Keep forests as forests: Protect your land

Protect your land through conservation-based estate planning

Why keep forests as forest?

Forests provide a natural buffer against the negative effects of climate change by storing and sequestering carbon, absorbing and filtering water, and providing shade for wildlife, streams and understory vegetation. Keeping forests as forest is critical to maintaining resilient forested ecosystems and ensuring their ability to provide these important services. One of the ways forests end up being developed is when land is passed down to a new generation of owners. Thus, planning for a forest to remain forested during this transition is critical.

Conservation-based estate planning

Healthy forests are naturally resilient to climate change because of their ability to naturally regenerate after a disturbance.  Forests also help minimize the impacts of climate change by storing excess carbon from the atmosphere. Ensuring your forest stays forested is the most important way to address the uncertainties of a changing climate and provide habitat for a diversity of plant and wildlife species. Landowners have a number of options to keep some or all of their land undeveloped. Engaging in conservation-based estate planning can help you make formal plans to ensure that some or all of your land remains undeveloped while meeting your family's financial and personal goals. Options include:

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• Specifying your wishes for the land in a will or trust,
• Changing the ownership of your land to make sure it is passed on according to your wishes,
• Placing a conservation restriction on your land to protect it forever, or
• Donating/selling your land to a conservation organization.

For more information, see the Protect Land in Perpetuity page.

Learn more about your conservation-based estate planning options using the resources below. Contacting your local land trust is an excellent step toward learning more about your options (find a land trust working in your community). Use the mapping tool to find your land and see what other lands near you are protected.

The Ch. 61 current use tax programs can also help landowners keep their land undeveloped by reducing property taxes in exchange for agreeing to keep your land in an undeveloped use, such as actively managed forest (Ch. 61), agriculture (Ch. 61A), or unmanaged land (Ch. 61B) (learn more about the Ch. 61 program).