Land Report 100

Explore the 2025 Top 100 U.S. Landowners.

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Presented by:

Land Report 100

Explore the 2025 Top 100
U.S. Landowners.

View Top 100

Presented by:

Land Report 100

Who is America’s
Largest Landowner?

This question is the quest of the Land Report 100 Research Team all year long.

In 2025, America’s largest landowner is Red Emmerson. Red and his family own 2,411,000 acres in California, Oregon, and Washington through their timber-products company, Sierra Pacific Industries. The Emmersons became America’s largest landowners in 2021 when they acquired 175,000 acres in Oregon from Seneca Timber Company. With that acquisition, the Emmersons surpassed Liberty Media chairman John Malone’s 2,200,000 acres. CNN founder Ted Turner is America’s third largest landowner with 2 million acres in the Southeast, on the Great Plains, and across the West.

The Land Report 100 Research Team analyzes transactions and scours records to determine America’s leading landowners. That’s how we broke the news in 2020 that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was America’s largest farmland owner with more than 260,000 acres. That’s how we identified Shanda Investment Group founder Tianqiao Chen as the owner of almost 200,000 acres of Oregon timberland in 2024. It’s one of the many reasons why news organizations worldwide rely on the Magazine of the American Landowner to understand this asset class.

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Since day one, the Land Report 100 has been recognized as the gold standard. The Wall Street Journal profiled our premiere survey, which ran in April 2007. The Washington Post did a deep dive on the enormous growth of the Land Report 100. No one has done a better job of illuminating the extent and reach of the Land Report 100 than Bloomberg , which crafted a remarkable interpretation of our painstaking research.

Invariably, I am asked about our sources. They range from county tax records to financial reports and corporate press releases. As the Voice of the American Landowner, we enjoy one final advantage — the trust and confidence of America’s leading landowners themselves. Whenever possible, we verify the figures cited in the Land Report 100 with landowners, their designated representatives, or their trusted advisors.

— Eric O’Keefe,
Editor, The Land Report

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Top 100
Landowner List

A note from Steve Bruere:

Since 2007, this survey of America’s leading landowners has been the gold standard for private land ownership.

