Program aims to assist women in managing forest lands
Angered by how easily a family member had been taken advantage of by a logging contractor, Debbie Moreland has turned her frustrations outward through the Arkansas Forestry for Women program, which women in Arkansas are finding helpful when faced with similar predicaments.
In 2005, Moreland’s mother-in-law signed a contract without consulting family members or friends. Said Moreland, “She’s a strong and independent woman and it never occurred to her to ask anybody for help.”
“By the time we had realized what she had done she had essentially given away a large amount of timber for a very small amount of money,” said Moreland. “Immediately I began to wonder how many other women are out there … women who have allowed their husband or someone else to manage their land, and then suddenly due to death or divorce they’re in a position to manage it and they don’t know what to do.”
To get started, she built relationships with several local partners, including the
Arkansas Forestry Commission, the forestry division of the local cooperative extension, University of Arkansas-Monticello, NRCS state forester, Arkansas Forestry Association Education Foundation, Arkansas Extension Homemakers Councils and a local estate planning attorney.
Said Moreland, “I was very fortunate that we have such wonderful partners here in Arkansas. They’ve helped to provide money, materials and staff, and through their help we’ve been able to offer this as a free program.”
Since 2005 Moreland has held four sessions, each welcoming around 35 women in various spots around the state. “All we did was provide coffee and donuts,” Moreland laughed.
The two-and-a-half hour-long program is broken up into a few simple topics:
• How do I sell my timber?
• Who do I call?
• Timber and taxes
• The basics of estate planning
Moreland then walks meeting attendees through the components of each topic, and arms each person with a manual containing a wealth of resources and contact information. “We tried to give people everything they need to identify the red flags, and then the knowledge to know who to call,” said Moreland.
To promote the program, Moreland advertised it through the state conservation districts, county extension offices, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and several regional newspapers in heavily forested areas.
“The districts have been handy for us because a lot of times they knew first-hand of women who were out there and suddenly responsible for managing forest lands,” said Moreland. “And, we found that the districts were able to get us that one-on-one relationship with the landowners.”
Said Moreland, the relationship with districts has been mutually beneficial.
“It also gave the districts an opportunity to build a relationship with someone who may have never been a customer ... someone who inherited 100 acres of forest land but who lives in Philadelphia and doesn’t know anything about conservation districts.”
One program attendee, Betty Oliver, found the presentation and manual to be very helpful.
“The notebooks that were prepared for the program were very helpful since we got sound information from all professionals in the forestry area,” said Oliver.
A year ago, Oliver relied on some of the knowledge she had gained through the program when she and her husband thinned their 20-year-old pine plantation.
“We talked to two major timber companies before we signed a contract; in contrast, on the same type and age of plantation, my sister dealt with a local logging company (and experienced) a lengthy collection time. People need to have contracts before they make any arrangements for cutting timber.”
The program’s success has convinced Moreland that it could be beneficial to women in other states. “Originally it was only something I saw for Arkansas. After having met and talked with so many folks my thinking has changed,” said Moreland.
“Now we have folks call up to borrow our materials and we’ve been glad to do that. I’m a big believer that if someone has a great program, copy it.”
For more information about the Arkansas Forestry for Women Program, contact Debbie Moreland at 501/425-2891, or email her at Debbiepinreal@aol.com.
For more information about Timber Theft, see the Appalachian Roundtable forum:
http://smallwoodnews.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=42
Thanks to Mike Beacom for passing this along!
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