Study offers picture of next generation of woodland owners
MADISON – Nearly 25 percent, or one-out-four, family-owned woodlands will be sold, subdivided or converted to another use over the next five years according to a recently completed survey of current woodland owners and their sons and daughters. At least half of the sons and daughters expecting to inherit their parents’ woodlands may not be prepared for the challenges of owning and managing a living asset.
The study was conducted to learn more about the next generation of Wisconsin woodland owners who are on the verge of inheriting a large portion of the state’s forests.
“Knowing the attitudes of the people who, in the next few years, expect to inherit a large portion of Wisconsin’s forests is crucial in creating the kind of sound public policy needed to sustain Wisconsin’s forests now and in the future,” said Paul DeLong, Wisconsin Chief Forester and administrator of the DNR Division of Forestry.
The benchmark Tomorrow's Woodland Owners study was undertaken by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-Forestry Division in partnership with the Pinchot Institute for Conservation and the U.S. Forest Service.
More than half of Wisconsin’s 16 million acres of forest are in private non-industrial ownership. Roughly 360,000 individual landowners care for 9.1 million forest acres in Wisconsin and 60 percent of them are age 55 or older. Almost half, 49 percent, are already retired.
“Given the key role the state’s forests play in Wisconsin’s economy, environmental health and quality of life, understanding the views and the needs of the next generation of woodland owners is of huge importance,” added DeLong.
This pending shift in forest ownership raises questions that aren’t easy to answer, say forestry officials. For instance:
* What happens when a parcel of forested land is inherited by multiple siblings? Will brothers and sisters (and their respective spouses) be able to agree on what should be done to manage the land? The study results suggest there is disagreement on these issues.
* Will family challenges, such as health emergencies, result in the land being sold? Fifty-one percent of offspring say yes, they would sell if money is needed)
* Are financial concerns -- such as taxes on the forested property, costs connected with land management, and the ability to generate money from the property -- more important than a desire to keep a piece of property as a family legacy? The study results suggest that pocket-book issues and fish and wildlife purposes are more important than land stewardship to the next generation of owners.
* Will the next generation decide to hold on to the living asset they will inherit from their parents and keep the property as forested land? Or will it be easier to sell the land for development or divide it up among multiple siblings? Sixty percent of males and 38 percent of females indicated that income from the family forestland was important to them.
* What barriers are faced by the next generation who say they'd like to keep the forested land they will inherit?
* Does the next generation of landowners have the same values and knowledge base as their parents? Can they make the same investment of time and energy as their parents, particularly if the forested property is located a considerable distance from where the new owners live?
“Sibling disagreements could have a major impact on continued ownership and management of family forestlands,” says Carol Nielsen, DNR Private Forestry Specialist. “At least half of the multiple-sibling families participating in the study said they disagreed with in three critical areas: in the degree to which siblings wanted to be involved in family forest management; in whether parents would divide the family property among multiple siblings or to an individual; and in identifying the conditions that would ultimately result in the sale of land.”
“The data from this survey will help guide the work of everyone who is interested in a economically vibrant, environmentally responsible future for Wisconsin’s forests,” Nielsen said.
Detailed survey analysis, additional forest ownership and management information, and forest resources can be found on the Tomorrow's Woodland Owners page of the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Carol Nielsen, 608.267-7508
