad and wood patio doors and specialty windows. SPI operates cogeneration plants that recycle wood waste into electricity for powering its plants; excess electricity is sold to local utilities and energy service providers. The company also develops residential and commercial real estate. SPI traces its roots to a company started in the late 1920s by R. H. "Curly" Emmerson, father of CEO "Red" Emmerson. The third generation of the Emmerson family owns and operates Sierra Pacific.

The second largest private owner of land in CA is the Irvine Company, based in Newport Beach. The company creates master-planned communities in Orange County, of which the company owns some 50,000 acres (making it California's largest landowner). The company's land is called Irvine Ranch and includes the US's largest planned community, Irvine, with more than 150,000 residents; Its core holdings are derived from the 120,000-acre Irvine Ranch, formed in the mid-1800s when James Irvine bought out the debts of Mexican land-grant holders. Chairman Donald Bren, one of America's wealthiest men, owns the company.

The largest landowner in the US is Ted Turner.

Hope this helps,

Steve