August 4–5, 2026
Duke University | Durham, North Carolina
Exploring how tax policy can support sustainable management of working lands.
The Forest and Rangeland Taxation Meeting brings together researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to examine how tax policy shapes the stewardship and long-term viability of working forests and rangelands.
The meeting will focus on the role of federal, state, and local tax incentives in supporting land retention, conservation outcomes, and sustainable management, while addressing gaps in implementation, understanding, and real-world effectiveness. We hope this conference will identify gaps in knowledge, education, and practice and strategies to address them.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Proposals for presentations at the meeting must be submitted via the link below by March 31, 2026.
REGISTRATION: 25% off for Early-bird registration through April 14th
Forest Service employees, contact Gregory Frey directly.
The purpose of the Forest and Rangeland Taxation Meeting is to move beyond broad discussion and focus on how tax policy can be better understood, evaluated, and applied to support working lands. The meeting is designed to foster practical exchange across disciplines and professional roles, with an emphasis on identifying concrete challenges and opportunities in current tax frameworks.
Specifically, the meeting seeks to:
Examine how existing forest and rangeland tax policies function in practice across different jurisdictions
Identify gaps in data, research, education, and implementation that limit the effectiveness of tax incentives
Explore opportunities to improve the design of tax programs so they better align with landowner goals and conservation outcomes
Share insights from researchers, extension and education professionals, policymakers, and practitioners working directly with landowners
Build professional connections that support continued collaboration, learning, and engagement in forest and rangeland taxation
The meeting welcomes participants from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including:
Topics of potential interest include, but are not limited to:
Forests and rangelands provide food, forage, energy, timber, regulation of air and water quality, sequestration and storage of carbon, and habitat for wildlife. Many of these lands face threats from unsustainable production systems, natural disturbance, conversion to other land uses and lack of investment and management. Tax policy is among the primary tools used by U.S. federal and state governments for incentivizing retention and management of forest and rangelands and to ease the financial burden on farmers, ranchers, and forest owners of managing these lands. However, the efficacy of these incentives is plagued by poor understanding and low utilization among landowners, lack of empirical evidence to understand impacts and design options, misalignment of program characteristics with landowner objectives, and various practical uncertainties.
This meeting is intended to create space for practical, cross-sector dialogue about how forest and rangeland tax policy actually works on the ground—and how it could work better. By bringing together researchers, extension and education professionals, policymakers, and practitioners, we aim to explore both familiar and emerging issues related to law, markets, and societal trends that influence land management decisions. A central goal of the meeting is to bridge academic research with real-world experience, identify gaps in knowledge and practice, and build connections that support more effective, actionable approaches to forest and rangeland taxation moving forward.
Gregory E. Frey, PhD
Research Forester, Forest Service
Richard Bin Mei, PhD
Director, Natural Resources Finance Initiative
bin.mei@duke.edu
Join our growing network of students, professionals, and alumni working at the intersection of finance and sustainability.
