I have a question for you. Why in the world do you want to be a Tree Farmer? Why would anyone in their right mind invest the effort to prepare the land, plant and care for the young trees, and then commit the next 2 to 5 generations of your family to managing the stand until the trees are ready for harvest? Along the way you face the risks of fire, insects & disease, changing laws and regulations, a changing tax system, and most importantly, changes in society and in our own families.

Why spend your time, talent and treasure on something you won’t live long enough to see completed? BRAIN DAMAGE? I mean, you have go to clear back to the middle ages to even find a comparison to what we do. In building the medieval churches, multiple generations of craftsmen would work on the church, father to son, until the church was completed generations later.

Nationwide, we see many timber families deciding this is no longer worth their time and effort, and we are currently seeing almost 2 million acres of forestland annually being converted to other uses. I believe that we are only seeing the leading edge of the tidal wave yet to come. In the US, about 1/3 of the forestland owners are past retirement age, with another quarter of the owners are between 55 and 65 years of age. These people own over 2/3 of all the private forestland in America. Almost all of this land will change hands in the next 10-15 years. Is the next generation ready to take over this legacy? Will we have a small woodland owner community 15 years from now? Should anyone care?

Let’s think about this for a moment. We have basically 5 classes of timber owners. We have federal and state governments, large industrial timber companies, professional investors, Indian tribes, and private family owners. What are the management philosophies and time horizons for each of these owner groups? The federal government? They currently have a Zen management philosophy – if a tree burns in the forest and nobody files a lawsuit, does it matter? There is no active management of the federal forests at this time, with the hope that Mother Nature will return the forests to their natural, pre-colonization condition. As a result, the forest health and fire problems we are seeing coming from their forests have turned them into bad neighbors to the rest of us. What is their real time horizon? 4 years. OK – 8 if the guy gets re-elected.

The Federal government owns about 29% of the forestland, mostly in the West. State and local governments? They want to harvest to provide revenues for the schools and counties, but they’re facing lawsuits and legislative action to tie up these forests in the same way as the federal forests. Again their time line is political, based on changes in governors and legislatures. They own about 7% of the forestland.

Corporate timber companies? They mostly manage their lands for maximum fiber production. Time horizon? 3 months. The next quarterly report. Real long range planning is 3-5 years. Combined with the investors and tribes, they own about 21% of the forestland. Professional investors? These are pension funds and land speculators who are looking to return the maximum value to their investors. They are not involved with the land, and view these properties simply as financial assets in their portfolios. Their timeline is usually 5 years or less. They are a growing group included in the 21% owned by business interests.

Indian tribes? The tribes are actively managing their forests for a range of values including timber production, and they generally have a long-range, multi-generational view tied to their culture and religion. They own a few percent of the 21% owned by business entities.

Private family owners? We own 42% of the forestland. Nationally there are over 10 million forestland owners, with a little over 4 million family owners owning 10 acres or more. In this group there are millions of different management philosophies, based on each family’s values, resources, training, and their land. The top five reasons these folks list for owning their properties are: Aesthetics, Family Legacy, Nature Protection, Hunting & Fishing, and Recreation. Timber production makes the top 10 list, but not the top 5. Because of this wide range of management goals and practices on family forestland, we provide on our lands most of the nation’s biological diversity, wildlife habitat, and water protection. While providing these societal values, we also provide the majority of the nation’s wood supply. We would be missed if we disappeared from the scene.

Can families think and plan intergenerationally? Other than the tribes, we are the only landowner class that can realistically work with the time scales that forestry demands. I have many clients who have Century Farms and are in their 4th, 5th, and even 6th generation of ownership. We have family friends in Europe that have owned their land for 1,100 years. Their land has passed from generation to generation with a consistent management ethic and values. Their management plan goes out 400 years into the future. Can families do this? Sure they can! But it’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen without a plan. How many people here have a written management plan for how the  are going to manage their properties? (trick question, I know) How many of you have a realistic, written management plan for your families? (Not so many) What is harder, growing a rotation of timber, or keeping your values alive, keeping your family intact, and keeping them engaged with the management of your property over the next 6 generations?