RANK	NAME	TOTAL ACRES	ABOUT	2025 UPDATE
1.	Emmerson Family	2,440,000	View profile	In the wake of devastating Western wildfires SPI opens a $40 MILLION CONIFER SEEDLING NURSERY in Northern California. Continue reading close Sustainable forest management is a foundational strategy for the nation’s largest private landowner. In 2024, the Emmerson family’s Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) took this commitment to the next level: opening a state-of-the-art conifer seedling nursery complex to help meet the reforestation needs of the American West. Read full article
2.	John Malone	2,200,000	View profile	A joint project between the Malone Family Land Preservation Foundation and The Land Institute, the PERENNIAL AGRICULTURE PROJECT is dedicated to science-based research and developing food-production methods that sustain both land and soil. Continue reading close A current endeavor has been the exploration of sainfoin as a potential staple food. Currently grown as a forage crop in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, sainfoin has been used in Eurasia for centuries. Researchers at The Land Institute (landinstitute.org) are developing sainfoin as a potential perennial pulse crop. The goal would be to yield nutritious seeds and to deliver numerous ecological benefits under the trademarked “perennial Baki bean.” The Turkish word “baki” translates as “eternal.” The choice of this fitting name not only acknowledges the origin of the plant itself, it also honors the collaborative efforts with researchers in the Fertile Crescent.
3.	Ted Turner	2,000,000 View Land Holdings	View profile	Ted Turner Reserves began welcoming guests in 2024 to the historic BERNAL LAKE CABIN at Vermejo, the largest ranch in the US, with 558,000 acres in New Mexico and Colorado. Perched on a lake teeming with trout, the meticulously restored cabin boasts twin master suites, a cedar soaking tub, and a private chef. Continue reading close Pro tip: Order the braised bison short ribs! The decision to revitalize the remote venue, a 20-minute drive from most of the ranch’s other luxe accommodations, dovetails with the mission of Ted Turner Reserves. “When we started to consider Bernal Lake Cabin years and years ago, it became important to me that the cabin itself — the location, the space, the accommodation — help connect people with nature,” says Ted Turner Reserves CEO Jade McBride. “It’s unbelievably humbling to encounter the landscape as it was more than 100 years ago.”
4.	Stan Kroenke	1,762,000	View profile	The most recent addition to the Kroenke Ranches portfolio is CAÑON BLANCO RANCH, an 80,892-acre operating cattle ranch located less than 30 minutes from New Mexico’s capital city, Santa Fe. Continue reading close Situated on the southwest flank of Glorieta Mesa between the Sandia and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Cañon Blanco Ranch is a combination of 62,395 deeded acres, a 16,105-acre New Mexico state lease, and 2,392 acres of Bureau of Land Management-leased land. Numerous enhancements were incorporated by the previous owners, including the acquisition of adjacent landholdings and the construction of a 14,000-square-foot hacienda designed by Thomas Beeby, chairman emeritus of Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects in Chicago. On its eastern flank, Cañon Blanco borders the 1.6-million-acre Santa Fe National Forest. Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall had the listing.
5.	Reed Family	1,661,000	View profile	As a sixth-generation, family-owned forest stewardship company that has been in operation for 135 years, Seattle-based GREEN DIAMOND RESOURCE COMPANY long ago put down roots throughout the Pacific Northwest. Now Green Diamond has expanded its landholdings to include 291,000 acres of forestland in Northwest Montana. Continue reading close Green Diamond owns approximately 1.661 million acres of forestland across Washington, Oregon, California, and Montana. In 2021, the company purchased the 291,000 acres in Northwest Montana from Southern Pine Plantations with the intention to manage the land consistent with the company’s core values and with an eye towards long-term stewardship of these forests. In October, the Montana Land Board confirmed a proposal enabling the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to purchase a conservation easement on 32,821 acres near Kalispell from Green Diamond as part of the Montana Great Outdoors Project. Organizers hope to complete a second phase in 2025 and increase the easement total to 85,792 acres, spanning Flathead, Lincoln, and Sanders Counties. For this first phase, Green Diamond donated $13.7 million of the easement’s appraised value of $39.3 million. The remaining funds were provided through organizations and grants from Habitat Montana and the US Forest Service Forest Legacy Program. Green Diamond currently produces 2 million board feet of logs per year from the property and hopes to increase that number in the coming decades. In addition to the company’s focus on sustainable forest management and the delivery of logs to local mills, it also has a growing portfolio of forest-carbon offset projects. A hallmark of Green Diamond’s management style is its willingness to explore new methods, markets, and opportunities.
6.	Irving Family	1,267,792	View profile	James K. Irving died on June 21, 2024, in his hometown of Saint John, New Brunswick. According to a news release at the company website, the chairman of J.D. Irving Limited was 96. Continue reading close Founded in New Brunswick in 1882 by James Dergavel Irving (1860–1933), J.D. Irving Limited grew exponentially under the leadership of his younger son Kenneth “K.C.” Irving (1899–1992). It ultimately became one of Canada’s largest privately held corporations. In addition to the extensive holdings of Irving Woodlands, divisions have included broadcasting, publishing, refining, shipbuilding, and trucking. Through IRVING WOODLANDS, the family owns 3.2 million acres in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Irving Woodlands also manages 2.6 million acres of government-owned Crown lands in New Brunswick under a 25-year evergreen-forest-management-and-wood-supply agreement. Irving Woodlands developed and implemented an 80-year management plan that focuses on preserving the environmental and ecological integrity of the company’s land, air, water, and wildlife. Chief among these initiatives is the company’s tree-planting program, which James K. Irving championed. The company’s tree-planting initiative dates back to 1957, when the first 3,000 seedlings were planted in Black Brook, New Brunswick. The following year, the Irvings established a tree nursery with an ambitious goal of producing 1 million trees. A decade later, 4 million seedlings had been planted. In 1986, family patriarch K.C. Irving planted the 200-millionth tree. In 2018, James K. Irving planted the company’s 1-billionth tree. In addition to 400 current employees and retirees, joining him on that memorable day were his two sons, Jim and Robert, who serve as co-CEOs of J.D. Irving Limited. The 1-billion mark is a record for a privately held Canadian company.
7.	Buck Family	1,236,000	View profile	The heirs of Maine native PETER BUCK (1930—2021) own more than 1 million acres of timberland in the Pine Tree State. The forestland holdings were acquired with profits from a $1,000 investment that the nuclear physicist made in a start-up sandwich shop that eventually became known as Subway, one of the world’s largest restaurant brands.
8.	Singleton Family	1,100,000	View profile	A dynamic entrepreneur, HENRY SINGLETON (1916–1999) co-founded industrial conglomerate Teledyne in 1960. Twenty-six years later, he bought his first ranch: the historic 81,000-acre San Cristobal Ranch in New Mexico’s Galisteo Basin just south of Santa Fe. In the years that followed, Singleton acquired more than 1 million acres, much of it former Spanish land grants.
9.	King Ranch Heirs	911,215	View profile	The newly reimagined King Ranch Saddle Shop marries tradition with innovation, reflecting the ethos of CAPTAIN RICHARD KING (1824–1885), whose cattle kingdom is recognized as the birthplace of American ranching. Donna Colaco began overseeing the Saddle Shop in January 2024. She combed the ranch archives to shape the current collection of apparel, leather goods, and items for the home. Continue reading close “We really looked at what the Saddle Shop should be as it relates to the larger ecosystem of King Ranch,” Colaco tells The Land Report. A line of clothing made from a new high-tech, proprietary synthetic fiber named Blue Norther — developed for the sun protection, cooling, and comfort so essential to outdoor success in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas — incorporates heritage details such as the shape of pocket flaps and the Running W brand on the buttons. “King Ranch has been groundbreaking in terms of conservation, land, and animals,” she says. “We’re making the Saddle Shop contemporary and modern for the adventures of today in a way that was inspired by the adventures of the past.”
10.	Pingree Heirs	830,000	View profile	David Pingree Sr. (1795–1863) made his first fortune in shipping. His heirs manage his second fortune, a timberland empire, through SEVEN ISLANDS LAND COMPANY.
11.	Briscoe Family	738,000		Founded by Dolph Briscoe Sr. (1890–1954) and expanded by his son, former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. (1923–2010), the Briscoes’ ranchlands focus primarily in SOUTH TEXAS.
12.	Brad Kelley	675,000		The largest privately owned ranch on the market in Texas sold to the oldest state agency in the Lone Star State. The Texas General Land Office (GLO) paid $164.6 million for Brad Kelley’s 353,785-acre BREWSTER RANCH. The ranch had been listed for $245,678,330. The sale closed on October 24.
12.	Wilks Brothers	675,000		Based in the BIG COUNTRY surrounding their hometown of Cisco, Texas, Dan and Farris Wilks rank among the top landowners in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
14.	Thomas Peterffy	647,000		The founder and largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers, this Hungarian immigrant joined the Land Report 100 in 2015 after paying more than $700 million to acquire one of the largest timber tracts in the Southeast: the 561,000-acre FOLEY TIMBER & LAND COMPANY. Located between Tallahassee and Gainesville, Florida, Foley Timber & Land was described as the “largest contiguous parcel of undeveloped private land east of the Mississippi River” by David Gelles of The New York Times when it was listed. Peterffy has purchased additional acreage in Florida and has a considerable agricultural operation on the Great Plains.
15.	Stefan Soloviev	617,000		The New York native debuted on the Land Report 100 a dozen years ago at No. 82 with 125,000 acres of dryland farms in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, and Southeast New Mexico. Since 2012, his acreage total has steadily climbed as the SOLOVIEV GROUP expanded into all manners of land-related enterprises ranging from farming and ranching to renewable energy and shortline railroads, a project nearly two decades in the making. In 2024, Soloviev became one of the top 20 private landowners in the nation with the purchase of more than 80,000 acres of ranchland in Eastern New Mexico. Turn to page 68 to learn how this 21st-century pioneer is reshaping the West.
16.	Lykes Heirs	615,000		Dr. Howell Lykes (1846-1906) quit a career in medicine and turned to farming full time in the mid-1870s with the purchase of 500 acres in the wilds of Florida. By 1900, he and his seven sons had incorporated LYKES BROTHERS INC. To this day, the family-owned company remains an agribusiness powerhouse with interests in livestock, farming, forestry, hunting, and water and land resources in South Florida and West Texas.
17.	Ford Family	600,000		In 1936, Kenneth Ford (1908–1997) created ROSEBURG FOREST PRODUCTS with a single sawmill made with salvaged parts. In the 1940s, he began assembling a timberland portfolio by acquiring properties that had been repossessed for nonpayment of taxes. Ford purchased Kimberly-Clark’s California timberlands in 1979 and International Paper’s Oregon timberlands in 1996. Roseburg owns and manages 400,000 acres of Douglas fir timberland in Oregon and nearly 200,000 acres of loblolly pine forests in North Carolina and Virginia. In addition to its coastal lands, the company also operates sawmills, plywood plants, engineered wood-product plants, particleboard facilities, and laminate-panel plants.
18.	O'Connor Heirs	587,800		A native of County Wexford, Ireland, THOMAS O’CONNOR (1817–1887) came to Texas in 1834 with the promise of a league of land from the Republic of Mexico. During the Texas Revolution, O’Connor signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, which secured Texas independence in 1836. At his death more than a half-century later, his landholdings and expansive cattle herds were valued at $4.5 million. Today, O’Connor’s descendants own and operate a variety of land-based enterprises on the rangeland he accumulated along the Texas Gulf Coast.
19.	Westervelt Heirs	566,000		Timber production has been an integral part of the Alabama-based Westervelt Company. But timberland can also be leased for hunting, which Westervelt has done since the 1970s. In Alabama, along with much of the Southeast where Westervelt operates, hunting primarily means whitetailed deer.
20.	Stimson Family	552,000		The sixth-generation descendants of Thomas Douglas “T.D.” Stimson (1827–1898) own one of America’s oldest continuously operating integrated-wood-products companies. In the 1880s, Stimson sold his Great Lakes forests and moved to the Pacific Northwest. Today, STIMSON LUMBER COMPANY operates seven mills in Oregon and Idaho and owns significant fir, pine, and cedar operations in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
21.	Martin Family	550,000		The Martins recently celebrated the centennial of ROYOMARTIN, which was founded by Roy O. Martin Sr. in 1923. RoyOMartin supplied much of the Southern yellow pine used in the construction of the famed Higgins Boat that was utilized by Allied forces in amphibious landings in many theaters. Today, the company owns and operates more than 550,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council-certified timberland and three of the largest wood-panel plants in North America.
22.	Horton Family	528,000		Family patriarch DON HORTON (1950–2024) always kept an eye peeled for well-priced, productive ranchland. As 2023 came to a close, he bought the largest contiguous ranch in Kansas, the P5. The transaction was subsequently honored as our Ranchland Deal of the Year. Following his untimely death on May 16, his heirs listed New Mexico’s half-million-acre Great Western Ranch with Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall for $142 million.
23.	Jeff Bezos	462,000 View Land Holdings	View profile	On October 19, the BEZOS EARTH FUND announced a $60 million grant to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to restore and conserve Northern Great Plains grasslands and longleaf pine forests in the Southeast. Over the past three years, the Bezos Earth Fund has provided $90 million in funding to NFWF and more than 200 local partners. The $60 million grant marks the largest single philanthropic commitment for landscape restoration to NFWF.
