Passing my Forest On

Legacy planning is important for ensuring the hard work you’ve put into your land lasts for generations to come. It involves developing a plan for the long term future of your land. It includes addressing who will inherit your land in your will, but it also includes engaging the next generations of landowners. Each plan is unique to the owner and their land.  Starting the process can be a bit daunting though.  But there are small steps that you can start right now that get you on the path to developing your legacy plan. 

So are you ready to get started planning for your legacy? 

Dr. Linda Rohleder will discuss the steps to developing an invasive species management plan for your property, teach you to identify some common invasive species in our forests, and review the benefits and drawbacks of different management techniques. She will share her experiences writing her own forest stewardship plan for her 13-acre woodlands and some of the challenges she is trying to address as she works to restore the biodiversity of the forest.


Bring your own lunch and a dessert or side dish to share! We’ll provide drinks and snacks.

Life+LAND blog post by Danielle Atkins

Save the Date!

More details at www.DelawareHighlands.org/watw

This women-only workshop will be held at private property with 142 acres of land in Hardwick NJ and begins at 8 am. Topics will address forest health, best management practices, financial benefits of protecting the forest, including forestry stewardship plans and stewardship assistance programs.

Life + LAND is a blog all about helping ladies get a hand on their land. It features articles, landowner tid-bits, women spotlights, and other resources. This blog was created by forester Danielle Atkins, co-founder of the Georgia Forestry Commission's Ladies for their Land program.

Are you interested in learning about Forestry Projects, Management Plans, and Legacy Planning?

 

by Kiersten Ahrns, National Association of State Foresters intern & Ohio State University undergraduate

This past September marked the 5th Women and Their Woods Educational Retreat hosted by the Delaware Highlands Conservancy. The event this year was held at the Highlights Family Foundation's Workshop Facility in scenic Wayne County, PA.

One of the first retreats was attended by a woman named Norma Dale Smith. Norma had had close ties to family land since she was a little girl, and now her grandchildren were getting involved. Inspired from the retreat, Norma gathered all her stories from the land, put them into book form, and published the book to give to her children and grandchildren. Even while she was learning more about managing the land, Norma was also continuing to forge a connection to the land for herself and her family. Norma’s books have been printed and shared with participants at the WOW workshops.

Success looks like...
She had lost her husband two years before. He was always the one to do the forest management stuff while she managed horses! Now she was left without a clue of how she should manage the forest. Her plan was to just - let it be. Accompanying her friend who invited her on an informal Oregon WOWNet hike changed everything and left her in tears of relief. After talking with women on the hike who are managing forests on their own, she said she felt like she could do it too. She instantly felt she had a support network and a huge barrier was lifted. It’s amazing what a walk in the woods, with peers, can do!