The Next Chapter for New England’s Forests

Over the past year, New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) undertook an organization-wide effort to ask a simple but important question: What must happen in the next five years and beyond to ensure New England’s forests continue to provide the benefits we all depend on?

The answer became our new strategic plan and theory of change, which together will guide NEFF’s work in the years ahead. While one is a roadmap and the other a visual framework, both are rooted in the same belief: New England’s forests remain one of the region’s greatest assets, but their future is not guaranteed.

Forests clean our drinking water, store carbon, provide wildlife habitat, support outdoor recreation, sustain rural jobs, and supply renewable materials that can help reduce our dependence on more carbon-intensive products. Yet the pressures facing forests continue to grow. Development fragments forestland. Climate change increases stress on ecosystems. Invasive pests and diseases threaten forest health. And too often, the economic systems that shape land-use decisions fail to reward long-term stewardship.

One of the most important realizations to emerge from our planning process was that we do not have a knowledge problem. We already know a great deal about how to manage forests for climate benefits, biodiversity, clean water, recreation, and sustainable wood production. The challenge is that many of those practices are difficult to implement at scale because the financial incentives do not yet align with the public benefits forests provide.

That insight is reflected in our new mission statement: We harness the power of New England’s forests for the good of nature, climate, and communities.

It is also reflected in the three core strategies that will guide our work.

The first is to conserve and steward an enduring forest base for New England. Simply put, none of our goals matter if forests continue to disappear. Conservation remains foundational to our mission. We will continue protecting important forestlands, stewarding our Community Forests, and ensuring that the conservation lands entrusted to our care remain protected and well-managed for generations to come.

The second strategy is to test, refine, and promote Exemplary Forestry across the region. Exemplary Forestry is NEFF’s approach to sustainable and climate-smart forestry — one designed to enhance carbon storage, improve wildlife habitat and biodiversity, and grow sustainably produced wood. We believe strongly in this approach, but belief alone is not enough. We must demonstrate it in practice, understand its real-world outcomes, and share what we learn with landowners, policymakers, conservation partners, and the public. Our forests will increasingly serve as living laboratories where people can see firsthand how these practices work on the ground.

The third strategy may be the most challenging and perhaps the most important. We must overcome market barriers that limit the adoption of Exemplary Forestry practices. If Exemplary Forestry is going to spread across millions of acres, it must make economic sense for the people who own and manage those forests. That means developing new incentives, exploring carbon and ecosystem-service markets, supporting innovation in forest products, and helping grow demand for wood sourced from responsible forest management. In short, we must work toward a future where the right environmental choices are also the right financial choices.

Our theory of change helps illustrate how these pieces fit together. It recognizes that healthy forests do not result from conservation alone, nor from forestry alone, nor from markets alone. Lasting change requires all three. By conserving forests, demonstrating sustainable management practices, and improving the economic conditions that support them, we can create a system capable of sustaining forests and the many benefits they provide.

The planning process also reaffirmed something we have long believed: NEFF is uniquely positioned to lead this work. Few organizations operate at the intersection of conservation, forestry, climate solutions, research, and market development. Fewer still can test ideas on more than 40,000 acres of Community Forests while collaborating with landowners, industry leaders, conservation partners, researchers, and policymakers across the region.

This plan is ambitious because the challenges facing New England’s forests are significant. But it is also grounded in optimism. We know that forests can continue to provide extraordinary benefits for nature, climate, and communities. We know that better solutions are possible. And we know that progress happens when people come together around a shared vision.

The future of New England’s forests will be shaped by the choices we make today. This strategic plan is our commitment to the work ahead.

Explore the Plan

NEFF’s 2026 strategic plan outlines how we will conserve forests, advance Exemplary Forestry, and build the economic conditions needed to sustain healthy forests across New England.

Click here to view and download a PDF of the plan or visit newenglandforestry.org/about/our-mission-and-plan to view the plan’s home on the NEFF website.