You know how you blithely plod along, not knowing who owns a sizable chunk of the Pacific Northwest? 

This, apparently, has been Oregonians' reality, since 2015. Oregon garners frequent mention on  the Land Report 100, a list of the country’s biggest landowners, due to the state's vast swaths of forest. But a new name on this year’s list has stirred up some controversy. 

With nearly 200,000 acres of Beaver State land, Shanda Asset Management, the Singapore-based private investment firm of Chinese video gaming magnate Tianqiao Chen, landed 82nd on the 2024 list of Top 100 Landowners. So what’s the big deal? Chen’s massive investment in Oregon timber has somehow flown under the radar since 2015. The ownership makes him the second-largest non-US citizen owner of US land, eclipsed only by the Canadian Irving family, who is rank sixth on the Land Report, with 1.2 million acres of Maine land. In Oregon, Shanda's acreage is approached only by the family of Red Emmerson, of timber-products company Sierra Pacific Industries, which ranks first nationwide, with holdings across California, Washington, and Oregon (175,000 acres).

It’s unclear how the sale went unnoticed for so long. The Land Report gets its information from county tax records, financial reports, press releases, and landowners themselves, and references to Shanda’s holdings abound.

Following the reveal and ensuing Bloomberg report, Singapore-based Shanda Group issued a statement, noting that the group "continues to manage its timber operations with a focus on ensuring forest health." Shanda is the only private landowner to publicly participate with the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project, an organization working to restore and conserve Oregon forestland. Chen is reportedly a Chinese citizen, though his LinkedIn profile lists his home as Menlo Park, California.

Still, Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District, home to much of Chen’s holdings, expressed concern about foreign investment in her district's "most precious and finite resources." 

Foreign ownership of agricultural lands has recently become a political issue, with particular attention on Chinese ownership. In July, the Senate passed a bill that would have limited farmland sales to owners from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, but the bill was not signed into law. Roughly half of US states restrict foreign land ownership, though recent restriction efforts on homeownership by Chinese nationals has been viewed as discriminatory.

Other Oregon landowners to make the Land Report list include local wood products companies, ranches, and the Eastern Oregon farming family that supplies Pendleton with wool.