Michigan’s Largest Landowner Doesn’t Even Live in the State

Seems like the person(s) who own the most land in the state of Michigan would at least live here but that is not the case.

Michigan Land Owners

It is nice to own a piece of land if you are a Michigander because you can pretty much do what you want with it as long as it's legal.

There is some beautiful land to choose from in Michigan. The state has amazing forest land, farmland, and some prime real estate along the Great Lakes.

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I was lucky enough to grab a small piece of land to hunt on in the Manistee National Forest before the big price jump on land. It takes a lot of money to own land now in Michigan, but who owns most of it?

Michigan's Largest Land Owner Doesn't Live in the State

I originally thought that Consumers Energy owned the most land in Michigan but I was incorrect on that. Yes, they own a lot of land across the state but are not the largest landowner.

It turns out that the State of Michigan and the Federal Government own about 1 quarter of the entire state's land but what I wanted to know was who owns the most land in Michigan outside of government?

The owner of the most land in Michigan is not from a local family but a company called Lyme Timber Company that is based in Hanover, New Hamshire.

According to the Lyme Timber Company portfolio, in late 2019, the company purchased nearly 680,000 acres in Michigan's Upper Peninsula making the company the largest private land owner in the state, even though they don't live here.