With support from the Overhills Foundation and numerous partners, NEFF produced a detailed and engaging “From Engagement to Action” report of its participation in the MassConn Woods Landowner Outreach Initiative. If you’ve only got time for a quick read, the executive summary shares lessons and recommendations for scaling up investment in proactive outreach and communications to the private owners of New England’s woodlands in order to protect the future of our region’s forests.
The initiative succeeded in engaging 533 discrete, individual or family forest landowners owning a total of 31,387 acres, who participated in some form of outreach activity, including 20 percent of whom took the step of meeting with a natural resource professional to discuss their goals for their land, which encompassed 8,556 acres. Each of these numbers represents a person or a family with their own experience and perspective about their land.
While these numbers are useful, there were plenty of lessons learned by NEFF staff and partners that they share in the report, and numerous other benefits to the program. Chapter titles highlight what the report fully has to offer: 21st Century Marketing for Land Conservation, The Importance of Knowing Your Audience, The MassConn Experience, Broaching the Climate Conversation, Realizing Owner Goals: Support to Make a Plan, The Power of Peer Engagement: MassConn’s Woodland Ambassadors, and more.