Community Supported Forestry

Like the idea of Community Supported Agriculture?  Looking for ways to make a few bucks from your woodland?  A Wisconsin family is trying Community Supported Forestry.

Source: Whole Trees Architecture

This is a pretty interesting idea:  For an annual payment of $550, Roald Gundersen and Amelia Baxter of Hamburg, WI are offering unlimited access to their 140-acre wooded valley south of LaCrosse.  Four of 20 spots have already sold.  Read more about their operation on their website.  More information is available on the Worldchanging blog and in this story from the LaCrosse Tribune.

As noted in a comment on this post, the concept is not entirely new:  Woodland owners have been selling hunting leases, particularly in the southern US, for many years.  But this is a new twist on the concept.  The Community Supported Forestry concept is best described here by Vermont Family Forests.

(Thanks to the Community Forestry Resource Center, Vicky Sturdevant, and Pam Jakes for passing this along.)