Blog2024-02-20T20:26:13+00:00

Blog: The Story of Black Family Landowners

Embracing This Opportunity to Build on SFLR’s Legacy

By Bethaney Wilkinson I grew up in middle Georgia, raised in an African American farm family in the South. A big part of my upbringing involved everything that comes with farming, from picking up sticks in preparation for planting to ending our holidays early because the goats were in labor. The importance of the land, land ownership, and land stewardship are in my blood. I have [...]

By |March 19th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Celebrating a Decade of Achievement and Embracing What is Yet to Come

By Tyrah Ward Littles In August 2023, McIntosh SEED was the host site for the Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Network (SFLR) Tenth Anniversary Landowner Conference in Brunswick, GA. For three days, it was exhilarating to celebrate the accomplishments of our landowners and partners in this unique collaboration supporting African American forest owners. We were honored that US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose our [...]

By |February 20th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Unique Collaboration Brings Landowner and Graduate Students Together

By Alton Perry As Director of Roanoke Electric Cooperative’s (REC) Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention (SFLR) Project I have had the opportunity to help bring together like-minded organizations and offer to forge unique partnerships that connect landowners to various resources. Throughout my 9 years at REC, I have had innumerable opportunities to get to know and work with landowners who have had their land for generations and [...]

By |September 7th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

LRLEAN Unveils On-Site Visit and Demonstration to Support African American Landowners

By Jerry Lacey On September 8, 2022, LRLEAN, Alabama’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and other partners will host a site visit and demonstration to educate property owners on how they can realize an even greater return on their investment through pre-commercial thinning of their timber stands. Simply stated, precommercial thinning is a forest improvement practice that occurs long before tree harvesting. In our demonstration, we [...]

By |August 15th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

Getting Your Family’s Affairs in Order

By Brianna Bogan It’s not an overstatement to say I love my job at the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that protects heirs’ property and promotes its sustainable use to provide increased economic benefit to historically under-served families. My job takes me in any number of directions on any given day. The diversity of projects, as well as the diversity of landowners I [...]

By |July 6th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

Offering the Tools to Be Good Stewards of the Land Today and for Generations to Come

By Ebonie Alexander I’m proud to say that the Black Family Land Trust (BFLT) measurably improves the quality of life for landowners in Virginia by providing families with the tools necessary to make informed, proactive decisions about their land and its use. We work to honor the legacy of the stewards of the land who came before us and have faith in the stewards of the [...]

By |April 6th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

Winston County Self Help Cooperative: Honoring our Ancestors and Saving Rural America

By T’arie Todman and Frank Taylor When my dad and I were asked to write this blog, we couldn’t help but think of our family history and how our family is like so many others here in Winston County, Mississippi and throughout the South. Our story, like theirs, is one of perseverance in the face of injustice. That’s why we are both committed to the Winston County [...]

By |March 14th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

Creating and Sustaining a Thriving Life from the Land

By Edna Williams When I married my husband Tyrone 40 years ago, I also married into life on the farm that had been in his family for generations. Although we were both pursuing careers outside of farming, the land was—and always had been—calling me. Even during my years teaching biology and chemistry, and later as a school principal, I dreamt of working in my own garden, [...]

By |February 4th, 2022|Categories: Blog|

Supporting Historically Underserved Landowners to Ensure Success, Justice, and Climate Change Mitigation

By Mavis Gragg There has been a lot of discussion and debate around the American Rescue Plan, which is designed to stimulate the United States’ recovery from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we consider how to distribute funds from the American Rescue Plan, it’s critical that the needs of historically underserved Black family forest owners aren’t overlooked. The Sustainable Forestry and African American [...]

By |November 10th, 2021|Categories: Blog|
Go to Top