At the Finley Center: 2025 in Review; Donating to the Center

Written by Allyson Muth, Director, James C. Finley Center for Private Forests at Penn State

It is hard to believe 2025 is nearing its end. Just yesterday was January, and we had so much time to make so many things happen. The busier the Finley Center gets, the faster time flies—it's true for individuals, but also organizations.

With 2025 being a conference year, all of 2024 and the first part of 2025 were dedicated to ensuring its success. We accomplished that goal, with over 400 landowners, partners, natural resources professionals, and folks just interested in forest stewardship gathering to learn, connect, and access resources. Thanks to all who joined in, from sponsors and exhibitors to presenters and attendees!

2027 Forest Landowners Conference Planning Underway

Planning has begun for the 2027 conference. We anticipate sending a survey to all 2025 attendees shortly to help us make the 2027 conference great and to better understand what has been most useful to attendees. Mark your 2027 calendar for March 5 and 6 for the 7th biennial event—it will be similar in structure to the 2025 conference: adjacent to the Forest Health Briefing on Thursday, March 4, and with tours and workshops occurring on Saturday, March 6. If you have suggestions for us, the planning committee will reconvene early in 2026, a year out, to make this next one as successful or more. Reach out at privateforests@psu.edu with your ideas and suggestions.

Pennsylvania Forest Stewards: Impact Felt Across the State

Our forest stewardship peer volunteer network, the Pennsylvania Forest Stewards, celebrated 34 years in existence this year. With a special reception at the conference, two July regional meetings to learn and connect with each other, and a new class of volunteers joining us this fall, fellowship and learning opportunities abounded. We are currently wrapping up a survey of accomplishments for the last year, and these volunteers are making things happen—giving the equivalent of four full-time employees in sharing a message of good forest stewardship, and reaching tens of thousands of people. If you're interested in learning more about or joining this program, please send us a note to the email address above or call 814-863-0401. We're glad to share more about this amazing group of people or connect you with a volunteer if you have questions about your own woodlands.

Research, Partnerships, and Supporters

The Finley Center's graduate students and staff members are continuing to conduct, and create resources out of, applied research projects that cover the barriers that prevent landowners from accessing help, what kinds of and how woodland owners are experiencing and responding to environmental changes in their woods, Pennsylvania's current forest condition and understanding the types of harvests happening in those forests, conservation-based estate planning, and so much more.

The Finley Center aims to be a valuable partner to the numerous groups and organizations that promote good forest stewardship in this area. We are proud to have been a sponsor for the Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference, the Association of Consulting Foresters National Meeting, the Foundation for Sustainable Forests' Loving the Land through Working Forests Conference, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association's Symposium, and Log-A-Load for Kids in 2025.

We are deeply grateful to those who support our work through their time, financial contributions, or grants. Thanks to the DCNR Bureau of Forestry for 34 years of forest stewardship partnership and to the USDA Forest Service for the forest stewardship dollars that have allowed us to maintain a thriving program. And huge thanks to those organizations and individuals who supported the Forest Landowners Conference—that event doesn't happen without those sponsorships and donations of time and expertise. And to our numerous donors who are helping us build the Finley Center's endowment and operating funds to ensure a measure of fiscal autonomy in times of declining funding, immense gratitude to you.

Your Donations Make a Difference

We've gotten a number of questions recently about how the forest stewardship program advances into the future in a time of declining and now scarce federal support, support that had been in place since 1991. The stewardship program is a partnership of the DCNR Bureau of Forestry and Penn State. Under the Finley Center, the education and awareness portion of the stewardship program encompasses our peer volunteer network, this publication, news releases, other educational publications, training opportunities for woodland owners, and the capacity to support these and new efforts. The Bureau of Forestry covers the technical aspects of the stewardship program, with support going to the county- and regional-based service foresters who engage directly with woodland owners and all of the educational opportunities they offer.

We are all in the throes of figuring it out. To maintain our part of the program, we are looking at other funding opportunities, including state grant programs, private philanthropies and foundations, and support from other NGOs. We are also in the midst of seeking donations supporting the Center through our GivingTuesday and end-of-year campaigns to help fund the forest stewardship program, and specifically the Pennsylvania Forest Stewards.

GivingTuesday

If you have the resources and are inclined to consider end-of-year charitable contributions, our GivingTuesday campaign goes live at 6:55 PM on Monday, December 1, and is open through midnight on Tuesday, December 2. Check out our social media (@finleyprivateforests on Facebook and Instagram) for direct links, or search for "Penn State GivingTuesday." Our campaign is called "Inspiring Stewardship across Pennsylvania."

Finley Center Endowment

For those interested in supporting the Finley Center financially outside of GivingTuesday, the Center has a well-established endowment and gratefully accepts financial contributions. To make a donation, you can visit the Center's donation website. We thank you for your support.