Again, I ask you, why are you a tree farmer? I can tell you why I am. I am a tree farmer because my family and I fell hopelessly in love with a piece of ground, and we are passionate about leaving it better than we found it. This isn’t primarily about money or economics. It’s about passion and vision. We are building our own particular kind of cathedral, stone by living stone, passing the work from generation to generation. It’s an incredible privilege to be a family tree farmer. It’s a privilege that only 1% of our fellow citizens have the opportunity to share. What we do is counter-cultural. Think about it. I don’t profit from my own work. The work I do, the investments I make, are for the benefit of those who come after me. I don’t live long enough to benefit from my own work. On the other hand, I am profiting from the work my father did, and what others did before him. My children and my children’s children will still be working on the projects I started long after I am gone. My family and I don’t view our tree farm as a financial asset in our portfolio. We view it as a family heirloom, a shared treasure that helps define who we are as a family. It gives us an excuse to continue being a family. In fact, over the last decade we have become more than just a family – we have become partners in a shared adventure, discoverers of a pearl of great price. My dad was a dreamer and a builder. He grew up on a farm, and he always told us two things: 1) The secret to success, was after everyone had gone home for the day, hoe one more row. Work hard. And 2nd) To not be afraid to dream and to work to bring them about. That you got 75% of your enjoyment working towards your dreams, so even if they all didn’t come true, you already had 75% of the fun.

Mom and dad had 5 children in 6 years. I am the oldest. 15 years ago, my brothers and sisters and I were scattered to the four corners of the globe. The closest lived 3,000 miles from home. At 18 we each moved out, went off to college, and never looked back. I had been away for 10 years, and had slowly realized that no matter where I lived, there was a place outside of Scio, Oregon that was my home. At the same time dad was wondering what to do since none of us seemed interested in the property, so my wife and I decided to pull up stakes in Indiana and move back west to Oregon to raise our family. Dad and I started talking about how to engage my brothers and sisters hearts and minds with the property. Most parents, mine included, at some point ask the question why their kids don’t show more interest in the property.

There is a simple answer to that. The “good kids” (the ones you want to have) would rather have you than the property. If you own it, they have to wait until you are gone before they start thinking and acting like owners. We created a family limited partnership to own the ranch, and transferred a small partnership interest to each of the kids. The impact of this was immediate. We were now partners, and we started expecting people to participate as owners. We started having family meetings where we began to train them in the basics of our business, involve them in our decision making process, and share our passion for this property and our vision for what we saw this property becoming.

When you leave your property to your children at death, you are creating a partnership. Now a partnership is just like a marriage – except you don’t have any of the good parts… Think about it. You are putting your kids in a situation where they have never worked together as adults, much less as business partners; they can’t agree who should be in charge, they don’t know anything about the business, they don’t even know if they want to be in the business,   and you are not around anymore to referee the fights. And you thought you were doing them a favor! By writing up a partnership agreement, laying down the rules and involving your children now, you can help them get to know each other, and learn how to work together. You are also letting them put down an emotional marker on the property now, without being disloyal to you.

We all face two major challenges passing on our property. 1) Creating an ownership and management structure that will survive you, and 2) Getting the next generation’s hearts and minds engaged in what we are doing.

What are some practical things you can do to make this happen?

First: Sit down with your spouse and write down your goals for the property and the family. On a scale of 1 – 10 how important is it to you to keep the property intact and in the family? A recent study in Oregon showed that over half of the family forestland owners would not consider selling their property under any circumstances. Where are you on the scale of priceless heirloom vs. financial asset?

Second: Discuss your written goals with your children. Get their feedback. Is anyone interested? Have they already mentally spent the money?

Third: Create a Family Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Company to own the property and start to share ownership with your kids. Discuss whether spouses should be partners. Do all the children want to be partners? Should they all be partners? There are reasons why kids shouldn’t be included – special needs, etc.

Fourth: Start having annual family meetings to discuss the business, train your children, and share your passion and vision for the property. This is a critical element. If the partnership is the car, then family meeting is the gas to make it go.

