WOODLAND STEWARDSHIP PLANS

What is a Stewardship Plan?

Caring for your woods, wildlife, and water is part of owning private land. To help your property thrive, create a land plan. Woodland Stewardship Plans cover goals like:

  • Increasing habitat for deer and other wildlife

  • Supporting ecological diversity

  • Maintaining open land or food plots for high-quality forage

  • Increasing the forest cover

  • Maintaining ponds, wetlands, & lowlands for water quality

  • Increasing overall forest health

Our plans are current for a period of 10 years from its completion date and contains the following information (and more) that is completely customized to your region and personal property goals:  

  • Technical Property Information (parcel information, legal descriptions, etc.)

  • Aerial images of your property and neighboring properties with landowner names

  • Detailed GIS mapping and modeling across your property

  • Information about all of the specific soils on your property

  • Natural Heritage (detailing rare species types in your area and unique landforms)

  • Cultural Heritage (we provide details about any 50+ year old unique items of interest such as Pioneer Homesteads, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps, Native American camp sites, and Burial Grounds that might be on or near your property)

  • Ecological subsection information (provides an ecological summary of the landform, geology, and resources) 

  • Tips for how to manage your property for wildlife, forestry management, recreation, and development

  • Detailed lists of all the timber stands located on your property, the timber present, and future timber predictions

  • Expert personalized management recommendations for your wildlife species and timber types

Still unsure or unclear what you need or what you have? Get our Free Land Assessment as the first step in clarifying your goals and assessing your property’s needs!

Once you have a Woodland Stewardship Plan in place, you will become eligible for an upgraded tax classification. Private landowners may apply for the 2c Managed Forestland designation, which typically yields roughly a 35% reduction in property taxes, or opt for benefits under the Sustainable Forest Incentive Act (SFIA) for annual incentive payments. Annual Incentive Payments are taxed as income.

Private landowners must choose one of the programs and cannot enroll in both. Holzfaller LLC assists in determining which option will be most beneficial to each client by walking the land, assessing its conditions, and taking the time to understand your unique goals and long‑term vision for the property.

Did your plan expire? Use the contact form or give us a call!

Is my property eligible for a Woodland Stewardship Plan?

For purposes of a Stewardship Plan, a property should be––or plan to be––at least 20 acres of forested land.

Why should I get a Stewardship Plan?

A Stewardship Plan is an actionable plan that is for 10 years. Think of it as a roadmap for your property. Every Stewardship Plan is customized to the individual landowner, whether your aims are deer hunting, hiking, birdwatching, or enhancing habitat for a broad range of wildlife. Each plan will include your objectives, property history, current forest and wildlife inventories, management options and alternatives, as well as financial guidance.

A proper Stewardship plan should outline a timeline of actionable steps that you as the landowner can easily follow and record results over time. By being not only a planner for the future, it is your record keeper for what has been done, what went well, what didn’t go well, and this all can be important information when applying for programs and cost-share projects, transferring your property to heirs, or selling the property to a new landowner.

A Stewardship plan is the first step of land stewardship and opens you and your property to multiple programs and cost-share project opportunities, these programs can help increase revenue, lower taxes, increase diversity, increase timber investment, and overall the land value that many folks who look to buy land appreciate.

So, what’s the catch?

No catch. The plan is a strategy; what you do with it is up to you. Your plan, and by extension your property, can only benefit you in correlation to the amount of time you are willing to put into it and follow the plan.

You can share the information in the Woodland Stewardship Plan with natural resource professionals, contractors you’re working with, or just your family members. If you want, Holzfaller will continue working with you to develop logistics for:

  • Timber thinning

  • Trail building

  • Improving wildlife habitat

  • Custom deer management plans

  • Tree or shrub planting

  • And more

We offer this through our Managed and Legacy Management Planning platforms for those clients who want more hands off, or value having a dedicated land manager for their recreational property or timberland portfolios.

Minnesota offers cost-share programs that can help improve wildlife habitat and forest health. These programs are dynamic, depending on state and federal regulations and priorities. Holzfaller LLC foresters have the latest information on how to qualify for available programs. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date as we are constantly interacting with local, state and federal authorities to best position ourselves and our clients.

Common restrictions depend on the tax program. In general, you cannot develop or farm the land in areas qualified as stewardship acres.

Have more questions?

2c: Contact your county assessor here.

SFIA: Contact the Department of Revenue, phone: 651-556-6088, e-mail: proptax.sfia@state.mn.us