Abstract
For the last 10-years, the SUNY ESF College Foundation has been accepting land donated by private forest landowners who want to maintain the legacy of their forestland. The Foundation aims to sustainably manage their forestland in accordance with the ideals and practices taught at SUNY ESF and generate positive net revenues to fund student scholarships. The College Foundation is looking to manage this asset to generate a 5.5 percent real rate of return. This thesis will apply Markowitz portfolio theory to a timberland investment scenario using 10 of the College Foundation’s properties. Five scenarios demonstrate how changing stumpage prices, increasing land values, and the addition of fixed annual incomes will influence changes in average annual returns. A variance-covariance matrix is used for each scenario to show how properties influence one another. Finally, a post-conclusion discussion explains how timberland can be added to the College Foundation’s portfolio.