24.	Zane & Tanya Kiehne	455,000		The respected ranching couple added nearly 41,000 acres in New Mexico’s Mora County to their UU BAR RANCH, which they bought from Bob Funk. Under their ownership, the UU Bar has grown from 160,000 acres to more than 283,000 acres, a figure that also includes a small state lease. UU Bar’s grassland prairies, mesas, and varied forests are home to elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, antelope, turkey, grouse, black bear, mountain lion, and other game.
25.	Simplot Family	443,000		The family-owned J.R. Simplot Company has extensive cattle ranching and phosphate-mining interests and grows more than a dozen crops on 82,500 acres of farmland in the US. Worldwide, Simplot employs 13,000 people in more than 60 countries. Founded by JACK SIMPLOT (1909–2008), the company pioneered the frozen french fry. Simplot’s biggest customer? His close friend Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame.
26.	Fisher Family	440,000		The founders of THE GAP, the Fishers invested in California timberland. They created the Mendocino Redwood Company in 1998 and the Humboldt Redwood Company in 2008 to manage coast redwood and Douglas fir timberlands in Northern California’s Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt Counties. All of the family’s forest-management practices are subject to Forest Stewardship Council standards for certification.
27.	Shannon Kizer	431,000		Four decades ago, WILLIAM KIZER gifted a Black Baldy heifer to his 10-year-old grandson, who already knew his way around a tractor. Shannon Kizer credits his grandfather and his father with modeling how to manage cows and cowboys. Business acumen and a competitive mindset, coupled with a seize-the-day mentality regarding cheap interest rates, helped propel this Gen Xer to become one of the top landowners in the Southwest.
28.	Skiles Family	403,000		Through his Cottonwood Cattle Company, this Texas A&M alumnus acquired the historic CANADIAN RIVER RANCH on the western edge of the Texas Panhandle from No. 35, the Hughes Family. Located northwest of Amarillo, the 71,000-acre cattle operation was once a portion of the famed XIT Ranch. Decades later, it formed the basis for the Matador Ranch.
29.	Holding Family	395,000		The Holdings own ranches and investment properties in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, but the jewels in the crown are their two celebrated ski resorts: Idaho’s Sun Valley, which they acquired in 1977, and Utah’s SNOWBASIN, which they purchased in 1984. Snowbasin underwent a complete transformation after Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Olympic Games and was selected as the venue for the men’s and women’s downhill, super giant slalom, and combined races.
30.	Cullen Heirs	388,000		A larger-than-life wildcatter, HUGH ROY CULLEN (1881-1957) was born in North Texas but made his fortune in Houston. His initial success came from identifying salt domes in and around Harris County and then targeting the oil-rich sands below. Grandson Corbin Robertson Jr. transitioned the family away from oil and gas and into coal. Robertson oversees a portfolio of 13 million acres of mineral interests and subsurface rights at Quintana Minerals Corporation.
31.	Collins Family	370,000		A family-owned forestry giant founded in 1855, Collins partnered with the FREMONT-WINEMA NATIONAL FOREST in 2023 to lend assistance and expertise in the aftermath of the devastating Cougar Peak Fire, which burned 90,000-plus acres in Oregon’s Lake County. Collins continues to assist with the recovery effort on public lands by clearing burned trees, managing vegetation, and planting seedlings.
32.	Mike Smith	351,000		Although he owns ranchland in New Mexico, the vast majority of Smith’s 351,000 acres are located in the Lone Star State. Smith learned about the cattle industry from the legendary Paul Engler at CACTUS FEEDERS in Amarillo, Texas. Engler was building his feed operation into the world’s largest and proved to be an able mentor to Smith, who not only established his own feed yard but launched a commodity-trading firm.
33.	Robinson & Freed	350,000		As co-owners with Ken Garff of the 200,000-acre DESERET LAND AND LIVESTOCK, David Robinson and David Freed developed a proficiency for identifying, operating, and exiting ranchland investments. Today, their descendants own and operate Salt Lake City–based Ensign Group, which holds grazing permits on more than 1 million acres of private and public lands and runs 11,000 mother cows.
34.	Barta Family	340,000		Headquartered in Fremont, Nebraska, Barta Cattle Company owns and operates additional acreage in Nevada and Oregon. The family fortune can be attributed to Jim Barta (1942–2019), a pharmacist who pioneered the concept of establishing operations within retail and grocery store settings. Barta’s single pharmacy eventually became the national drugstore chain SAV-RX.
35.	Hughes Family	319,000		DAN ALLEN HUGHES SR. (1929–2016) earned a geology degree from Texas A&M University. He went on to find, finance, and drill his own wells. DAN ALLEN HUGHES JR. now runs the family’s oil firm, DAHCO, which has discovered and produced oil and gas throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and the Rockies.
36.	Killam Family	312,000		Third- and fourth-generation descendants of O.W. KILLAM (1874-1959) own significant ranchlands in Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, and New Mexico. But their South Texas holdings — the 125,000- acre Duval County Ranch included — dwarf the rest of their portfolio. In 2024, the family listed the 6,041-acre O\|W Ranch near Corpus Christi, Texas, for $30 million. Jay Leyendecker of Hall and Hall has the $29.95 million listing, which includes six homes, 23 ponds, and nearly 800 acres of farmland.
37.	Benjy Griffith III	310,000		As a young boy, Griffith earned $3.50 a day selling shelled peas at a farmers market. Naturally, he had a paper route, the quintessential characteristic of a budding American entrepreneur. Griffith began his real estate career selling small lots. He launched SOUTHERN PINE PLANTATIONS (SPP) in 1984. Over the past four decades, SPP has specialized in rural land transactions, including farms, ranches, and especially large timber tracts. A 30-year trustee of his beloved Mercer University, Griffith advocates straightforward business practices and sound land stewardship. He owns land in eight states and divides his time between Northwest Montana and South Georgia.
38.	Bass Family	285,000		After six minutes of bidding, Christie’s sold an Ed Ruscha painting owned by Sid Bass to an undisclosed buyer for $68.3 million, making it the contemporary artist’s most expensive work ever to change hands. Painted in 1964, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half depicts a vibrant red gas station against a brilliant Texas sky. Such a sight was no doubt familiar to Bass’s great-uncle, SID RICHARDSON (1891-1959), whose exploits as a pioneering wildcatter founded the family fortune.
39.	Fasken Family	284,493		The Faskens’ Permian Basin holdings cover more than 250 square miles and have been shepherded by four generations of the family since their acquisition in 1913 by David Fasken, a lawyer from Toronto. In addition to the 165,000 acres that FASKEN OIL AND RANCH owns in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico, the family has a trio of South Texas ranches plus a Napa Valley vineyard.
40.	Llano Partners	284,000		A past president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, HUGHES ABELL pursues ranching and farming along with oil and gas from his home base in Austin, Texas. Through Llano Partners Wildlife, the Abell clan coordinates hunting on family land in Northeastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and South Central Florida.
41.	Cogdell Family	282,000		David Munsey “D.M.” Cogdell Sr. (1884-1964) considered himself to be an “old-time horse trader.” He was also an accomplished land trader. His TULE RANCH formed the basis for a diverse series of enterprises run by different descendants that include beef cattle, oil and gas, and award-winning Quarter Horses.
42.	Kokernot Heirs	278,000		In 1837, the family’s 06 brand was first registered in Texas. John Kokernot acquired the brand in 1872. He and his brother Lee ran cattle on state land in the Trans-Pecos. In 1912, Lee’s son, Herbert Lee Kokernot Sr. (1867–1949), began to acquire the ranches that are known today as the 06 RANCH and the LEONCITA CATTLE COMPANY.
43.	Bill Gates	275,000	View profile	Much has changed in the world of nuclear energy since 1979 when the release of The China Syndrome coincided with a partial nuclear melt-down at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and heightened concerns about nuclear safety. While nuclear power never went away, its share of the world’s electricity generation dropped from a high of nearly 20 percent to less than 10 percent today, according to Bloomberg News.
43.	Babbitt Heirs	275,000		In September, BABBITT RANCHES hosted a ribbon cutting on a 161-megawatt wind project located on family land north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Fifty wind turbines will produce clean energy while generating $9.5 million in additional tax revenue for the region. “What we are doing here together matters for future generations and the planet,” said Billy Cordasco, president and general manager of Babbitt Ranches.
43.	Jones Famaiily	275,000		Head to the South Texas coastline to encounter pristine land that WILLIAM WHITBY “W.W.” JONES (1858-1942) began acquiring in the 1890s. After four decades of buying, selling, and trading, Jones had assembled 300,000 acres in Brooks, Starr, Jim Hogg, and Hidalgo Counties. The vast majority of his holdings still remain in family hands. The Joneses have earned a reputation for rigorous stewardship of native wildlife along with quality livestock.
43.	Lee Family	275,000		Floyd Lee (1895–1987) took a job as a bronc rider on the FERNANDEZ RANCH in Western New Mexico in 1919. The World War I veteran climbed the ranks and eventually became ranch manager of the historic holding. In 1939, he and his wife, Frances, became its owners. In the 1950s, uranium was discovered on the Fernandez. In the 1980s, the Santa Fe Railroad developed the Lee Ranch Coal Mine, which employed hundreds in remote Cibola County.
47.	Malone Mitchell 3rd	273,000		Oklahoma State alumni Malone and Amy Mitchell founded RIATA ENERGY in their guest bedroom with $500 in start-up capital. Two decades later, they sold their interest in Riata to Chesapeake Energy co-founder Tom Ward for $500 million. The Mitchells established their Longfellow Ranches as one of the finest hunting properties in Texas’s Trans-Pecos region. A full-service, 4,700-square-foot lodge welcomes guests.
48.	True Family	272,000		The various endeavors of the TRUE COMPANIES include agriculture, banking, energy, and real estate via ranches, soil companies, and other entities in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Last year, they expanded into Jerome, Idaho, with the opening of True West Beef, a state-of-the-art processing plant.
49.	Taylor Sheridan	267,000	View profile	The TV and film producer synonymous with the West these days has expanded his own ranching empire to the Cowboy State. In early September, Taylor Sheridan purchased the 179-acre Papa’s Creek Ranch in Star Valley, Wyoming, a spectacular undeveloped property about 65 miles from Jackson Hole. The ranch was listed for $4.95 million with Latham Jenkins and Matt MacMillan of Live Water Properties.
50.	Galt Family	262,000		The history of the Montana Territory is intertwined with this family’s story. WELLINGTON D. RANKIN (1884–1966) served as Montana’s attorney general, was appointed to the state supreme court, and reportedly ranked as the state’s largest private landowner. His sister JEANNETTE RANKIN (1880–1973) was the first woman to hold federal office in American history.
51.	Hadley Family	260,000		The historic GRAY RANCH in the bootheel of New Mexico forms the principal portion of this family’s holdings. Acquired in 1990 for $18 million by The Nature Conservancy, it was placed under a conservation easement and then sold to Drummond Hadley’s Animas Foundation in 1994. The Gray was subsequently renamed the Diamond A Ranch.
52.	T.R. Miller Family	255,510		One of the largest softwood lumber producers in the US, T.R. Miller has been in business since 1872. Holdings include CEDAR CREEK LAND & TIMBER (162,000 acres), TRM WOODLANDS (53,000 acres), and NEAL LAND & TIMBER (39,600 acres), which lost an estimated $30 million in timber when Hurricane Michael roared through the Florida Panhandle in 2019.
53.	Sanders Family	250,000		In 1992, Bob and Jane Sanders and Rob and Carla Sanders acquired ROARING SPRINGS RANCH in Southeast Oregon. The family runs it as a cow/calf-stocker operation with more than 6,000 cow/calves and 150 horses. Holdings total more than 1 million acres of deeded land and BLM grazing allotments in the high-desert country in the Catlow Valley outside Frenchglen.
54.	Coffee Family	248,840		The Coffee Family operates ranchland near Miles City, Montana. Virginia Coffee’s late father, Bill Nefsy, and her late husband, C.M. Coffee, each started ranching in the area during the 1940s and the early 1950s. Virginia’s children, Caren and Bill, combined these operations and have expanded through the decades. The Coffees also own STOCKMAN BANK, Montana’s largest ag bank. Stockman supports land conservation, local agriculture, and Montana values across the Treasure State.
55.	Angell Family	244,000		Based in Southeast New Mexico, DARR ANGELL and his son BILL ANGELL operate cattle ranches in Guadalupe, King, Lea, and Union Counties. They have also monetized land-based resources by selling water rights to exploration-and-production companies developing oil and gas fields in the greater Permian Basin.
56.	Riggs Family	241,803		Shortly after the Civil War ended, BRANNICK RIGGS (1828–1907) uprooted his family, left Texas, and settled beneath the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona’s Cochise County. Today, in that very same locale, his descendants are developing the Mare Pasture (marepasture.com), a sustainable, 1,088-acre community on the family’s Red Wing Ranch.
57.	Hearst Family	238,000		In December 2023, HEARST FORESTS (pictured below) acquired an adjacent 20,000-acre timberland tract owned by Manulife Investment Management near McCloud, California. The acquisition brought Hearst’s total timberland ownership to 82,000 acres. In 2024, Hearst successfully capitalized on this purchase by immediately increasing sustainable-timber production and delivering about 7,000 truckloads of logs to local mills.
58.	Kenedy Memorial Foundation	235,000		The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation was established by Sarita Kenedy East, granddaughter of Mifflin Kenedy (1818–1895). The captain acquired South Texas’s 400,000-acre LA PARRA RANCH in 1882. The massive cattle operation shares a fence line with King Ranch (see No. 9 King Ranch Heirs), which belonged to Kenedy’s longtime business partner Richard King.
59.	Brask Family	230,000		The family’s 320 GUEST RANCH (320ranch.com) in the Gallatin Valley near Yellowstone National Park was homesteaded in 1898 by the Wilson family. In 1987, Dave Brask bought the historic guest ranch after a trip to Montana. Two years later, he added an adjacent 160 acres. Today, the guest ranch features log homes and cabins, mountain chalets, a variety of dining options, and a full slate of outdoor activities.
59.	Gene Taylor	230,000		At 18, Taylor bought his first tract of land: 40 acres of timberland just north of Tuscaloosa in Fayette County, Alabama. It was the early 1960s, and Taylor had an ambitious goal of eventually owning 1,000 acres. “I think we’ve exceeded that a little bit,” he told The Land Report in 2023. Taylor has enjoyed similar success with WARRIOR TRACTOR AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, which has grown from a single dealership to seven locations with sales of $60 million annually.
