MassWoods

Sometimes the difficult decisions involved in creating a plan for your land can make it easy to delay the process. Unfortunately for Alma, she waited too long and her land and heirs suffered the consequences.

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Eleanor Rogers owned 10 acres on Little Pleasant Bay in the Cape Cod town of Orleans and planned to leave the property to her son, daughter, and four grandchildren.

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Every day, landowners are making decisions about how to manage their land and what to do with their land when they pass on.  Many landowners are making these decisions without the benefit of knowing all their options.  These decisions not only affect the landowners and their family, but are shaping the landscapes within your community.

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Communicating your wishes for your land to your heirs is a critical first step in estate planning. Even more importantly, your wishes should be codified in your will. Luckily for Beatrice Riley, because she clearly and persistently communicated her wishes to her heirs, they worked hard to carry her wishes through, even in the absence of a legal imperative in her will.

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Though much attention has recently been given to the publically owned forests in MA, most of our forests are family forests, owned by thousands of families and individuals.  71% (or 1.2 million acres!) of these forests are owned by people that are 55 years old or older.

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Landowners across the state are facing increasing property taxes which can make it difficult to maintain the land as undeveloped.  The State’s current use programs (Ch. 61, 61A, and 61B) offer an opportunity to reduce property taxes in return for providing the public benefits that these lands provide.  Chapter 61 has a focus on timber management, and requires a 10-year forest management plan. Chapter 61A is for agricultural lands. Chapter 61 B has been referred to as being for recreational lands.  Historically, participation in these programs has been low and has remained fairly steady over time.  

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Albert Adams seems to have fulfilled at least one of his dreams when he purchased some land five years ago, and he's been improving on it since. A sportsman and wildlife enthusiast, Albert was thrilled to get a good deal on 29 acres of woodland in Windsor, a parcel that abuts other woodlands and sits across the street from a wildlife management area.

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Three years ago we launched our website, MassWoods, to promote informed forest conservation (management and protection) decisions. We monitor the use of the site and have been very pleased with its success. Since its launch, MassWoods has had over 23,000 visits (an average of 24 per day), with an average visit length of over three minutes and almost four pages viewed per visit.

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When a Pennsylvania family wanted to find a way to make the world a better place, they convinced the Pennsylvania legislature to create an official state holiday called "Invite Your Neighbor to Dinner Day", on the second Saturday of January. Dinner day is a designated time when people invite not-so-familiar neighbors to have dinner with them with the hope that friendships will be formed which in turn will increase the strength of their communities. If this seems like a very small way to make the world a better place or if you think it has nothing to do with forest management or land protection, think again.

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