Who (or What) Owns The Most Land In Louisiana?
According to sources, there are roughly 33 million acres of land in the state of Louisiana. Which for a state like Louisiana is going to be a massive estimation, due to coastal land-loss and river erosion. But its good enough for what we're looking at today.
Of the 33 million acres, only 10.7% of it is publicly owned, split between the State and Federal government. While 89.3% is privately owned. That translates to 29,469,000 acres of privately owned land. Privately owned can mean either individuals or companies.
Of that privately owned land, one landowner has a larger share than anyone else. Their total is 550,000 acres of Louisiana land. That owner is Roy O. Martin III of Alexandria, Louisiana. But why does he own that much land? Well, it's his company...
RoyOMartin is headquartered in Alexandria, Louisiana. Their leadership team includes President & COO E. Scott Poole, Executive Vice President Terry Secrest, and Chairman/CEO/CFO Roy O. Martin III. The company is an evolution of the family's lumber company. Growing over generations.
The company continues to work in solid wood and plywood products, but also deals in land leases, consulting, stewardship, and real estate. With all of these phases of the company, its actually understandable why they would own over 500,000 acres of Louisiana land.
The company is still located in Alexandria, but their land is obviously not all located there. Rapides Parish is roughly 843,000 acres, meaning RoyOMartin would own almost the entire parish at that point.