Video Tells Story of one family’s work to conserve their family land

View the online video and downloadable Podcast.

We are pleased to feature a new video and podcast on MassWoods that features a local family working to preserve their family land and legacy.

The video highlights how the Riley family worked with Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust to pass their family land on to the next generation while protecting its natural resources, scenic beauty and family history. The Riley and Mount Grace story demonstrates how families can work with local trusts to plan the future of their family's land.

Planning the future of your family land ensures that your goals, and those of your heirs, will be met. Writing an estate plan with an accountant or lawyer is a critical step to making sure that your land remains as you intend. Unless you take action to protect your land, the odds are strongly in favor of its eventual development. There are many land protection tools. These tools can be tailored to fit your individual needs. Talking with your children about their plans and desires for the land is an excellent way to get started. For more information about land protection tools and planning the future of your land, contact your local land trust.

Two-thirds of Massachusetts is forested and over 75 percent of our forests are owned by families and individuals. The average age of a family forest owner in Massachusetts is over 60 years old. In the coming years, much of our woodlands will be passing hands from one generation to the next. How these woods are passed on will have a significant impact on our future forests and the benefits they provide. Planning the future of your land has great benefit to your family and your community.

Resources:

Find a Land Trust working in your town

Land Protection Tax Incentives for 2007

Planning the Future of your land

Land Protection Tools

Your Land, Your Choices (PDF)

Other Stories of how people have protected their land

Forests and Community Benefit