2-22-08

Media Release

Family Forest Succession Program Going National

Editor’s Note: A sidebar titled “The Hagen Family Tree Farm: Real Life, Real Solutions” is available with this story.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An Oregon State University program to help family forest landowners and farmers sort through both the human and legal issues of estate planning has been broadly successful in Oregon, and its developers are now marketing the concept and educational materials across the United States.

The goal, experts say, is to help address a growing national crisis – aging landowners who become overwhelmed by family disputes and the complex issues of land transitions, which leads to vast amounts of forest and farm land lost to its traditional uses, some ending up as subdivisions or shopping malls.

“About 50 percent of forest landowners are 65 years old or more, and 25 percent are 75 or older,” said Brad Withrow-Robinson, an Extension Forester with the OSU College of Forestry. “But only about 30 percent of family forest landowners have any kind of management plan, let alone a succession plan. These issues are simply not being addressed with the urgency they deserve.”

Faced with hugely complex issues and expensive estate lawyers, many or most forest landowners opt for doing nothing, OSU experts say. And much of the problem, they say, is that even when families seek expert assistance, they are met with legal jargon and estate manipulation tools, not the more fundamental issue that they have three kids, only one is interested in the land, and the other two are quietly stewing. The first and often most difficult steps are personal, not legal.

“Sometimes the next generation doesn’t have the same sense of land ties or stewardship, or their lives are simply built elsewhere,” said Chal Landgren, also an Extension forester. “The first thing you have to do is really explore family feelings and priorities, hold meetings, get the children, in-laws and parents involved in the process.”

Toward this goal, a range of functional, “family friendly” materials have been produced through a collaborative project led by OSU Forestry Extension, along with the OSU Austin Family Business Program, Oregon Forest Resources Institute, members of local woodland organizations and others.

Materials include a workshop, a website, and a workbook to help guide families through the steps discussed in the workshop. The workshop has just been released on DVD, so groups around the state or country can bring the program to their community. “Ties to the Land: A Facilitated Workshop on Succession Planning,” includes instruction for facilitators, an instructor’s copy of the workbook, and costs $195. Individual copies of the “Ties to the Land: Your Family Forest Heritage” workbook cost $25. Both products can be purchased at http://www.familybusinessonline.org/resources/workbooks.htm.

The materials grew out of a grass roots interest of local woodland owners, including Clint Bentz, a Linn County forest landowner and certified public accountant, who is featured as an instructor in the workshop.

The program is specifically designed for family forest lands, the educators say, but many of the same issues, especially the personal ones, are applicable to family farms or other family businesses. In continued work, outreach specialists plan to develop materials more directly aimed at producers of annual crops, livestock, orchards or other types of lands. Numerous workshops using these materials have already been done in Oregon, as well as Washington, Georgia and Minnesota.

Robin Klemm, with OSU’s Austin Family Business Program, said the university is now doing a multi-state launch with the materials, tapping into about 100 family business programs in many other states. It’s also being made available to libraries nationwide.

“The reality these days is that if forest land doesn’t stay in the family, it often doesn’t end up as forest land at all,” Landgren said. “Many of these lands are on the fringes of cities and towns and get developed.”

Families, the OSU experts said, often have a personal commitment to their forests and farms that is lacking in the corporate sector – they don’t walk away from them so readily just because the price is right. But preserving those lands in the families of the future is anything but easy or obvious, and no one approach is right for everyone.

“For many families, the land itself holds a special history and meaning, and much of this discussion is about that passion and feeling and attachment,” Withrow-Robinson said. “These issues are relevant to a huge number of people. And for the nation, which is facing a constant erosion of our forest and farm lands lost to urban development, the commitment of these people is an enormous asset from which we all benefit.”

Ultimately, the OSU officials said, American farms and forests are facing a tidal wave of change and transition. One estimate indicates that 23 million acres of forest land will pass to new owners in the next five years. A USDA Forest Service study concluded that 44 million acres of privately owned forests in the U.S. will experience substantial increases in housing density by 2030.