Landowners conference features inheritance workshop

Each spring, family forest, farm, and ranch landowners and managers gather at the annual Family Forest Landowners & Managers Conference in Moscow, Idaho. This year’s, which wrapped up March 27, featured U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen as keynote speaker.

The 2018 conference theme was “Securing the Future of my Forest: Balancing the Risks and Rewards.” Presentations were grouped in four general sessions (Forests & Fires; Surviving the Burning Questions; Making Management Pay; and Forest Critters & Forest Intruders), and featured topics such as current projects and activity in national forests; a multimedia presentation of the award-winning “Era of Megafires;” wildfire disaster funding; prescribed fire on private land; cooperative landowner hazardous fuel treatments; working with the Incident Command System; Idaho forest landowners survey; powerline right-of-way management; timber markets; thinning and prescribed fire effects on dynamics of a pine-dominated forest; “When Money Grew on Trees;” and intentional personal and forest health. The conference annually features vendor displays and advice useful to small-scale, resource-based operations, and doubles as the annual meetings of the Idaho Tree Farm Program, Inland Empire Society of American Foresters, and the Idaho Forest Owners Association.

This year, a “Ties to the Land-Your Family Forest Heritage” facilitated workshop was offered by trained experts Kirk and Madeline David to help families with intergenerational planning for transitioning forest, farm or ranch land intact to succeeding generations. The Davids regularly conduct such workshops, charging only the cost of printed materials.

Next year’s conference will be March 24-26. For 2019 registration or more information see Idahoforestowners.org or call 208-683-3168.