It was formed to manage the native and exotic forests on the West Coast of the defunct New Zealand Forest Service.

A large quantity of internal documents relating to the operation of its secret public relations campaign to support its logging operations in the 1990s against environmental groups was published in the book Secrets and Lies in 1999.

In 2001, 130,000 ha of indigenous forests were transferred to the Department of Conservation.

[1] In February 2008, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Trevor Mallard announced that the assets of Timberlands will transfer to Crown Forestry (division of MAF) since the company has had poor financial results.

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