Fifth: Create recreational opportunities for the family on the property. If owning the tree farm means just getting an occasional check, it won’t survive. Your kids and grandkids hearts have to be engaged with the property. The easiest way to do this is through recreation. Take your favorite spot and build a campsite. Set up hiking and riding trails, orienteering courses, archery, rifle & paintball ranges. If you have water, get something going with fishing. Set up areas for hunting. Build cabins for people to come and vacation in. Involve the kids and grandkids in forestry activities – measuring growth plots, tree planting. Give tours on your property and get your kids and grandkids involved in hosting the tours. Seeing the property through the eyes of others is a great motivator. One of the patriarchs of a 5th generation tree farm told me that the best fertilizer for the land was the footsteps of the owners. Get your family out on the property and help them to see it as you do.

Finally: Create a governance structure for the business that will survive your passing. You need to begin grooming a successor to manage the property. Just because your kids may have worked on the property doesn’t mean they know anything about the business of running the tree farm. You have to teach them. Also, even I was the oldest, I was not the natural leader of my family. Dad and I worked together to help me earn the respect of my brothers and sisters as his successor. It doesn’t happen automatically. We started our partnership 12 years ago. The first five or six years, our family meetings consisted of Dad and I talking to the family about the business, and about our vision and our passion for the property. As each year passed, they understood more, and were able to participate more. After each family meeting, we hire babysitters and take the partners and spouses out to dinner at a restaurant. We get a private room, and go around the table letting each person share what is happening in their life, what challenges they face, what achievements they have accomplished since the last time we got together. This has really helped us get to know each other as adults, since none of us live close to each other. One of my brothers was especially brain damaged growing up on the ranch. You know what I mean… He really didn’t want anything to do with the place. However, one of his hobbies is target shooting. At a recent family meeting he brought up the idea of a private rifle range on the property. Guess what? We now have a rifle range (that he helped design and build) and he is coming down regularly, and bringing his boys along. He has also started participating fully in our family meetings where before he had no real interest. His boys are into paintball. Guess what? This summer we set up a paintball range. They now “own” part of the ranch, even though they don’t live here. I want the grandkids to feel connected to this place. I’m shameless. I’ll do almost anything to make that happen!

When we were in Ashville two years ago at the convention, we had our best family meeting yet. We decided to bring all 7 of us to the meeting, leaving spouses and children behind. My brothers and sisters led the meeting, talking about their ideas for the property, and their hopes for our family over the next 50 years, and concrete steps they wanted us to take to make these dreams come alive. On the way home from the meeting, and in the days that followed, Mom, Dad and I had several meetings where we talked about these plans. A few weeks after the convention, we were honored again by the Oregon Tree Farm System at their annual meeting. That night, dad died suddenly and unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. He was 66 years old.

I am now the ranch manager, and I’m continuing the work he started 40 years ago. It’s been almost two years since his passing. What has changed? Our family is stronger than ever. Our partnership is flourishing and growing. You see, over the past 12 years we grew to share a passion and love for each other, and a common dream for this piece of ground we’ve been entrusted with. It didn’t depend on dad anymore to make it happen. I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that if we hadn’t started when we did, our property would be a statistic today, and our family would be scattered to the four winds. What will the future bring? I don’t know. But I do know that we are working hard to make our dreams come true, and are having a lot of fun in the process.

What would happen to your tree farm if you didn’t wake up tomorrow? Who would step forward to continue your work? Would that person be supported by the rest of the family, or would there be pressure to sell the property? Have you shared why you are a tree farmer with your kids? Are their hearts engaged? Do they see the tree farm as a treasured family heirloom, or as a burden, a financial asset to be disposed of quickly? Don’t be part of the coming tidal wave. Take up this challenge with your spouse and your children. Start this weekend. Dare to dream together about the future, about your family, and about the role your tree farm can play in keeping your family together. Challenge and allow your children to become partners with you and create this legacy together.

I’d like to close by sharing a poem written by one of my mentors, Bob Mealey. Bob’s a retired forester, and a regional tree farm winner. He’s 92 years young, and is completely infected with this wonderful passion we call tree farming. The poem is entitled: When You’re So Old.