61.	Fanjul Family	229,000		At its peak, the family’s Northern Arizona ranch encompassed 1 million acres, which were acquired from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Founded in 1884, the family’s AZTEC LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY was laid out in the traditional checkerboard fashion of federal-government land grants. Aztec’s operating strategy has varied from running cattle to leasing pasturage to selling acreage.
62.	Brophy Family	228,273		At its peak, the family’s Northern Arizona ranch encompassed 1 million acres, which were acquired from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Founded in 1884, the family’s AZTEC LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY was laid out in the traditional checkerboard fashion of federal-government land grants. Aztec’s operating strategy has varied from running cattle to leasing pasturage to selling acreage.
63.	Sugg Family	225,000		The family’s O H TRIANGLE RANCH was established in 1898 by two brothers from Mississippi, J.D. and E.C. Sugg. The brothers’ fourth-generation descendants are based in Irion County near San Angelo, Texas. They raise grass-, hay-, and corn-fed beef, and they ship quarters, halves, and box beef nationwide via shopohtriangleranch.com.
63.	Bidegain Family	225,000		Established in 1902 by Yetta Kohn, the Bidegains run 2,500 mother cows on Eastern New Mexico’s T4 CATTLE COMPANY. Their holdings include the historic Mesa Rica, a 117,000-acre section that was carved off the renowned Bell Ranch in San Miguel County. The Bidegains acquired the Mesa Rica in 1947.
65.	Yates Family	224,000		Martin Yates Jr. earned a degree in economics from Dartmouth College before returning to New Mexico to work alongside his father in the early 1950s. Toward the end of that decade, the family helped discover the Empire Abo field in the Delaware Basin of Southern New Mexico and West Texas. EOG Resources bought YATES PETROLEUM COMPANY in 2016 for $2.5 billion in stock and cash. Members of the family continue to run Santo Petroleum, an oil and gas company in the Permian Basin.
66.	Lyda Family	223,000		Just south of Fort Stockton, Texas, LA ESCALERA RANCH is known for its Black Angus operation, which emphasizes water conservation and the preservation of wildlife. For more than a decade, the Lyda family has been assessing the quality and volume of the Capitan Reef beneath the ranch to secure sustainable water resources for both La Escalera and the surrounding region, a project spearheaded by Gerald “Dee” Lyda Jr.
66.	Bobby Patton & Mark Walter	223,000		Their Texas and New Mexico landholdings aren’t the only things that these two share. Along with Peter Guber, Magic Johnson, and Billie Jean King, Patton and Walter co-own the LOS ANGELES DODGERS.
68..	Bacon Family	221,688 (208,499 Acres Under Conservation Easement)		Conservation philanthropist LOUIS BACON supports numerous organizations across the country, with particular focus in Colorado, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Alaska to identify sustainable solutions to meet the land, water, and air challenges of the 21st century. Recent key priorities include forest-health restoration efforts in Colorado, improving the health of the Rio Grande’s watershed in New Mexico, and restoring longleaf pine forests in North Carolina.
69.	Cassidy Heirs	220,180		JOHN CASSIDY (1842-1910) was an Irish immigrant who began accumulating acreage in Maine as a teen. He stockpiled forestland at $2 an acre. At Bangor’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery, a massive mausoleum endowed in perpetuity serves as an eternal testament to his pine-scented success.
70.	Scott Family	220,000		Homer and Mildred Scott started ranching in 1943 with 300 head on a 3,000-acre property. Today, their family produces 10,000 feeder cattle annually on the 475,000-acre PADLOCK RANCH, which is headquartered along the Tongue River and straddles the Montana–Wyoming state line. A significant portion of the ranch’s leased lands lie on the 2.2-million-acre Crow Indian Reservation in Southern Montana.
71.	Kennedy Family	219,663		Peter Maximus Kennedy (1922–2009) was the chairman of Dominick & Dominick, one of Wall Street’s oldest continuously operated firms. He subsequently formed the family-owned Eighteen Seventy Corporation, an investment vehicle whose assets ranged from furniture manufacturers to private banks. Eighteen Seventy currently owns the GI RANCH in the shadow of the Ochoco National Forest, approximately 90 miles east of Bend, Oregon.
72.	Gabrych Family	218,000		Renowned land man GENE GABRYCH (1924-2023) made a name for himself buying, holding, and selling development tracts in key California growth markets east of Los Angeles. The bulk of his investments were in Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.
73.	Bridwell Heirs	217,785		A Missourian who moved to North Texas, Joseph Bridwell (1885–1966) discovered oil on the W.T. Waggoner Estate. His BRIDWELL OIL COMPANY ultimately produced 50 million barrels from more than 700 wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana.
74.	East Foundation	217,000		Established in 2007, this working cattle operation focuses on improving efficient and sustainable beef production with the expressed intention of maintaining the ecosystems services provided by intact rangelands. As the first AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (ARO) in the US, the East Foundation turned the diverse South Texas rangelands across its six ranches into a living laboratory with an emphasis on conducting partnered research and developing conservation-minded leaders. The nonprofit invests in K-12 education, internships, and graduate-student training. While maintaining traditional land-use and ownership rights, the Foundation’s ranches also help protect the largest known population of the rare American ocelot, a small and secretive species of feline.
75.	Gage Heirs	213,730		By the time of his death in 1928, ALFRED GAGE had accumulated 503,000 acres from Marathon to Marfa. His granddaughter, Roxana (Catto) Hayne, was named West Texas Conservationist of the Year in 2023 by the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. “We want our land to be as productive as it can be,” Hayne said in response to the honor. “And we are determined we’re going to keep this land in the family.”
76.	Russell Gordy	212,000		This native Houstonian’s original 113-acre Piney Woods acreage has since grown to more than 8,000 acres. The oil-and-gas entrepreneur also owns the 48,000-acre DOUBLE ARROW RANCH on the Yellowstone River in Montana, an 80,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, and the 19,000-acre LA CENIZA in South Texas.
77.	Cunningham Sheep Co.	211,563		For more than a century, this Eastern Oregon family has supplied PENDLETON WOOLEN MILLS the wool that goes into their blankets and jackets. Founded by Charles Cunningham in 1863, the outfit was acquired in the 1930s by Mac Hoke. His descendants — the Coreys and the Levys — run registered Rambouillet.
78.	Reese Family	208,238		Homesteaded in the rolling hills of Eastern Wyoming in 1914, the ROCKIN’ 7 RANCH has a well-deserved reputation as a world-class outfitter specializing in mule deer, pronghorn, and bison.
79.	Boswell Family	207,000		Central California titan J.G. BOSWELL founded his eponymous company in 1925. Today, the ultra-private family focuses on tomatoes, controlling its homegrown supply from seed all the way through the processing plant. The Boswells rank as the largest producers of the most ubiquitous fruit in the world. The family farms also yield extra-long staple pima cotton, prized for its strength and sheen.
80.	Cocanougher Family	202,000		Based just northwest of Fort Worth, Texas, brothers Daniel and Robert Cocanougher are involved in dozens of businesses, from real estate to a feed company to Japanese-style animation. Daniel made a surprise announcement in September that his family would donate the 160-acre RUNAWAY BAY GOLF CLUB AND RESORT, which they’d bought in 2018, to Weatherford College.
81.	Anthony Family	200,000		Founded in 1907 by Garland Anthony in South Arkansas, ANTHONY TIMBERLANDS is a multifaceted wood-products business and the largest independent owner of timberland in Arkansas. John Ed Anthony currently serves as chairman of the family-owned company. Operations include two pine sawmills, three hardwood sawmills, a hardwood-flooring plant, a wood-treating facility, and a hardwood-mat facility.
81.	Hunt Family	200,000		Through their HOODOO LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY, the Hunts own and operate ranches, farms, and other landholdings in Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
81.	Langdale Family	200,000		Minimizing waste while maximizing environmental stewardship has guided the LANGDALE COMPANY since the 1950s when the family began generating its own energy via wood-fired dry kilns. Based in Valdosta, Georgia, the Langdale family of forest products today includes two dozen companies.
81.	Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation	200,000		In addition to growing trees and other forest products on its timberland holdings, the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation is also helping seed the tree of knowledge. Ware, a native of Georgia who made his fortune in the timber business, passed away in 2019. But his foundation continues to support a variety of charity projects, including funding student scholarships at West Georgia Technical College. “Over the years, Holland became concerned that people weren’t having the same opportunities that they used to in the trade schools,” says Ware Foundation executive director Brenda Thueson. “We own a lot of property in the West Georgia area, and it’s important to us to support the communities where we do timber business. So we started offering these scholarships to West Georgia Tech in order to help the trades.” The Ware Foundation has provided 105 scholarships to WGTC students since 2020, prompting the college to present the foundation its Spirit of Giving Award. “We’ve given scholarships in HVAC, electrical engineering, CDC driving, auto repair, nursing — pretty much any trade that a person wants to apply for,” Thueson says. “We recently started a scholarship that focuses entirely on veterans. We feel strongly that the trades are what make America great, and the Ware Foundation wants to make a difference in keeping the backbone of America strong. “In addition to the West Georgia scholarship, we also have programs across the country for at-risk women and children, animal care, and law enforcement. Income from our timber operations generates the funds that support these entities. Everything comes from the land.”
85.	Tianqiao Chen	198,000	View profile	In 2015, the founder of SHANDA INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT acquired nearly 200,000 acres of former Crown Pacific timberlands in Oregon from Fidelity National Financial Ventures for $85 million.
85.	Philip Anschutz	184,500		The Class 6 and Class 7 winds on Wyoming’s OVERLAND TRAIL RANCH have long been the focus of this Denver entrepreneur’s Power Company of Wyoming. Anschutz’s $5 billion Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project occupies less than 1,500 acres of the 320,000-acre assemblage of deeded and leased lands.
87.	Stewart & Lynda Resnick	196,775		The Resnicks’ numerous corporate interests include the $4 billion WONDERFUL COMPANY, which produces scores of high-quality, healthy products such as Wonderful Halos Mandarins, Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Almonds, and POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice on prime acreage in California’s Central Valley, as well as in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
88.	Nunley Family	191,500		Richard and Bob Nunley carry on the tradition of running Santa Gertrudis cattle, which was established by their father, Texas cattleman RED NUNLEY. The brothers have expanded their operation from its Uvalde County roots to include ranches across the Lone Star State.
89.	Taylor Family	191,000		Based in Pecos, Texas, the Taylors own cattle ranches in West Texas as well as in Southern New Mexico, where they acquired Sam Donaldson’s 34,248-acre PAJARITO RANCH in Lincoln County.
90.	Offutt Family	190,000		This family-owned agricultural operation is the nation’s largest producer of potatoes. Based in Fargo, North Dakota, R.D. OFFUTT FARMS has the majority of its 60,000 potato acres under center-pivot.
90.	Scotch Families	190,000		The Harrigans and their descendants — known collectively as the “Scotch” ownership — got their start in Alabama’s Clarke County in 1888. Since then, they have owned and managed working timberland in Southwest Alabama under the name SCOTCH LUMBER.
92.	McLean Heirs	186,000		Thanks to his innovative flank-drilling theory, MARRS MCLEAN was dubbed “the second prophet of Spindletop.” His heirs operate South Texas hunting ranches in the heart of the fabled GoldeTriangle.
93.	Durrett Family	182,000		The family’s “Happy DDs” brand honors family patriarch Delmar Durrett. Based at the southern reaches of the Great Plains, DURRETT CATTLE is overseen by Allen and Robert Durrett and their families.
94.	Haynes Family	180,000		When HERBERT HAYNES (1930–2007) got his start in the timber trade in the 1940s, horses were still being used to skid logs in the NORTH MAINE WOODS. In 1963, Haynes incorporated his family’s forest-products company.
95.	Williams Family	173,170		A stone’s throw from the famed Four Sixes is the flagship of the PITCHFORK LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY, 165,000 acres dotted with 4,500 mother cows. Cowboys work the land astride the North Texas ranch’s signature Pitchfork Grays — gray horses with striking black manes and tails. The family land, which includes 8,000 acres in Oklahoma, has produced more than 1 million barrels of oil since 1980. At the Western Heritage Classic in May 2024, Pitchfork cowboy Clint Jones roped awards for both Top Horse and Top Hand.
96.	JA Ranch Heirs	171,485		In 1876, renowned Texas Ranger CHARLES GOODNIGHT and his cowboys drove a herd of 1,600 Longhorns into PALO DURO CANYON and created what would become the oldest continuously operated cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle.
97.	Broadbent Family	170,000		Vance Broadbent leads this family-run ranching operation. The BROADBENTS often hire herders from Peru and Mexico through the H-2A Visa program. They also mentor the next generation of agricultural leaders in Utah and Wyoming.
97.	Irwin Family	170,000		Sprawling across the high desert about 55 miles northwest of Prescott, Arizona, the historic O RO RANCH includes some of the most rugged, canyon-filled landscapes in the American West. Founded as a Spanish land grant, the ranch was bought a century and a half later by the father of John N. Irwin III and Jane Irwin Droppa.
99.	McDonald Family	163,000		In 2019, this Alabama family sold its Maine timberland holdings — 311,000 acres held by GREAT NORTHWOODS LLC — to No. 7 Peter Buck. The McDONALDS still own more than 100,000 acres of timberland in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.
100.	Iberlin Family	158,838		Members of the Iberlin family are descendants of John and Jeanne IBERLIN, French Basques who settled in Northeast Wyoming at the beginning of the 20th century. The family raises sheep and cattle in and around Campbell County, Wyoming.
98.	Frank VanderSloot	158,359
99.	Ellison Family	156,000
100.	D.K. Boyd	155,872

