Landowners, accountants, foresters, and anyone involved in land management will benefit from this in-depth, day long course. Attendees will learn the latest in the IRS tax code, timber tax planning and preparation techniques, strategies for positioning yourself for the expected economic recovery, and other issues affecting your forestland investment.
Stable and robust markets are the lifeblood of private forestland ownership. Markets create revenue opportunities that support investment in better genetics, forest management practices and conservation initiatives. This panel places a thorough discussion of the state of markets private forest landowners serve front and center at this year’s event. Populated with by a strong trio of marketplace participants, this session will help conference attendees understand the strength, trajectory and competitive threats facing the owners of working forests in this country.
Members of the Next Generation as well as current landowners are invited to join representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to learn more about their Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program while you enjoy your breakfast. The Partners Program seeks to encourage the restoration and management of habitat on private lands by offering technical and financial assistance to private landowners.
As forest owners and forest products industry stakeholders eye their near and long term markets they see increased foreign competition, steadily increasing timber inventories and competition from non-wood building materials. This panel features forestry professionals unwilling to simply sit back and watch those dynamics play out, hoping for the best. Instead, these speakers will share their efforts to either build new demand centers locally or help build broad demand across the sector by perfecting and proving the viability of new forest products like cross-laminated timber (CLT).
This panel is part of an ongoing effort to catalyze conversations about the next generation of private forest landowners and the forestry professionals that will support them. Featuring the Deans of some of this country’s most important forestry schools, attendees will hear first-hand about the trends these thought leaders are seeing in the students currently enrolled. Conversations will focus on the attitudes and optimism of students today, how they differ from the students that came before them and how they might change the sector once they become active participants.
Managing for increased wildlife habitat continually earns high marks in landowner surveys as a desired outcome for private forests. The good news for forest landowners is that habitat goals need not interfere with the revenue opportunities on a given piece of land. This panel will look closely at the incredible synergies that thoughtful land managers can build into a forest management plan that seeks to maximize both the timber and wildlife aspects of the property.
The movement of goods throughout the world has been a boon for private forest landowners in the United States, but it hasn’t come without its own costs and consequence. Inbound cargo vessels have connected North American forests to the invasive species and pests found throughout the world. Without natural predators, these species can quickly gain a foothold and move quickly from being a nuisance to an epidemic with real bottom line implications. This panel will give attendees an opportunity to hear about the biggest threats to forests in the American southeast and how we’re working to combat their entry into the country or slow their spread if they succeeded in establishing a beachhead.
Sound forest management costs money. The management practices private forest landowners deploy represent the expense side of their operational ledgers. This panel offers an in-person opportunity for attendees to digest the always popular benchmarking survey offered annually in Forest Landowner Magazine. Data rich presentations will allow attendees to cross check the price of their own practices to ensure that their operation is competitive with those of their marketplace peers.
While the reasons for owning private forestlands are varied, in the vast majority of instances their owners expect and count on a return and an increase in value. This session will allow attendees to hear from professionals whose business is to know land values, the variables that impact those values and how landowners can best position their properties for maximum value.