Forest Management Plans in Pine Plains, Albany & Dutchess County, NY

A forest management plan is a written guideline for a particular parcel that express a landowner's goals, a description of the property and schedule that projects may occur on the property in order to achieve landowner goals.

The forest tax law is offered to NY State landowners with 50 or more forested acres. It is a 20-year commitment which reduces your assessment by roughly 80% for enrolled acres. This translates to approximately an 80% reduction in land taxes for the county, school and town for the enrolled acres. Ownership of the property can be conveyed, however the property cannot be further subdivided without severe penalties. A landowner in conjunction with one of our foresters would create a plan and MHFP would enroll you in the program. An initial consultation would be no cost to you and we would be able to determine your potential savings each and every year.

If your property is located within the NYC Watershed you could be eligible for a no-cost, no-obligation plan paid for by the Watershed-Agricultural Council. This plan is a useful tool to inform landowners to about their property and in no way obligates you.

Many preservation minded landowners are selling their conservation easements. Conservation Easements are a landowners right to further subdivide or develop their property. A conveyance of the property is allowed. You retain ownership and "passive recreational rights" which can include timber harvesting, hunting, hiking, swimming and in some cases even quarrying for stone. The sale of these easements usually run in perpetuity, however acres can be left out of the sale for future development. The benefit of this situation is the large price these easements fetch and the reduced assessment and therefor reduced taxes it creates. MHFP will dutifully and professionally represent you in the sale of these conservation easements.