AULANDER, N.C., September 2, 2026 – Registration is open for a free conference scheduled for October 21-22 in Rocky Mount that will educate forest and farm owners about sustainable forestry practices, estate planning, emerging markets, and technical and financial assistance available through state and federal agencies.
The Forest Landowner Conference will take place at the Rocky Mount Event Center. It is hosted by the nonprofit Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project (SFLRP) that Roanoke Cooperative helped establish in 2013. Speakers and exhibitors from more than a dozen state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations and companies will take part. The conference is held annually to provide forest and farm owners with the opportunity to network with experts and peers and to learn about programs that can help them increase the health and asset value of their land and its habitats.
Advance registration is required. Interested parties can register via the SFLRP website (www.recforestry.org).
The conference agenda is being finalized but is taking shape as follows:
- Session 1. 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Oct. 21 Engagement with exhibitors and presentations on agroforestry, estate planning and heirs’ property research.
- Session 2, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Oct. 22 Panel discussions on emerging forest markets, as well as federal, state and nongovernmental agencies’ resources available to forest and farm owners.
The Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project was established as a partnership between the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Forest Service and, more recently, the American Forest Foundation. The program works to restore and conserve threatened forestland in 16 North Carolina counties by increasing forest-owner income and land asset values. The counties are: Bertie, Chowan,
Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Perquimans, Vance, Warren, Washington and Wilson. All landowners owning at least one contiguous eight-acre parcel of woodland are eligible to participate.
Forest landowners do not have to live in these counties to participate in the conference. The registration deadline is October 9. See www.recforestry.org for more information on the program, including presentations from prior Forest Landowner conferences.
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This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement 3D25824 to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the Environmental Protection Agency endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document, as well as any images, video, text, or other content created by generative artificial intelligence tools, nor does any such content necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency.