How to Conserve Your Land

Conservation organizations do not save land – landowners do.

NEFF works to help landowners reach their conservation goals.  Options include land donations, conservation easements, and planned giving as well as other innovative methods.

NEFF owns 137 forests totaling more than 24,000 acres. Most of these are Memorial Forests named to perpetually honor the donor or their family These forests are carefully managed to continue to yield the flow of benefits and products.

The forest management program on lands held by NEFF, fulfill the longstanding goal of teaching private forestland owners the benefits of sustainable forestry. To this end they are all demonstration forests. Additionally, the forests are NEFF's endowment and as such they are an important source of operating revenue. This is generated through sustainable timber sales. Our forests are currently Forest Stewardship Council™certified, as well as independently certified by the American Tree Farm System®. 

NEFF has been holding Conservation Easements for private landowners since 1976. Currently we hold easements on 125 different properties totaling 1,138,000 acres.

Conservation easements (or restrictions) are great ways to keep your land in the family, in traditional land uses, minimize your tax liability, and preserve open space and habitat. By donating a conservation easement to NEFF you will be able to keep your forest working as a sustainably managed forest, continue to harvest crops on your farm, or maintain open green space on your land. Easements allow you to own your land and manage it the way you intend as per the terms of the contract while easing the estate and tax liabilities enabling you to afford to pass it to successor generations. The most common terms of Conservation Easements today are the relinquishment of your rights to develop the property. The right to develop a property is the most valuable right of the bundle bound in real property.

For more information about conservation easements, see our Conservation FAQs page or contact our Director of Land Protection at (978) 952-6856 ext. 109.