Thursday, October 30, 2014 2:45 am

Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. announced this week that it has reached an agreement to sell approximately 165,000 acres of Montana and Washington forestland to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for $134 million.

"Plum Creek has a strong history of conservation and is pleased to partner in the sale of these lands to accommodate the public interest in securing permanent conservation that protects ecological and recreational values," said Rick Holley, CEO for Plum Creek.

"This is an important conservation project that recognizes the highest benefit these lands offer - protecting ecological values and helping to maintain public access. We are pleased that we were able to work with TNC to conserve some of the nation's most important forest areas," Holley added.

The property will be acquired by The Nature Conservancy in two phases, the first closing in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the second closing by end of the first quarter of 2015. The transaction is subject to various customary closing conditions, including but not limited to the buyer's due diligence review of the lands to be purchased and approval by each party's board of directors.

Plum Creek is among the largest and most geographically diverse private landowners in the nation with approximately 6.7 million acres of timberlands in forest ecosystems across the northern and southeastern United States.