The Greatest Transfer of Land Since the King’s Grants Is Underway: What Are Resource Professionals to Do? Corner Down Image

Family-owned woodlands are most vulnerable to being sold out of the family, parceled into smaller pieces, and/or converted to other uses when they are passed from one generation to the next. Most landowners don’t want to see this happen. Legacy planning is a way for them to determine the destiny of their woodlands and can help ensure they are passed on intact, in forest, and in family. Legacy planning involves landowners sharing with their heirs all that they treasure about their land and, ideally, including them in management and planning activities. The earlier landowners start this process, the more time there is for their heirs to develop emotional ownership and form strong ties to the land.
jgagnon@vt.edu