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Canada’s Forest Trust launches program supporting private landowners and Canadian forests

Canada’s Forest Trust (CFT) – a social enterprise dedicated to restoring, preserving, and protecting forests in Canada – launched Canada’s Land Trust (CLT), an innovative program to support private landowners and stewards across the country. Through unique and customizable partnerships, owners of woodlots, forests, agricultural, and marginalized land can access funding and other resources to support their goal of growing and preserving a sustainable forest.

Forests represent over one-third of the total landmass of Canada. They are core to the Canadian landscape and identity, yet they are often under threat. For generations, many private landowners have been actively engaged in best management practices and creating diverse ecosystems. With six per cent of Canadian forested land under private ownership, supporting private landowners is critical in maintaining their essential work as environmental stewards.

As climate change continues to devastate the planet, extreme storms, fires, infestations, droughts, and flooding will escalate and negatively impact landowners. In addition, private landowners can risk losing their land or be faced with difficulties maintaining it due to economic instability or simply because there are no next-generation stewards to preserve their legacy.

For these reasons, Canada’s Forest Trust launched Canada’s Land Trust (CLT).

Through the CLT program, landowners will receive partial or full support in restoring and preserving their land. This will ensure they are never burdened by the financial, material, or labour resources required to care for it effectively.

Private landowners are invited to register with the CLT program and work with CFT to identify the best partnership opportunity. This could include leasing the land to CFT, selling the land at fair market value, or developing a planting and maintenance partnership. In all cases, the goal is to ensure the forest thrives well into the future, which is why CFT offers a Forever Forest Guarantee.

“This is truly a passion project,” said Gary Zed, founder and CEO of CFT. “Growing up in New Brunswick, I saw landowners, including First Nations, face immense pressures when maintaining and protecting their land. The mission of Canada’s Land Trust is to ensure that land stewards never experience this type of stress again.”

“Restoring, preserving and protecting Mother Earth is at the heart of CFT,” said JP Gladu, Chair of the CFT Board. “The launch of Canada’s Land Trust allows CFT to expand our environmental impact and sustain our country’s abundant forest landscapes for generations to come.”