Oregon has over 62 million total acres, which means Tianqiao Chen owns around a third of one percent, or 200,000 acres. Chen, a Chinese man, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and is the second-largest foreign owner of land in the U.S., according to a story found in an OPB article by Alex Baumhardt on Jan. 21.
The article explains this information was found in a publication called The Land Report, which details the top 100 private landowners in the U.S. annually. The latest report was published on Jan. 9, and it puts Chen as the 82nd largest U.S. landowner (regardless of nationality).
Chen’s 200k acres of forestland are located in Klamath and Deschutes counties and were purchased around ten years ago. The article explains that 33,000 acres are forestland west of Bend, which Chen is trying to sell for $95 million. He purchased all of his Oregon holdings for $85 million in 2014.
The article gives the details of foreign U.S. landownership, explaining,
Foreigners own more than 43 million acres of agricultural land in the U.S., or about 3.4% of the nation’s agricultural land.
About half of this land, 19 million acres, is classified as forestland. Also, Chinese make up less than 1% of foreign-owned U.S. land. The largest foreign U.S. landowners come from Canada, who own about a third of those 43 million acres. The largest foreign owner of U.S. land is the Irving family from Canada, who own more than 1.2 million acres in Maine.
The article shares that Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer explained in a recent news release on Jan. 12. that she was concerned a member of the Chinese Communist Party owned so much land in her district.