World Forestry Center Program to Address Shifting Ownership Trends
Emphasizing the importance of studying shifting forest ownership trends, Richard N. Smith, the president of Forest Systems, announced today that his company has agreed to become a charter sponsor of the World Forestry Center's Summit – Who Will Own the Forest? program, which will take place in Portland, Oregon September 21-24, 2004.
In addition to providing financial support, Smith said Forest Systems also will commit considerable staff resources to help the World Forestry Center develop the program.
“Shifting forest ownership trends are having a major impact on the private forestland asset base in the United States and abroad and this program will take a hard look at what's driving these changes and what they could mean for the future,” said Smith.
The program will address a range of issues, from forest industry consolidation, to forestland valuation and conservation. It also will explore transaction trends and the use of emerging technologies.
The program is expected to attract nearly 300 participants from the forest investment community, the forest products industry and the conservation community.
“We want our company stationed on the frontier of change in the forest investment and management world,” said Smith. “Consequently, we have a responsibility to support programs like this with both financial and pro-bono assistance.”
The World Forestry Center is a global non-profit organization that studies trends and events shaping forestry and forests globally. This is the second time the organization has sponsored this conference. Forest Systems was a sponsor of the initial program, held in 2002, as well.