Landowner Outreach

Initiatives

Landowner Outreach

Harvard Forest’s Wildlands and Woodlands report proposes that by 2060 at least 70 percent of the region—30 million acres—should be conserved as forestland, and New England Forestry Foundation is well positioned to help meet this conservation goal. Our landowner outreach program is among the key initiatives to realize this vision.

Forest Landowner Outreach and Education

NEFF’s program is focused on developing and testing a replicable model for engaging, educating, and supporting family forest landowners to embrace the values of better forest management and large-scale land protection.

With guidance from an expert panel of communication specialists and in partnership with local conservation practitioners, NEFF has implemented a prototype for landowner outreach in the “MassConn Woods” area, one of 33 current Regional Conservation Partnerships in New England.

In 2017, NEFF and partner organizations American Forest Foundation and the MassConn Sustainable Forest Partnership celebrated the completion of a two-year initiative funded by a Wildlife Conservation Society grant. This innovative outreach effort connected MassConn landowners with trained foresters who advised them about how to keep their woods healthy and resilient in a changing climate.

NEFF has now received a three-year USDA Forest Service grant to build on this success. NEFF and partners will continue to offer grant-funded forester visits in 2019 to private owners of 30 or more acres in the MassConn Woods and Last Green Valley regions of central Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut — while expanding to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts.

Already, about 80 owners of more than 5,000 acres have received climate-informed forester consultations, and 18 owners—with a total 1,982 acres between them—received forest management plans or support for management practices. Dozens also toured sustainable timber harvests to learn about wildlife-friendly practices with climate in mind.

To learn more about climate-informed forestry or forester visits for qualifying properties, contact Lisa Hayden at lhayden@newenglandforestry.org.

MassConn Woods Landowner Outreach Report

With support from the Overhills Foundation and numerous partners, NEFF produced a detailed report—From Engagement to Action: Supporting Woodland Owners in Decisions About Their Land—of its participation in the MassConn Woods Landowner Outreach Initiative, and in an 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. Download the full “From Engagement to Action” report | Download the Executive Summary

Landowner Outreach Blog Posts

A Forest-Focused Future for Northwest Massachusetts

NEFF is helping the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership kickstart the local forest-based economy Writing by NEFF Outreach Manager Lisa Hayden. Forests blanket the Northern Berkshire Mountains and rolling foothills, where the Hoosic and Deerfield Rivers wind their way down slopes and across valleys, enriching the soil for crops. For millennia, Indigenous Peoples inhabited these hills, […]

The Conservation Checklist

What characteristics make a land parcel the perfect candidate for conservation at NEFF? Writing by NEFF Communications Manager Tinsley Hunsdorfer, top banner image by Sumul Shah When conservation staff members evaluate a forestland for potential protection by New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF), they set out to determine two key things: would protecting the property further […]

The Latest From NEFF’s Initiatives

New England Forestry Foundation’s initiatives continue to drive forward innovation in conservation and sustainable forestry. Keep reading for an in-depth look at NEFF’s overall programmatic goals, and for individual progress reports from fiscal year 2020-2021. This year marked the launch of the Exemplary Forestry Center (the “Center”) at NEFF—the vehicle we will use to take […]

Woodland Narratives: A Lifetime of Stewardship

The Stories Behind John Serafin, Jr.’s Family Land, and the Lifetime of Stewardship That Saved It Writing by Lisa Hayden, NEFF Landowner Outreach Manager A good day for John A. Serafin, Jr. is one when he can get into his truck and out to his woods in Stafford, Connecticut, perhaps firing up the chain saw […]

Learning to Weed Out “Invader” Plants

Writing by NEFF Landowner Outreach Manager Lisa Hayden Most New England owners of wooded land have encountered certain areas of their property where invasive plants are taking over and crowding out native plants that wildlife depend on. Thanks to a grant from Project Native, New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) has been able to support an […]

NEFF Publishes Trailblazing Outreach Report

Over the last five years, New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) has learned a lot about how to reach private landowners. Collectively, 215,000 families with 10 or more acres of forest land own 11.7 million acres of New England. Their decisions will shape the future of New England’s forests, and they face myriad decisions of consequence: […]

Envisioning the Future of Your Family’s Land

NEFF Landowner Outreach Coordinator Lisa Hayden reflects on the challenges and rewards of protecting family land, and the progress NEFF has made in helping landowners Writing by Lisa Hayden From the brow of the hill, when the leaves are off the trees, you can see the silver glint of the brook twisting S-like through bogs and […]

The Latest From NEFF’s Initiatives

New England Forestry Foundation’s initiatives continue to drive forward innovation in conservation and sustainable forestry. Keep reading for three key programs’ progress reports from fiscal year 2017-2018. You can also get an in-depth update about our Build It With Wood initiative’s big year by clicking here. MassConn Landowner Outreach In 2017, NEFF and partner organizations […]

Keeping Climate in Mind

NEFF is helping local landowners prepare their woods for climate change. Walking in their Woodstock, Conn., woods on a balmy January afternoon, Bet Zimmerman Smith and her husband Patrick were talking with a forester about the wildlife that visits their land—everything from bobcats to bluebirds—and how to create habitats for them. Looking up to the […]

Design of a building interior made with sustainable cross-laminated timber

NEFF Takes on Climate Change

Massive fires across the west. Three major hurricanes striking the United States in quick succession, including the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded. The first of the three—Hurricane Harvey—dropped 19 trillion gallons of water on Texas. To give a sense of scale, that would be enough water to raise the level of all of the […]

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