Page 20 - Georgia Forestry - Summer 2019

“The reason some heirs property is in a degraded state is that African Americans didn’t have access to the same programs that the rest of the public did, or they weren’t aware of them.” — Steve Patterson
could, similarly, demand that an auction take place.
“The ability to resolve these issues becomes horribly complex,” said Walden, who serves as the chief operating officer for the Center for Heirs Property Pres- ervation (CHPP). “Very often, clients come in because of some disagreement amongst family members, and their estate never having been resolved. They’re worried about the potential of a forced partition sale.”
The CHPP is one of several non-profits that have formed in the last 10 years to help forest landowners overcome these hazards. Another prominent actor is the Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention (SFLR) program, which Harvey helped to develop and pilot. Founded in 2012 in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the USDA Forest Service, the program now operates in eight states, with 1,076 enrolled families who collectively own 77,095 acres. Through the SFLR, clients can access advice on tenure disputes, learn better planting and harvesting practices, and increase the health and viability of their land. Staff foresters can perform on-site visits to properties throughout the region and help their owners develop a long-term management plan, avoiding the kind of improvised, bi-yearly clear cuts that are unlikely to produce a sizeable yield.
Over time, clients can make useful contacts and build a greater sense of trust with the government agencies that can keep them in business. These agencies
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