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RANK	NAME	TOTAL ACRES	ABOUT	2025 UPDATE
1.	Emmerson Family	2,440,000	View profile	In the wake of devastating Western wildfires SPI opens a $40 MILLION CONIFER SEEDLING NURSERY in Northern California. Continue reading close Sustainable forest management is a foundational strategy for the nation’s largest private landowner. In 2024, the Emmerson family’s Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) took this commitment to the next level: opening a state-of-the-art conifer seedling nursery complex to help meet the reforestation needs of the American West. Read full article
2.	John Malone	2,200,000	View profile	A joint project between the Malone Family Land Preservation Foundation and The Land Institute, the PERENNIAL AGRICULTURE PROJECT is dedicated to science-based research and developing food-production methods that sustain both land and soil. Continue reading close A current endeavor has been the exploration of sainfoin as a potential staple food. Currently grown as a forage crop in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, sainfoin has been used in Eurasia for centuries. Researchers at The Land Institute (landinstitute.org) are developing sainfoin as a potential perennial pulse crop. The goal would be to yield nutritious seeds and to deliver numerous ecological benefits under the trademarked “perennial Baki bean.” The Turkish word “baki” translates as “eternal.” The choice of this fitting name not only acknowledges the origin of the plant itself, it also honors the collaborative efforts with researchers in the Fertile Crescent.
3.	Ted Turner	2,000,000 View Land Holdings	View profile	Ted Turner Reserves began welcoming guests in 2024 to the historic BERNAL LAKE CABIN at Vermejo, the largest ranch in the US, with 558,000 acres in New Mexico and Colorado. Perched on a lake teeming with trout, the meticulously restored cabin boasts twin master suites, a cedar soaking tub, and a private chef. Continue reading close Pro tip: Order the braised bison short ribs! The decision to revitalize the remote venue, a 20-minute drive from most of the ranch’s other luxe accommodations, dovetails with the mission of Ted Turner Reserves. “When we started to consider Bernal Lake Cabin years and years ago, it became important to me that the cabin itself — the location, the space, the accommodation — help connect people with nature,” says Ted Turner Reserves CEO Jade McBride. “It’s unbelievably humbling to encounter the landscape as it was more than 100 years ago.”
4.	Stan Kroenke	1,762,000	View profile	The most recent addition to the Kroenke Ranches portfolio is CAÑON BLANCO RANCH, an 80,892-acre operating cattle ranch located less than 30 minutes from New Mexico’s capital city, Santa Fe. Continue reading close Situated on the southwest flank of Glorieta Mesa between the Sandia and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Cañon Blanco Ranch is a combination of 62,395 deeded acres, a 16,105-acre New Mexico state lease, and 2,392 acres of Bureau of Land Management-leased land. Numerous enhancements were incorporated by the previous owners, including the acquisition of adjacent landholdings and the construction of a 14,000-square-foot hacienda designed by Thomas Beeby, chairman emeritus of Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects in Chicago. On its eastern flank, Cañon Blanco borders the 1.6-million-acre Santa Fe National Forest. Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall had the listing.
5.	Reed Family	1,661,000	View profile	As a sixth-generation, family-owned forest stewardship company that has been in operation for 135 years, Seattle-based GREEN DIAMOND RESOURCE COMPANY long ago put down roots throughout the Pacific Northwest. Now Green Diamond has expanded its landholdings to include 291,000 acres of forestland in Northwest Montana. Continue reading close Green Diamond owns approximately 1.661 million acres of forestland across Washington, Oregon, California, and Montana. In 2021, the company purchased the 291,000 acres in Northwest Montana from Southern Pine Plantations with the intention to manage the land consistent with the company’s core values and with an eye towards long-term stewardship of these forests. In October, the Montana Land Board confirmed a proposal enabling the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to purchase a conservation easement on 32,821 acres near Kalispell from Green Diamond as part of the Montana Great Outdoors Project. Organizers hope to complete a second phase in 2025 and increase the easement total to 85,792 acres, spanning Flathead, Lincoln, and Sanders Counties. For this first phase, Green Diamond donated $13.7 million of the easement’s appraised value of $39.3 million. The remaining funds were provided through organizations and grants from Habitat Montana and the US Forest Service Forest Legacy Program. Green Diamond currently produces 2 million board feet of logs per year from the property and hopes to increase that number in the coming decades. In addition to the company’s focus on sustainable forest management and the delivery of logs to local mills, it also has a growing portfolio of forest-carbon offset projects. A hallmark of Green Diamond’s management style is its willingness to explore new methods, markets, and opportunities.
6.	Irving Family	1,267,792	View profile	James K. Irving died on June 21, 2024, in his hometown of Saint John, New Brunswick. According to a news release at the company website, the chairman of J.D. Irving Limited was 96. Continue reading close Founded in New Brunswick in 1882 by James Dergavel Irving (1860–1933), J.D. Irving Limited grew exponentially under the leadership of his younger son Kenneth “K.C.” Irving (1899–1992). It ultimately became one of Canada’s largest privately held corporations. In addition to the extensive holdings of Irving Woodlands, divisions have included broadcasting, publishing, refining, shipbuilding, and trucking. Through IRVING WOODLANDS, the family owns 3.2 million acres in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Irving Woodlands also manages 2.6 million acres of government-owned Crown lands in New Brunswick under a 25-year evergreen-forest-management-and-wood-supply agreement. Irving Woodlands developed and implemented an 80-year management plan that focuses on preserving the environmental and ecological integrity of the company’s land, air, water, and wildlife. Chief among these initiatives is the company’s tree-planting program, which James K. Irving championed. The company’s tree-planting initiative dates back to 1957, when the first 3,000 seedlings were planted in Black Brook, New Brunswick. The following year, the Irvings established a tree nursery with an ambitious goal of producing 1 million trees. A decade later, 4 million seedlings had been planted. In 1986, family patriarch K.C. Irving planted the 200-millionth tree. In 2018, James K. Irving planted the company’s 1-billionth tree. In addition to 400 current employees and retirees, joining him on that memorable day were his two sons, Jim and Robert, who serve as co-CEOs of J.D. Irving Limited. The 1-billion mark is a record for a privately held Canadian company.
7.	Buck Family	1,236,000	View profile	The heirs of Maine native PETER BUCK (1930—2021) own more than 1 million acres of timberland in the Pine Tree State. The forestland holdings were acquired with profits from a $1,000 investment that the nuclear physicist made in a start-up sandwich shop that eventually became known as Subway, one of the world’s largest restaurant brands.
8.	Singleton Family	1,100,000	View profile	A dynamic entrepreneur, HENRY SINGLETON (1916–1999) co-founded industrial conglomerate Teledyne in 1960. Twenty-six years later, he bought his first ranch: the historic 81,000-acre San Cristobal Ranch in New Mexico’s Galisteo Basin just south of Santa Fe. In the years that followed, Singleton acquired more than 1 million acres, much of it former Spanish land grants.
9.	King Ranch Heirs	911,215	View profile	The newly reimagined King Ranch Saddle Shop marries tradition with innovation, reflecting the ethos of CAPTAIN RICHARD KING (1824–1885), whose cattle kingdom is recognized as the birthplace of American ranching. Donna Colaco began overseeing the Saddle Shop in January 2024. She combed the ranch archives to shape the current collection of apparel, leather goods, and items for the home. Continue reading close “We really looked at what the Saddle Shop should be as it relates to the larger ecosystem of King Ranch,” Colaco tells The Land Report. A line of clothing made from a new high-tech, proprietary synthetic fiber named Blue Norther — developed for the sun protection, cooling, and comfort so essential to outdoor success in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas — incorporates heritage details such as the shape of pocket flaps and the Running W brand on the buttons. “King Ranch has been groundbreaking in terms of conservation, land, and animals,” she says. “We’re making the Saddle Shop contemporary and modern for the adventures of today in a way that was inspired by the adventures of the past.”
10.	Pingree Heirs	830,000	View profile	David Pingree Sr. (1795–1863) made his first fortune in shipping. His heirs manage his second fortune, a timberland empire, through SEVEN ISLANDS LAND COMPANY.
11.	Briscoe Family	738,000		Founded by Dolph Briscoe Sr. (1890–1954) and expanded by his son, former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. (1923–2010), the Briscoes’ ranchlands focus primarily in SOUTH TEXAS.
12.	Brad Kelley	675,000		The largest privately owned ranch on the market in Texas sold to the oldest state agency in the Lone Star State. The Texas General Land Office (GLO) paid $164.6 million for Brad Kelley’s 353,785-acre BREWSTER RANCH. The ranch had been listed for $245,678,330. The sale closed on October 24.
12.	Wilks Brothers	675,000		Based in the BIG COUNTRY surrounding their hometown of Cisco, Texas, Dan and Farris Wilks rank among the top landowners in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
14.	Thomas Peterffy	647,000		The founder and largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers, this Hungarian immigrant joined the Land Report 100 in 2015 after paying more than $700 million to acquire one of the largest timber tracts in the Southeast: the 561,000-acre FOLEY TIMBER & LAND COMPANY. Located between Tallahassee and Gainesville, Florida, Foley Timber & Land was described as the “largest contiguous parcel of undeveloped private land east of the Mississippi River” by David Gelles of The New York Times when it was listed. Peterffy has purchased additional acreage in Florida and has a considerable agricultural operation on the Great Plains.
15.	Stefan Soloviev	617,000		The New York native debuted on the Land Report 100 a dozen years ago at No. 82 with 125,000 acres of dryland farms in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, and Southeast New Mexico. Since 2012, his acreage total has steadily climbed as the SOLOVIEV GROUP expanded into all manners of land-related enterprises ranging from farming and ranching to renewable energy and shortline railroads, a project nearly two decades in the making. In 2024, Soloviev became one of the top 20 private landowners in the nation with the purchase of more than 80,000 acres of ranchland in Eastern New Mexico. Turn to page 68 to learn how this 21st-century pioneer is reshaping the West.
16.	Lykes Heirs	615,000		Dr. Howell Lykes (1846-1906) quit a career in medicine and turned to farming full time in the mid-1870s with the purchase of 500 acres in the wilds of Florida. By 1900, he and his seven sons had incorporated LYKES BROTHERS INC. To this day, the family-owned company remains an agribusiness powerhouse with interests in livestock, farming, forestry, hunting, and water and land resources in South Florida and West Texas.
