Is the Family Forest Carbon Program Right For You? Part 5: You Care What Happens to Your Land When You're Gone
This blog post is part of a five-part series called, “Is the Family Forest Carbon Program Right for You?” Here are the key takeaways you will find in this post:
Long-term guidance provided by the Family Forest Carbon Program can help future owners avoid costly forest management mistakes.
Management restrictions you commit to today will create increased options for future owners of your land.
What happens to my contract if I sell the property? What if the property passes on to my heirs in the event of my death? These are very valid questions. Data on land tenure indicates that most properties that enroll in The Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) will be owned by someone else by the end of the 20-year enrollment period, so we have intentionally designed the program to benefit the current owner, as well as the next.
A healthy, productive, and well-managed forest can fulfill many more landowner goals than an unsustainably managed forest. And future owners will have access to valuable connections and resources to understand what those options are and how to reach them.
Often at the heart of the ownership question is a desire to understand how the program will impact the legacy you leave behind. And for many landowners, the two main pillars of legacy conflict with one another. On the one hand, you want what is best for the land. On the other you want what is best for the people who will own it. We’ve worked with many landowners, both within FFCP and in other landowner networks, who struggle with this dilemma. The conflict arises from the assumption that putting restrictions on the management actions future landowners could take might help the land but harm the landowner.
While it’s true that your heirs may more be limited in terms of the type and amount of harvesting they can do while enrolled in the program, we see this as a small trade-off given the increased options they will have available to them at the end of the 20 years.
For many landowners, especially those whose heirs are not knowledgeable about best forest management practices, the Family Forest Carbon Program will serve as a valuable resource to the new owners when the land gets passed on to them.
Many of our enrolled landowners have told us stories of how they inherited their land from a family member, and because of a lack of knowledge, made the mistake of conducting an unsustainable harvest, not realizing it was not in the best interest of the land or the environment. If they could go back in time, they would have sought trusted forestry expertise, and chosen what was right for the health of their land. They are grateful that their enrollment in the Family Forest Carbon Program will ensure their own heirs do not make the same mistake.
Louise Hartman stands in the woods she and her two sisters inherited from their dad in Irish Valley, PA. The Hartman sisters admit they made many mistakes in the early years of owning the property, including a select cut that took the healthiest, most desirable trees. They are thankful to now have the support of the Family Forest Carbon Program to assist them with future management decisions and costs.
Our goal is to ensure that those who come to own your land down the road have the same supports and resources you do, including:
A steady source of income to help offset ongoing expenses like taxes, road maintenance, etc.
An immediate plan for forest management, and expertise they can immediately access with questions, concerns, or ideas — in addition to ongoing management advice and support.
A healthier, more productive forest — a forest which, at the end of the contract period, is going to provide its owners with multiple management options moving forward.
In short, all these things add up to more options and resources for those future landowners. Yes, this comes at the price of taking some options — like unsustainable and ecologically unsound timber harvesting — off the table. But in exchange, the program builds the capacity and health of your forest to provide many more options than it takes away.
“The Family Forest Carbon Program is a wonderful opportunity to set an example for our grandson, to help us focus on how we can best steward this land.” — Karren DeSeve, FFCP Landowner
A healthy, productive, and well-managed forest can fulfill many more landowner goals than an unsustainably managed forest. And future owners will have access to valuable connections and resources to understand what those options are and how to reach them.
So, when you think about your legacy, think about what you want to pass on and what you want to leave behind. The health of the land and the freedom of its owners are not competing objectives, but rather values that can go hand-in-hand. The long-term, responsible decisions you make today will in fact increase the freedom and enjoyment those future owners will experience in their own woodland journey.
The Family Forest Carbon Program is now enrolling landowners with 30 acres or more in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Vermont, as well as select counties in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin. Click here to check your eligibility today.
More from this series...
To continue learning about our program and whether it fits your needs, jump to another post in this series:
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