New England Forestry Foundation

Explore New England Forestry Foundation’s History

Our History

See what conditions contributed to the founding of New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF), and then journey through more than 75 years of NEFF’s work to conserve the region’s private forests and help them thrive through the use of Exemplary Forestry.

New England Forestry Foundation’s Origins

In the 1930s and 40s, an eclectic group of foresters and outdoor enthusiasts grew concerned about destructive overharvesting on private New England forestlands. Much of the region’s once vast and ecologically rich forests had only just begun to regenerate after centuries of deforestation, and parcel owners often acted with an eye to quick profit or simply lacked an understanding of how to care for a forest.

In response, they decided to form a charitable organization devoted to the practice, teaching and promotion of sustainable forest management, and so the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) was born July 12, 1944 to help private forests thrive. Its land protection efforts kicked in soon thereafter when in 1945, NEFF accepted its first donated forest and opened it to the public.

See what conditions contributed to NEFF’s founding, and then take a journey through the organization’s history.