17.	Ford Family	600,000		In 1936, Kenneth Ford (1908–1997) created ROSEBURG FOREST PRODUCTS with a single sawmill made with salvaged parts. In the 1940s, he began assembling a timberland portfolio by acquiring properties that had been repossessed for nonpayment of taxes. Ford purchased Kimberly-Clark’s California timberlands in 1979 and International Paper’s Oregon timberlands in 1996. Roseburg owns and manages 400,000 acres of Douglas fir timberland in Oregon and nearly 200,000 acres of loblolly pine forests in North Carolina and Virginia. In addition to its coastal lands, the company also operates sawmills, plywood plants, engineered wood-product plants, particleboard facilities, and laminate-panel plants.
18.	O'Connor Heirs	587,800		A native of County Wexford, Ireland, THOMAS O’CONNOR (1817–1887) came to Texas in 1834 with the promise of a league of land from the Republic of Mexico. During the Texas Revolution, O’Connor signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, which secured Texas independence in 1836. At his death more than a half-century later, his landholdings and expansive cattle herds were valued at $4.5 million. Today, O’Connor’s descendants own and operate a variety of land-based enterprises on the rangeland he accumulated along the Texas Gulf Coast.
19.	Westervelt Heirs	566,000		Timber production has been an integral part of the Alabama-based Westervelt Company. But timberland can also be leased for hunting, which Westervelt has done since the 1970s. In Alabama, along with much of the Southeast where Westervelt operates, hunting primarily means whitetailed deer.
20.	Stimson Family	552,000		The sixth-generation descendants of Thomas Douglas “T.D.” Stimson (1827–1898) own one of America’s oldest continuously operating integrated-wood-products companies. In the 1880s, Stimson sold his Great Lakes forests and moved to the Pacific Northwest. Today, STIMSON LUMBER COMPANY operates seven mills in Oregon and Idaho and owns significant fir, pine, and cedar operations in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
21.	Martin Family	550,000		The Martins recently celebrated the centennial of ROYOMARTIN, which was founded by Roy O. Martin Sr. in 1923. RoyOMartin supplied much of the Southern yellow pine used in the construction of the famed Higgins Boat that was utilized by Allied forces in amphibious landings in many theaters. Today, the company owns and operates more than 550,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council-certified timberland and three of the largest wood-panel plants in North America.
22.	Horton Family	528,000		Family patriarch DON HORTON (1950–2024) always kept an eye peeled for well-priced, productive ranchland. As 2023 came to a close, he bought the largest contiguous ranch in Kansas, the P5. The transaction was subsequently honored as our Ranchland Deal of the Year. Following his untimely death on May 16, his heirs listed New Mexico’s half-million-acre Great Western Ranch with Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall for $142 million.
23.	Jeff Bezos	462,000 View Land Holdings	View profile	On October 19, the BEZOS EARTH FUND announced a $60 million grant to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to restore and conserve Northern Great Plains grasslands and longleaf pine forests in the Southeast. Over the past three years, the Bezos Earth Fund has provided $90 million in funding to NFWF and more than 200 local partners. The $60 million grant marks the largest single philanthropic commitment for landscape restoration to NFWF.
24.	Zane & Tanya Kiehne	455,000		The respected ranching couple added nearly 41,000 acres in New Mexico’s Mora County to their UU BAR RANCH, which they bought from Bob Funk. Under their ownership, the UU Bar has grown from 160,000 acres to more than 283,000 acres, a figure that also includes a small state lease. UU Bar’s grassland prairies, mesas, and varied forests are home to elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, antelope, turkey, grouse, black bear, mountain lion, and other game.
25.	Simplot Family	443,000		The family-owned J.R. Simplot Company has extensive cattle ranching and phosphate-mining interests and grows more than a dozen crops on 82,500 acres of farmland in the US. Worldwide, Simplot employs 13,000 people in more than 60 countries. Founded by JACK SIMPLOT (1909–2008), the company pioneered the frozen french fry. Simplot’s biggest customer? His close friend Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame.
26.	Fisher Family	440,000		The founders of THE GAP, the Fishers invested in California timberland. They created the Mendocino Redwood Company in 1998 and the Humboldt Redwood Company in 2008 to manage coast redwood and Douglas fir timberlands in Northern California’s Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt Counties. All of the family’s forest-management practices are subject to Forest Stewardship Council standards for certification.
27.	Shannon Kizer	431,000		Four decades ago, WILLIAM KIZER gifted a Black Baldy heifer to his 10-year-old grandson, who already knew his way around a tractor. Shannon Kizer credits his grandfather and his father with modeling how to manage cows and cowboys. Business acumen and a competitive mindset, coupled with a seize-the-day mentality regarding cheap interest rates, helped propel this Gen Xer to become one of the top landowners in the Southwest.
28.	Skiles Family	403,000		Through his Cottonwood Cattle Company, this Texas A&M alumnus acquired the historic CANADIAN RIVER RANCH on the western edge of the Texas Panhandle from No. 35, the Hughes Family. Located northwest of Amarillo, the 71,000-acre cattle operation was once a portion of the famed XIT Ranch. Decades later, it formed the basis for the Matador Ranch.
29.	Holding Family	395,000		The Holdings own ranches and investment properties in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, but the jewels in the crown are their two celebrated ski resorts: Idaho’s Sun Valley, which they acquired in 1977, and Utah’s SNOWBASIN, which they purchased in 1984. Snowbasin underwent a complete transformation after Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Olympic Games and was selected as the venue for the men’s and women’s downhill, super giant slalom, and combined races.
30.	Cullen Heirs	388,000		A larger-than-life wildcatter, HUGH ROY CULLEN (1881-1957) was born in North Texas but made his fortune in Houston. His initial success came from identifying salt domes in and around Harris County and then targeting the oil-rich sands below. Grandson Corbin Robertson Jr. transitioned the family away from oil and gas and into coal. Robertson oversees a portfolio of 13 million acres of mineral interests and subsurface rights at Quintana Minerals Corporation.
31.	Collins Family	370,000		A family-owned forestry giant founded in 1855, Collins partnered with the FREMONT-WINEMA NATIONAL FOREST in 2023 to lend assistance and expertise in the aftermath of the devastating Cougar Peak Fire, which burned 90,000-plus acres in Oregon’s Lake County. Collins continues to assist with the recovery effort on public lands by clearing burned trees, managing vegetation, and planting seedlings.
32.	Mike Smith	351,000		Although he owns ranchland in New Mexico, the vast majority of Smith’s 351,000 acres are located in the Lone Star State. Smith learned about the cattle industry from the legendary Paul Engler at CACTUS FEEDERS in Amarillo, Texas. Engler was building his feed operation into the world’s largest and proved to be an able mentor to Smith, who not only established his own feed yard but launched a commodity-trading firm.
33.	Robinson & Freed	350,000		As co-owners with Ken Garff of the 200,000-acre DESERET LAND AND LIVESTOCK, David Robinson and David Freed developed a proficiency for identifying, operating, and exiting ranchland investments. Today, their descendants own and operate Salt Lake City–based Ensign Group, which holds grazing permits on more than 1 million acres of private and public lands and runs 11,000 mother cows.
34.	Barta Family	340,000		Headquartered in Fremont, Nebraska, Barta Cattle Company owns and operates additional acreage in Nevada and Oregon. The family fortune can be attributed to Jim Barta (1942–2019), a pharmacist who pioneered the concept of establishing operations within retail and grocery store settings. Barta’s single pharmacy eventually became the national drugstore chain SAV-RX.
35.	Hughes Family	319,000		DAN ALLEN HUGHES SR. (1929–2016) earned a geology degree from Texas A&M University. He went on to find, finance, and drill his own wells. DAN ALLEN HUGHES JR. now runs the family’s oil firm, DAHCO, which has discovered and produced oil and gas throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and the Rockies.
36.	Killam Family	312,000		Third- and fourth-generation descendants of O.W. KILLAM (1874-1959) own significant ranchlands in Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, and New Mexico. But their South Texas holdings — the 125,000- acre Duval County Ranch included — dwarf the rest of their portfolio. In 2024, the family listed the 6,041-acre O\|W Ranch near Corpus Christi, Texas, for $30 million. Jay Leyendecker of Hall and Hall has the $29.95 million listing, which includes six homes, 23 ponds, and nearly 800 acres of farmland.
37.	Benjy Griffith III	310,000		As a young boy, Griffith earned $3.50 a day selling shelled peas at a farmers market. Naturally, he had a paper route, the quintessential characteristic of a budding American entrepreneur. Griffith began his real estate career selling small lots. He launched SOUTHERN PINE PLANTATIONS (SPP) in 1984. Over the past four decades, SPP has specialized in rural land transactions, including farms, ranches, and especially large timber tracts. A 30-year trustee of his beloved Mercer University, Griffith advocates straightforward business practices and sound land stewardship. He owns land in eight states and divides his time between Northwest Montana and South Georgia.
38.	Bass Family	285,000		After six minutes of bidding, Christie’s sold an Ed Ruscha painting owned by Sid Bass to an undisclosed buyer for $68.3 million, making it the contemporary artist’s most expensive work ever to change hands. Painted in 1964, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half depicts a vibrant red gas station against a brilliant Texas sky. Such a sight was no doubt familiar to Bass’s great-uncle, SID RICHARDSON (1891-1959), whose exploits as a pioneering wildcatter founded the family fortune.
39.	Fasken Family	284,493		The Faskens’ Permian Basin holdings cover more than 250 square miles and have been shepherded by four generations of the family since their acquisition in 1913 by David Fasken, a lawyer from Toronto. In addition to the 165,000 acres that FASKEN OIL AND RANCH owns in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico, the family has a trio of South Texas ranches plus a Napa Valley vineyard.
40.	Llano Partners	284,000		A past president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, HUGHES ABELL pursues ranching and farming along with oil and gas from his home base in Austin, Texas. Through Llano Partners Wildlife, the Abell clan coordinates hunting on family land in Northeastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and South Central Florida.
41.	Cogdell Family	282,000		David Munsey “D.M.” Cogdell Sr. (1884-1964) considered himself to be an “old-time horse trader.” He was also an accomplished land trader. His TULE RANCH formed the basis for a diverse series of enterprises run by different descendants that include beef cattle, oil and gas, and award-winning Quarter Horses.
