Tomorrow's Woodland Owners
The research project: Background

To underscore the importance of this research, it's helpful to review the US Forest Service's 2006 National Woodland Owner Survey [exit DNR] results for Wisconsin:

• More than 350,000 people own more than 9 million acres of Wisconsin family woodlands.
• Almost 49% of those woodland owners are retired.
• Almost 60% (200,000) of all family forest landowners in the state are 55 years or older, and over 50% of those landowners (106,000) are 65 years or older.
• 87% of the family forestland in Wisconsin was purchased, not inherited, by landowners.
• Wisconsin woodland owners representing over 59% of the family forest acreage in the state identify the opportunity to pass on the family forestlands to their heirs as the third top reason for owning the land. (Personal use ranks first, and protecting the biological diversity of the land ranks second).
• Almost half (47%) of Wisconsin's family forestland acreage has been owned for 24 years or less.
• Over 10% (~955,000 acres) of the entire family forestland base in Wisconsin will either be sold, subdivided, or converted to non-forested use in the next five years.
• Another 13% -15% (from 1.2 million to 1.3 million acres) will be given to heirs of the forestland owners in the next five years. 35% of that acreage will be transferred by landowners who are less than 65 years of age.
• Overall the land has not been passed down from generation to generation, but rather purchased by landowners who have a love of the land and who plan to pass the land on to their offspring. Almost 25% of the entire family forestland base in the state is expected to go through ownership change in the next five years, with offspring playing a significant role in the equation.

The Wisconsin results of this 2006 Forest Service study are available here as a summary [PDF, 64 KB] and in table form [PDF, 57 KB].