How to Conserve Your Land

We are continuously working to help landowners reach their conservation goals

NEFF works to help landowners reach their conservation goals. Options include land donations, conservation easements, and planned giving, as well as other innovative methods like the Pooled Timber Income Fund.

NEFF Community Forests

NEFF owns more than 150 forests totaling more than 40,000 acres, and most of them are memorial forests named in honor of the donor or their family. These forests are carefully managed to continually yield the many benefits forests provide, such as clean air and water, climate-smart wood products, recreational opportunities, climate change mitigation, and more.

The forest management program on lands held by NEFF fulfills the longstanding goal of teaching private forestland owners the benefits of Exemplary Forestry, NEFF’s in-house approach to sustainable forest management. To this end, they are all demonstration forests. Additionally, the forests are NEFF’s endowment and as such they are an important source of operating revenue. This is generated through Exemplary Forestry timber sales. Our forests are currently Forest Stewardship Council™ certified, as well as independently certified by the American Tree Farm System®.

There are a variety of ways you can conserve land through NEFF ownership, including through bequests, bargain sales, and our Pooled Timber Income Fund. Contact Conservation Project Manager Sophie Anthony at santhony@newenglandforestry.org or 978-952-6856 x122 for more information.

NEFF Easements

NEFF has been holding conservation easements for private landowners since 1976. Currently, we hold easements on more than 150 different properties totaling 1,150,000 acres.

Conservation easements (or restrictions) are great ways to keep your land in the family and in traditional land uses, to minimize your tax liability, and to preserve open space and habitat. By donating a conservation easement to NEFF, you will be able to keep your forest working as a sustainably managed forest, continue to harvest crops on your farm, or maintain open green space on your land. Easements allow you to own your land and manage it the way you intend as per the terms of the contract while easing the estate and tax liabilities, enabling you to afford to pass it to successor generations. The most common terms of conservation easements today are the relinquishment of your rights to develop the property. The right to develop a property is the most valuable right of the bundle bound in real property.

For more information about conservation easements, see our Easement Stewardship page and Easement FAQs page, or contact Conservation Project Manager Sophie Anthony at santhony@newenglandforestry.org or 978-952-6856 x122.