The tracts are not all adjacent to each other, but are spread out between Longs and Conway, said American Timberlands President Tom Rowland. They include parcels in the Waccamaw River basin, in the Little Pee Dee River basin and along S.C. 90, S.C. 905, S.C. 31 and S.C. 22.

Rowland declined to give specifics about what the company will do with the land.

"We are in the process of developing individual management plans for each tract," he said. "We are going to begin some cleanup work and that kind of thing."

He said that the ecological features on the land were partly what made the land attractive and that it's a long-term investment for the company. Rowland expected the investment return to come "from the management of a number of different value components that exist on the land."

"In general," he said, "value components would be things like timber, aggregate, high- and better-use developable land and conservation easements."

It's too early to say whether plans will involve commercial and residential development, Rowland said, but he didn't rule it out. The company's Web site already lists 2,147 acres of the land for lease for hunting and recreational use.

The 20,000 acres is the company's biggest land investment, but it's not its first local purchase. American Timberlands has 1,150 acres in Brunswick County, N.C., listed for sale on its Web site.

International Paper has been shedding land along the coast for years. IP started the Brunswick Forest and Carolina Forest developments and most recently has pushed for the development of the 6,200-acre Carolina Station development near Loris.

International Paper could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Horry County is about 725,555 acres, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.