Conservation Minded Ways To Make Money With Land

Learning ways to make money with land often seems like a trade-off with my property’s conservation-minded and wildlife habitat-oriented stewardship. When I learn about new habitat management techniques or sustainable land management methods, the end result more often than not is less money in my pocket, not more. I’ve heard of various private and public landowner assistance programs, but the process of determining which programs I’m eligible for and which programs can be used together is arduous at best. I have a family, and a full-time profession, and my land gets whatever time I have left and this means it’s hard to find the time to dig into the various programs that are available to me. 

New Ways To Make Money With Land

There’s a new solution for landowners who want to sustainably manage their land from both an economic and ecological perspective. NCX (Natural Capital Exchange) is a new platform that has become a one-stop shop for landowners who are looking for public and private landowner assistance money that is available to them. The platform helps landowners determine which money they are eligible for, and how to compare if the structure of the program matches their individual land stewardship and investment goals. Over 22,000 landowners have received more than $20,000,000 in payments thus far and the platform and available programs are continuing to grow. 

I recently created an account (completely free) and I was surprised to learn that I am eligible for 36 different programs that can provide me with cash to perform land management activities (and in some cases do nothing at all). With over 100 programs available to landowners across the nation, you are almost certainly eligible for programs that can help you make money without having the trade-offs so common with generating income from your land. Let’s take a look at some of the potential opportunities for you. 

How Can I Make Money With My Land Without Harvesting Trees?

On properties with merchantable timber, harvesting trees is a common way to make money with land. While lowering the basal area of a timber tract and introducing prescribed fire is a great way to improve wildlife habitat, clearcutting, especially for smaller landowners, can decrease the aesthetic value of the property as well as the soil health of the forest stand. Along with this, depending on the method of management, plantation forests often leave large spans of time where the tract has very low wildlife benefit.

There are many programs, both private and public, that want landowners to defer their timber harvest to sequester more carbon from the atmosphere. Many corporations are willing to pay these landowners to do this to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint. And these programs aren’t just for rural landowners, there are even programs for protecting small-scale urban forests. The bottom line is that you don’t have to cut down your trees to make money off them anymore. The market is changing and organizations want to be associated with this kind of practice and are willing to pay good money to do so. 

How To Make Money From Land With Tree Planting

If you’ve owned a timber tract for very long, you understand that the cost of reforestation is significant. NCX has a multitude of programs that make cash available to landowners who want to do everything from restoring Longleaf pine in the Southeastern Coastal Plain to Bottomland hardwoods in the Mississippi Delta to wildfire and pest-affected forests in the West and Community forests in the Northeast. These programs exist for a variety of reasons from carbon sequestration to wildlife habitat improvement to soil health and water quality improvement. If your land needs to be reforested in any way, there’s a good chance that money is available to you for that effort.

How To Generate Income From Land With Recreation

Many landowners are familiar with the potential to lease their property to hunters as a way to make money with land. But for many landowners, hunting is a major driver of land ownership in the first place. Did you know that there are whole markets of people who are looking for more recreational experiences than just hunting? Farm and Ranch tours, fishing experiences, Camping, and fishing leases are all possibilities for landowners who are looking to generate income. 

Using Land To Make Money Through Renewable Energy

Have you looked closely at your power bill lately? Aside from the increasing costs per kilowatt hour, you may have noticed your energy provider offering a choice of solar energy. More and more energy companies are starting to develop large solar farms that are being used to help power the country. You may be positioned to turn unproductive or unused land into a revenue-generating asset by allowing a solar development on your property. This can mean big bucks in perpetuity. 

What To Do With Land To Make Money – Create Biodiversity

Websters Dictionary defines Biodiversity as the “biological diversity in an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals.” Just as there are a diverse number of plant and animal species, there is a diverse range of programs available to put money in landowner’s pockets who promote biodiversity on their land. Want your oaks to produce more acorns? There’s money for that. Interested in improving your Bobwhite Quail numbers? There’s money for that. Is your spouse big into birds? There’s money for a host of songbird species habitat improvements. What about bats? Prairie Chickens? Sage Grouse? Black Ducks? Thinning your timber? Rehabbing hardwoods? You guessed it, there’s money out there just waiting on you to apply for it. 

Wildfire Risk

I recently had a neighbor’s prescribed fire jump a county road onto my property. These things happen. Luckily, a fire break just inside my property line stopped this fire from running wild on my property. Measures like firebreaks, understory height reduction, fuel load mitigation, and patch openings can all help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. You owe it to your property and your neighbors to make sure you do what you can to prevent wildfire but instituting the above measures is not without expense. When wildfire risk is reduced, we all benefit, and some programs recognize this so that the total cost of these efforts isn’t on the landowner. 

Water Quality Programs To Create Passive Income

My property is approximately 30% wetlands. When I visit these areas, I am always pleased by the diversity of plant and wildlife species that I see there. In addition to this, these wetland areas are critically important in preventing erosion and the runoff of nutrients that pollute our waterways. Sensitive areas on your property can earn you up to $50,000 in annual payments by implementing a conservation plan. You just have to see what’s out there and if your land is eligible. 

Stacking Programs For Passive Income From Land

With all of the available programs, you might be wondering which one you should go for to generate the most income. The good news is, some programs can actually be stacked meaning you can have multiple programs underway on the same acre. All of the program requirements are different, so it takes a careful eye to know which combination of stacking will yield the results you want. NCX has included which programs are stackable so that you can be sure to generate as much conservation-minded income as possible. 

Making Money From Land Doesn’t Have To Compromise Conservation

There are more ways landowners can make money with land without having to harvest and haul something away from it. Trying to determine all of the available programs, your eligibility, which programs can be stacked, and whether or not a program is a good fit for your objectives was once a process too arduous for a lot of landowners to accomplish. If you want to learn how you can do this, it’s completely free, and it’s really easy to find out. Go to ncx.com and follow their step-by-step guide for landowners and you’ll see the plethora of money that is available to you. They even offer cash bonuses when you get approved on your first program.