42.	Kokernot Heirs	278,000		In 1837, the family’s 06 brand was first registered in Texas. John Kokernot acquired the brand in 1872. He and his brother Lee ran cattle on state land in the Trans-Pecos. In 1912, Lee’s son, Herbert Lee Kokernot Sr. (1867–1949), began to acquire the ranches that are known today as the 06 RANCH and the LEONCITA CATTLE COMPANY.
43.	Bill Gates	275,000	View profile	Much has changed in the world of nuclear energy since 1979 when the release of The China Syndrome coincided with a partial nuclear melt-down at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and heightened concerns about nuclear safety. While nuclear power never went away, its share of the world’s electricity generation dropped from a high of nearly 20 percent to less than 10 percent today, according to Bloomberg News.
43.	Babbitt Heirs	275,000		In September, BABBITT RANCHES hosted a ribbon cutting on a 161-megawatt wind project located on family land north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Fifty wind turbines will produce clean energy while generating $9.5 million in additional tax revenue for the region. “What we are doing here together matters for future generations and the planet,” said Billy Cordasco, president and general manager of Babbitt Ranches.
43.	Jones Famaiily	275,000		Head to the South Texas coastline to encounter pristine land that WILLIAM WHITBY “W.W.” JONES (1858-1942) began acquiring in the 1890s. After four decades of buying, selling, and trading, Jones had assembled 300,000 acres in Brooks, Starr, Jim Hogg, and Hidalgo Counties. The vast majority of his holdings still remain in family hands. The Joneses have earned a reputation for rigorous stewardship of native wildlife along with quality livestock.
43.	Lee Family	275,000		Floyd Lee (1895–1987) took a job as a bronc rider on the FERNANDEZ RANCH in Western New Mexico in 1919. The World War I veteran climbed the ranks and eventually became ranch manager of the historic holding. In 1939, he and his wife, Frances, became its owners. In the 1950s, uranium was discovered on the Fernandez. In the 1980s, the Santa Fe Railroad developed the Lee Ranch Coal Mine, which employed hundreds in remote Cibola County.
47.	Malone Mitchell 3rd	273,000		Oklahoma State alumni Malone and Amy Mitchell founded RIATA ENERGY in their guest bedroom with $500 in start-up capital. Two decades later, they sold their interest in Riata to Chesapeake Energy co-founder Tom Ward for $500 million. The Mitchells established their Longfellow Ranches as one of the finest hunting properties in Texas’s Trans-Pecos region. A full-service, 4,700-square-foot lodge welcomes guests.
48.	True Family	272,000		The various endeavors of the TRUE COMPANIES include agriculture, banking, energy, and real estate via ranches, soil companies, and other entities in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Last year, they expanded into Jerome, Idaho, with the opening of True West Beef, a state-of-the-art processing plant.
49.	Taylor Sheridan	267,000	View profile	The TV and film producer synonymous with the West these days has expanded his own ranching empire to the Cowboy State. In early September, Taylor Sheridan purchased the 179-acre Papa’s Creek Ranch in Star Valley, Wyoming, a spectacular undeveloped property about 65 miles from Jackson Hole. The ranch was listed for $4.95 million with Latham Jenkins and Matt MacMillan of Live Water Properties.
50.	Galt Family	262,000		The history of the Montana Territory is intertwined with this family’s story. WELLINGTON D. RANKIN (1884–1966) served as Montana’s attorney general, was appointed to the state supreme court, and reportedly ranked as the state’s largest private landowner. His sister JEANNETTE RANKIN (1880–1973) was the first woman to hold federal office in American history.
51.	Hadley Family	260,000		The historic GRAY RANCH in the bootheel of New Mexico forms the principal portion of this family’s holdings. Acquired in 1990 for $18 million by The Nature Conservancy, it was placed under a conservation easement and then sold to Drummond Hadley’s Animas Foundation in 1994. The Gray was subsequently renamed the Diamond A Ranch.
52.	T.R. Miller Family	255,510		One of the largest softwood lumber producers in the US, T.R. Miller has been in business since 1872. Holdings include CEDAR CREEK LAND & TIMBER (162,000 acres), TRM WOODLANDS (53,000 acres), and NEAL LAND & TIMBER (39,600 acres), which lost an estimated $30 million in timber when Hurricane Michael roared through the Florida Panhandle in 2019.
53.	Sanders Family	250,000		In 1992, Bob and Jane Sanders and Rob and Carla Sanders acquired ROARING SPRINGS RANCH in Southeast Oregon. The family runs it as a cow/calf-stocker operation with more than 6,000 cow/calves and 150 horses. Holdings total more than 1 million acres of deeded land and BLM grazing allotments in the high-desert country in the Catlow Valley outside Frenchglen.
54.	Coffee Family	248,840		The Coffee Family operates ranchland near Miles City, Montana. Virginia Coffee’s late father, Bill Nefsy, and her late husband, C.M. Coffee, each started ranching in the area during the 1940s and the early 1950s. Virginia’s children, Caren and Bill, combined these operations and have expanded through the decades. The Coffees also own STOCKMAN BANK, Montana’s largest ag bank. Stockman supports land conservation, local agriculture, and Montana values across the Treasure State.
55.	Angell Family	244,000		Based in Southeast New Mexico, DARR ANGELL and his son BILL ANGELL operate cattle ranches in Guadalupe, King, Lea, and Union Counties. They have also monetized land-based resources by selling water rights to exploration-and-production companies developing oil and gas fields in the greater Permian Basin.
56.	Riggs Family	241,803		Shortly after the Civil War ended, BRANNICK RIGGS (1828–1907) uprooted his family, left Texas, and settled beneath the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona’s Cochise County. Today, in that very same locale, his descendants are developing the Mare Pasture (marepasture.com), a sustainable, 1,088-acre community on the family’s Red Wing Ranch.
57.	Hearst Family	238,000		In December 2023, HEARST FORESTS (pictured below) acquired an adjacent 20,000-acre timberland tract owned by Manulife Investment Management near McCloud, California. The acquisition brought Hearst’s total timberland ownership to 82,000 acres. In 2024, Hearst successfully capitalized on this purchase by immediately increasing sustainable-timber production and delivering about 7,000 truckloads of logs to local mills.
58.	Kenedy Memorial Foundation	235,000		The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation was established by Sarita Kenedy East, granddaughter of Mifflin Kenedy (1818–1895). The captain acquired South Texas’s 400,000-acre LA PARRA RANCH in 1882. The massive cattle operation shares a fence line with King Ranch (see No. 9 King Ranch Heirs), which belonged to Kenedy’s longtime business partner Richard King.
59.	Brask Family	230,000		The family’s 320 GUEST RANCH (320ranch.com) in the Gallatin Valley near Yellowstone National Park was homesteaded in 1898 by the Wilson family. In 1987, Dave Brask bought the historic guest ranch after a trip to Montana. Two years later, he added an adjacent 160 acres. Today, the guest ranch features log homes and cabins, mountain chalets, a variety of dining options, and a full slate of outdoor activities.
59.	Gene Taylor	230,000		At 18, Taylor bought his first tract of land: 40 acres of timberland just north of Tuscaloosa in Fayette County, Alabama. It was the early 1960s, and Taylor had an ambitious goal of eventually owning 1,000 acres. “I think we’ve exceeded that a little bit,” he told The Land Report in 2023. Taylor has enjoyed similar success with WARRIOR TRACTOR AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, which has grown from a single dealership to seven locations with sales of $60 million annually.
61.	Fanjul Family	229,000		At its peak, the family’s Northern Arizona ranch encompassed 1 million acres, which were acquired from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Founded in 1884, the family’s AZTEC LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY was laid out in the traditional checkerboard fashion of federal-government land grants. Aztec’s operating strategy has varied from running cattle to leasing pasturage to selling acreage.
62.	Brophy Family	228,273		At its peak, the family’s Northern Arizona ranch encompassed 1 million acres, which were acquired from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Founded in 1884, the family’s AZTEC LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY was laid out in the traditional checkerboard fashion of federal-government land grants. Aztec’s operating strategy has varied from running cattle to leasing pasturage to selling acreage.
63.	Sugg Family	225,000		The family’s O H TRIANGLE RANCH was established in 1898 by two brothers from Mississippi, J.D. and E.C. Sugg. The brothers’ fourth-generation descendants are based in Irion County near San Angelo, Texas. They raise grass-, hay-, and corn-fed beef, and they ship quarters, halves, and box beef nationwide via shopohtriangleranch.com.
63.	Bidegain Family	225,000		Established in 1902 by Yetta Kohn, the Bidegains run 2,500 mother cows on Eastern New Mexico’s T4 CATTLE COMPANY. Their holdings include the historic Mesa Rica, a 117,000-acre section that was carved off the renowned Bell Ranch in San Miguel County. The Bidegains acquired the Mesa Rica in 1947.
65.	Yates Family	224,000		Martin Yates Jr. earned a degree in economics from Dartmouth College before returning to New Mexico to work alongside his father in the early 1950s. Toward the end of that decade, the family helped discover the Empire Abo field in the Delaware Basin of Southern New Mexico and West Texas. EOG Resources bought YATES PETROLEUM COMPANY in 2016 for $2.5 billion in stock and cash. Members of the family continue to run Santo Petroleum, an oil and gas company in the Permian Basin.
66.	Lyda Family	223,000		Just south of Fort Stockton, Texas, LA ESCALERA RANCH is known for its Black Angus operation, which emphasizes water conservation and the preservation of wildlife. For more than a decade, the Lyda family has been assessing the quality and volume of the Capitan Reef beneath the ranch to secure sustainable water resources for both La Escalera and the surrounding region, a project spearheaded by Gerald “Dee” Lyda Jr.
66.	Bobby Patton & Mark Walter	223,000		Their Texas and New Mexico landholdings aren’t the only things that these two share. Along with Peter Guber, Magic Johnson, and Billie Jean King, Patton and Walter co-own the LOS ANGELES DODGERS.
68..	Bacon Family	221,688 (208,499 Acres Under Conservation Easement)		Conservation philanthropist LOUIS BACON supports numerous organizations across the country, with particular focus in Colorado, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Alaska to identify sustainable solutions to meet the land, water, and air challenges of the 21st century. Recent key priorities include forest-health restoration efforts in Colorado, improving the health of the Rio Grande’s watershed in New Mexico, and restoring longleaf pine forests in North Carolina.
69.	Cassidy Heirs	220,180		JOHN CASSIDY (1842-1910) was an Irish immigrant who began accumulating acreage in Maine as a teen. He stockpiled forestland at $2 an acre. At Bangor’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery, a massive mausoleum endowed in perpetuity serves as an eternal testament to his pine-scented success.
70.	Scott Family	220,000		Homer and Mildred Scott started ranching in 1943 with 300 head on a 3,000-acre property. Today, their family produces 10,000 feeder cattle annually on the 475,000-acre PADLOCK RANCH, which is headquartered along the Tongue River and straddles the Montana–Wyoming state line. A significant portion of the ranch’s leased lands lie on the 2.2-million-acre Crow Indian Reservation in Southern Montana.
