Forest Stewardship is for You!
Whether it is native forests along the Pembina Gorge, Sheyenne River, ponderosa pine stands in southwestern North Dakota, pockets of aspen along the hillside, or trees planted in rows to form a windbreak, these "forests" provide essential services on the landscape. If you are looking to manage your forestland, the North Dakota Forest Services' Forest Stewardship program is here to help you!
Windbreak Renovation Initiative
Since 2015, the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) Windbreak Renovation Initiative (WRI) has offered technical and financial assistance to private windbreak owners statewide to restore, protect and enhance their deteriorating windbreaks.
Every windbreak and renovation is unique, and a solid plan is the key to any successful project. We work with landowners on a first-come first-served basis and strive to meet all requests in a timely manner.
Forest Stewardship Tax Law
The forest tax provisions in North Dakota Century Code were enacted in 1967, originally as the Native Woodland Tax Law, later adding planted forests and called the Woodland Tax Law and eventually in 1991 into today’s Forest Stewardship Tax Law. The law allows forest landowners in participating counties to pay a fixed .50 per acre annually in property tax on their forested acres – provided they preserve the forest lands and meet certain conditions.
Landscape Forest Stewardship
Bringing together groups of stakeholders to strengthen collaborative and large-scale planning around a priority forest resource to advance key strategies identified in the North Dakota Forest Action Plan. This provides guidance and best management recommendations to encourage and enable active, long-term forest management across multiple land ownerships to meet individual and collective goals and for the benefit of the forest resource.
Turtle Mountain Landscape Forest Stewardship
In March 2022, the North Dakota Forestry Advisory Council convened a working group to develop a landscape forest stewardship plan for the Turtle Mountain region. This planning effort will establish and strengthen relationships between landowners and natural resource professionals, be implemented adaptively across an array of conditions, landowner objectives, and ownerships, and be used flexibly as forest conditions and objectives change. It will illustrate practical forest management options and support the efforts of natural resource professionals from across sectors to promote conservation initiatives, and be the technical framework for grant funding opportunities at the local, state, and national level for forest management initiatives on private land.
