Weyerhaeuser announced on Dec. 17 plans to sell all 630,000 acres of forest lands it owns in Montana, with the purchase to be complete by mid-2020 to (at this time) an unnamed buyer. Montana land trusts, including The Nature Conservancy in Montana and The Trust for Public Land, have a long history of working with Plum Creek (former owner of the forest land) and Weyerhaeuser on forest management / conservation transactions, but neither conservation organization appears to be involved in the transaction.

Weyerhaeuser’s three manufacturing facilities in the Flathead Valley are not affected by the announcement, according to the release, though officials would not disclose further details about the buyer or what the sale means for the future of public access on the parcels