More than 12 million acres of private woodland in New England are owned by families and individuals. In the Westfield and Deerfield River watersheds of western Massachusetts, the majority of woods are in the hands of people in that category. We know that many or even most of them don't have professionally prepared management plans, or receive the advice of a consulting or Service forester.  Periodically, these owners find themselves in a position to make a decision about their land. Someone makes an unsolicited offer to buy timber or land, or, circumstances arise when there is a need for cash (e.g., the tuition bill arrives, health insurance doesn't cover a procedure, or the family car dies). For whatever reason, woodland owners are in a position to make a decision, yet they don't have all the information they need to make an informed one. The result is a reactive decision, which often doesn't serve the owner well, or their land.  

Where can people go for information when the time comes, especially if they don't have a management plan or know a forester? Research shows that people place alot of stock in the advice of other people who are like them. In fact, research at the Harvard Forest shows that landowners who have made decisions about the sale of timber or an easement  really value the advice of peer landowners and other knowledgeable "locals" in town -even more than from other family members, friends, or neighbors. There is tremendous value in those informal conversations outside the hardware store, after church, or on the sidelines of the kid's soccer game. These informal contacts or acquaintances aren't necessarily professional foresters. But they can provide that important level of connectivity between a landowner on the brink of a decision, and a more formal source of information. Many landowners place alot of trust in these informal, non-professional sources of information or contact, since they don't perceive them to have a vested interest in promoting an agency message or party line. Often these informal contacts have "walked a mile in their shoes" by owning land and having made similar decisions in the past.  They  are in an excellent position to be that point of contact, and connect a curious landowner with other sources of information.  The upshot of this story is that there is a great role for landowners to be good stewards of their land, but also  to think not only about the land within the property boundaries, but about the woodlands in their town. Keep your eyes and ears open in your town for woodland owners who might be in need of information about the care of their land! Aldo Leopold, famous wildlife biologist and forester knew the power of volunteers, when he proclaimed in 1935:  “Relegating conservation to government is like relegating virtue to the Sabbath. Turns over to professionals what should be the daily work of amateurs” . Conservation can indeed be the daily work of woodland owners in the MassACORN area, through the wide network of contacts, acquaintances, and personal connections that they all possess.