A recent study, Who Owns West Virginia? (full report pdf), gives a glimpse into the land ownership in the state.  The report finds that much of the state’s private land is “owned by large, mainly absentee corporations, [but] the list of top owners – once dominated by energy, land holding and paper companies – now includes major timber management concerns.”  

As reported by Ken Ward Jr. in the Charleston Gazette, the report finds that “[n]one of the state’s top 10 private landowners is headquartered in West Virginia.”  Although it is accurate that the top ten owners are not indivdual owners,  I will note that not all of the top ten owners are “corporations.”  There is at least one master limited partnership and one limited liability company (LLC).  That may not mean much in the sense of absentee ownership, but it is a doctrinal distinction I maintain is still important.  

It’s not shocking that these entity owners would be out of state, especially because that was true back in 1974, too, when the last study was done.  There are relatively few large entities chartered or headquartered in West Virginia, and it appears that many of the…