Experienced Landowner
You’re at a stage where you’d like to give back more and further the mission of preserving and protecting Indiana woodlands & forests. You would like to take your own property to the next level.
Some things to consider:
Check out the Intermediate Landowner or New Landowner pages to see if you have explored all those options.
Consider a leadership or volunteer role in IFWOA. Board members are volunteer woodland owners from around Indiana. They meet 4 times per year to further the mission of the organization. Or do you have skills to share? Offer to help IFWOA with social media, communications, accounting, legal, events, and other needs to help the organization run smoothly. Contact the office to volunteer.
Offer to host a forestry field day on your property and showcase your management activities (and more importantly, lessons learned along the way). Not only will you help other landowners, but guaranteed you will gain new ideas to try yourself.
Encourage nominations of model woodland owners for management practices through the annual Charles Deam Forest Stewardship Award.
Join a like-minded organization to expand your knowledge of conservation and the environment. Your local Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, Indiana Native Plant Society, Ruffed Grouse Society, National Wild Turkey Federation, The Nature Conservancy, Indiana Wildlife Federation, or local land trusts are examples of other organizations interested in habitat management and conservation.
Put together a succession plan and estate plan for your property. Have family meetings and share your property objectives and important information with your heirs. Consult an accountant and attorney to optimize taxes and simplify the transition of your property in the future.
Utilize IFWOA talking points to share the benefits of managed woodlands (private and public) at local city and county public meetings, with your state senators and representatives and US senators and congressmen. Support for forests is important but forests and forestry are often misunderstood. Property rights, funding for programs to support forestry, staffing to assist landowners, and fair taxation on forest land are all topics important to landowners.