Did the previous owner actually outright sell the timber rights for the life of the property? Or was there just a one time contract in place to do some type of cutting within a set period of time? If it's the latter - unless you just have some highly desirable timber - I would think that you could potentially talk to the timber buyer and ask if you could give him back the performance bond money and forget the contract. I'm sure they have plenty of other tracts to cut. Now if he's already done a contract with sub-contract cutters or something it may not be that easy. If the full timber rights got sold off, then I would think you are SOL w/out offering to buy them back and probably at a premium.