71.	Kennedy Family	219,663		Peter Maximus Kennedy (1922–2009) was the chairman of Dominick & Dominick, one of Wall Street’s oldest continuously operated firms. He subsequently formed the family-owned Eighteen Seventy Corporation, an investment vehicle whose assets ranged from furniture manufacturers to private banks. Eighteen Seventy currently owns the GI RANCH in the shadow of the Ochoco National Forest, approximately 90 miles east of Bend, Oregon.
72.	Gabrych Family	218,000		Renowned land man GENE GABRYCH (1924-2023) made a name for himself buying, holding, and selling development tracts in key California growth markets east of Los Angeles. The bulk of his investments were in Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.
73.	Bridwell Heirs	217,785		A Missourian who moved to North Texas, Joseph Bridwell (1885–1966) discovered oil on the W.T. Waggoner Estate. His BRIDWELL OIL COMPANY ultimately produced 50 million barrels from more than 700 wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana.
74.	East Foundation	217,000		Established in 2007, this working cattle operation focuses on improving efficient and sustainable beef production with the expressed intention of maintaining the ecosystems services provided by intact rangelands. As the first AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (ARO) in the US, the East Foundation turned the diverse South Texas rangelands across its six ranches into a living laboratory with an emphasis on conducting partnered research and developing conservation-minded leaders. The nonprofit invests in K-12 education, internships, and graduate-student training. While maintaining traditional land-use and ownership rights, the Foundation’s ranches also help protect the largest known population of the rare American ocelot, a small and secretive species of feline.
75.	Gage Heirs	213,730		By the time of his death in 1928, ALFRED GAGE had accumulated 503,000 acres from Marathon to Marfa. His granddaughter, Roxana (Catto) Hayne, was named West Texas Conservationist of the Year in 2023 by the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. “We want our land to be as productive as it can be,” Hayne said in response to the honor. “And we are determined we’re going to keep this land in the family.”
76.	Russell Gordy	212,000		This native Houstonian’s original 113-acre Piney Woods acreage has since grown to more than 8,000 acres. The oil-and-gas entrepreneur also owns the 48,000-acre DOUBLE ARROW RANCH on the Yellowstone River in Montana, an 80,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, and the 19,000-acre LA CENIZA in South Texas.
77.	Cunningham Sheep Co.	211,563		For more than a century, this Eastern Oregon family has supplied PENDLETON WOOLEN MILLS the wool that goes into their blankets and jackets. Founded by Charles Cunningham in 1863, the outfit was acquired in the 1930s by Mac Hoke. His descendants — the Coreys and the Levys — run registered Rambouillet.
78.	Reese Family	208,238		Homesteaded in the rolling hills of Eastern Wyoming in 1914, the ROCKIN’ 7 RANCH has a well-deserved reputation as a world-class outfitter specializing in mule deer, pronghorn, and bison.
79.	Boswell Family	207,000		Central California titan J.G. BOSWELL founded his eponymous company in 1925. Today, the ultra-private family focuses on tomatoes, controlling its homegrown supply from seed all the way through the processing plant. The Boswells rank as the largest producers of the most ubiquitous fruit in the world. The family farms also yield extra-long staple pima cotton, prized for its strength and sheen.
80.	Cocanougher Family	202,000		Based just northwest of Fort Worth, Texas, brothers Daniel and Robert Cocanougher are involved in dozens of businesses, from real estate to a feed company to Japanese-style animation. Daniel made a surprise announcement in September that his family would donate the 160-acre RUNAWAY BAY GOLF CLUB AND RESORT, which they’d bought in 2018, to Weatherford College.
81.	Anthony Family	200,000		Founded in 1907 by Garland Anthony in South Arkansas, ANTHONY TIMBERLANDS is a multifaceted wood-products business and the largest independent owner of timberland in Arkansas. John Ed Anthony currently serves as chairman of the family-owned company. Operations include two pine sawmills, three hardwood sawmills, a hardwood-flooring plant, a wood-treating facility, and a hardwood-mat facility.
81.	Hunt Family	200,000		Through their HOODOO LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY, the Hunts own and operate ranches, farms, and other landholdings in Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
81.	Langdale Family	200,000		Minimizing waste while maximizing environmental stewardship has guided the LANGDALE COMPANY since the 1950s when the family began generating its own energy via wood-fired dry kilns. Based in Valdosta, Georgia, the Langdale family of forest products today includes two dozen companies.
81.	Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation	200,000		In addition to growing trees and other forest products on its timberland holdings, the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation is also helping seed the tree of knowledge. Ware, a native of Georgia who made his fortune in the timber business, passed away in 2019. But his foundation continues to support a variety of charity projects, including funding student scholarships at West Georgia Technical College. “Over the years, Holland became concerned that people weren’t having the same opportunities that they used to in the trade schools,” says Ware Foundation executive director Brenda Thueson. “We own a lot of property in the West Georgia area, and it’s important to us to support the communities where we do timber business. So we started offering these scholarships to West Georgia Tech in order to help the trades.” The Ware Foundation has provided 105 scholarships to WGTC students since 2020, prompting the college to present the foundation its Spirit of Giving Award. “We’ve given scholarships in HVAC, electrical engineering, CDC driving, auto repair, nursing — pretty much any trade that a person wants to apply for,” Thueson says. “We recently started a scholarship that focuses entirely on veterans. We feel strongly that the trades are what make America great, and the Ware Foundation wants to make a difference in keeping the backbone of America strong. “In addition to the West Georgia scholarship, we also have programs across the country for at-risk women and children, animal care, and law enforcement. Income from our timber operations generates the funds that support these entities. Everything comes from the land.”
85.	Tianqiao Chen	198,000	View profile	In 2015, the founder of SHANDA INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT acquired nearly 200,000 acres of former Crown Pacific timberlands in Oregon from Fidelity National Financial Ventures for $85 million.
85.	Philip Anschutz	184,500		The Class 6 and Class 7 winds on Wyoming’s OVERLAND TRAIL RANCH have long been the focus of this Denver entrepreneur’s Power Company of Wyoming. Anschutz’s $5 billion Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project occupies less than 1,500 acres of the 320,000-acre assemblage of deeded and leased lands.
87.	Stewart & Lynda Resnick	196,775		The Resnicks’ numerous corporate interests include the $4 billion WONDERFUL COMPANY, which produces scores of high-quality, healthy products such as Wonderful Halos Mandarins, Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Almonds, and POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice on prime acreage in California’s Central Valley, as well as in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
88.	Nunley Family	191,500		Richard and Bob Nunley carry on the tradition of running Santa Gertrudis cattle, which was established by their father, Texas cattleman RED NUNLEY. The brothers have expanded their operation from its Uvalde County roots to include ranches across the Lone Star State.
89.	Taylor Family	191,000		Based in Pecos, Texas, the Taylors own cattle ranches in West Texas as well as in Southern New Mexico, where they acquired Sam Donaldson’s 34,248-acre PAJARITO RANCH in Lincoln County.
90.	Offutt Family	190,000		This family-owned agricultural operation is the nation’s largest producer of potatoes. Based in Fargo, North Dakota, R.D. OFFUTT FARMS has the majority of its 60,000 potato acres under center-pivot.
90.	Scotch Families	190,000		The Harrigans and their descendants — known collectively as the “Scotch” ownership — got their start in Alabama’s Clarke County in 1888. Since then, they have owned and managed working timberland in Southwest Alabama under the name SCOTCH LUMBER.
92.	McLean Heirs	186,000		Thanks to his innovative flank-drilling theory, MARRS MCLEAN was dubbed “the second prophet of Spindletop.” His heirs operate South Texas hunting ranches in the heart of the fabled GoldeTriangle.
93.	Durrett Family	182,000		The family’s “Happy DDs” brand honors family patriarch Delmar Durrett. Based at the southern reaches of the Great Plains, DURRETT CATTLE is overseen by Allen and Robert Durrett and their families.
94.	Haynes Family	180,000		When HERBERT HAYNES (1930–2007) got his start in the timber trade in the 1940s, horses were still being used to skid logs in the NORTH MAINE WOODS. In 1963, Haynes incorporated his family’s forest-products company.
95.	Williams Family	173,170		A stone’s throw from the famed Four Sixes is the flagship of the PITCHFORK LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY, 165,000 acres dotted with 4,500 mother cows. Cowboys work the land astride the North Texas ranch’s signature Pitchfork Grays — gray horses with striking black manes and tails. The family land, which includes 8,000 acres in Oklahoma, has produced more than 1 million barrels of oil since 1980. At the Western Heritage Classic in May 2024, Pitchfork cowboy Clint Jones roped awards for both Top Horse and Top Hand.
96.	JA Ranch Heirs	171,485		In 1876, renowned Texas Ranger CHARLES GOODNIGHT and his cowboys drove a herd of 1,600 Longhorns into PALO DURO CANYON and created what would become the oldest continuously operated cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle.
97.	Broadbent Family	170,000		Vance Broadbent leads this family-run ranching operation. The BROADBENTS often hire herders from Peru and Mexico through the H-2A Visa program. They also mentor the next generation of agricultural leaders in Utah and Wyoming.
97.	Irwin Family	170,000		Sprawling across the high desert about 55 miles northwest of Prescott, Arizona, the historic O RO RANCH includes some of the most rugged, canyon-filled landscapes in the American West. Founded as a Spanish land grant, the ranch was bought a century and a half later by the father of John N. Irwin III and Jane Irwin Droppa.
99.	McDonald Family	163,000		In 2019, this Alabama family sold its Maine timberland holdings — 311,000 acres held by GREAT NORTHWOODS LLC — to No. 7 Peter Buck. The McDONALDS still own more than 100,000 acres of timberland in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.
100.	Iberlin Family	158,838		Members of the Iberlin family are descendants of John and Jeanne IBERLIN, French Basques who settled in Northeast Wyoming at the beginning of the 20th century. The family raises sheep and cattle in and around Campbell County, Wyoming.
98.	Frank VanderSloot	158,359
99.	Ellison Family	156,000
100.	D.K. Boyd	155,872

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Who is America’s
Largest Landowner?

Top 100
Landowner List

Bill
Gates

Jeff
Bezos

Top 100
Landowner List

Bill
Gates

Jeff
Bezos