NGO, Government, and Academic Partners

Working With Rural Landowners To Protect Their Woodlands

Kelley Dennings, formerly with American Forest Foundation

Mary Tyrrell, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

World Social Marketing Conference May 2017

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• Who owns most U.S. forests?

• Where are most U.S. forests located?

Overview

2

Issue

Courtesy of Center for Land Education and Research, University of CT3

Goal

Courtesy of Joshua’s Trust, Skagit Land Trust, Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation4

Partnership

Project lead - AFF

Research

Deploy

Evaluate

Train

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New England

Forestry

Foundation,

MassConn

Sustainable

Forest

Partnership

University of

Massachusetts

Sustaining Family

Forests Initiative

US Forest Service,

Yale School of Forestry &

Environmental Studies

Target Population

Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

Yale Forest & NatchaugState Forest

Goodwin Forest

Courtesy of MassConn Sustainable Forest Partnership6

Research and Segmentation

• National Woodland Owner Survey – US Forest Service

• CT Focus Groups – Yale University

• Conservation Awareness Index –University of Massachusetts

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AMENITY VALUES

FINANCIAL VALUES

Woodland Retreat

Supplemental Income

Working the Land

Uninvolved

SFFI LANDOWNER SEGMENTS

CONNECTICUT AND MASSACHUSETTS

60% 13%

15% 12%

Research Findings – on the plus side

• Strong conservation ethic and very high value placed on woodland ownership

• High awareness of conservation easements and land trusts

• Keeping land in tact for future generations is a major concern

• Forest health is uppermost in the minds of most woodland owners

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Research Findings - Barriers

• Low current participation in conservation easements (8% CT; 4% MA)

• Most do not participate in any available programs, seek advice about their land, or get help from professionals

• Significant number would sell their land if offered a reasonable price

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Conservation Awareness Index

• Measures landowner awareness of forest conservation options and sources of information

• Indicates preparedness to make informed decisions

• Pre- and post- campaign surveys

• Results from MassConn pre-survey – awareness generally low:

– Average score 22.8 out of 64 total points

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Van Fleet, TE, DB Kittredge, BJ Butler and PF Catanzaro. 2012. Reimagining Family Forest

Conservation: Estimating Landowner Awareness and their Preparedness to Act with the

Conservation Awareness Index. Journal of Forestry. June 2012

Product

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• Core = Charm & Peace of Mind

• Actual= easement

• Augmented= Information or expert visit

Courtesy of Opacum Land Trust

Price

• Time

– To meet with an expert

• Money

– To write an estate plan

– For legal & transaction costs

– Lost from potential future uses

• Other

– Limiting future use

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Place

14Courtesy of Opacum Land Trust

Promotion

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Results

2400 in original campaign

306 in the pipeline

19 met with land trust

4 at goal

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Training

Websites – educational materials, research reports and landowner data

Workshops – intensive 2-day programs teaching the process of developing an effective landowner outreach program/campaign

engaginglandowners.orgsffi.yale.edu

For more information contact:

– Kelley Dennings, kdennings@gmail.com

– Mary Tyrrell, Mary.Tyrrell@yale.edu

– Brett Butler, bbutler01@fs.fed.us

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