Identifying Keystone Landowners

Purpose:

• Strategies to identify Keystone Landowners who can help connect you to a community.

Related Sections

• Building Trust

• General Guidance

• Landowner Profiles

Keystone landowners are individuals who represent their land, their community, and work as intermediaries between their community and an agency or organization. State agencies can work with keystone landowners to communicate to other landowners about funding or land stewarding opportunities. Even if you have the tools and budget to market these opportunities, landowners tend to trust other non-governmental individuals more. In this way, keystone landowners can become a part of your marketing strategy for the programs you’re offering. In addition, keystone landowners can serve as a bridge to help build trust within a community.

Less-connected individuals may represent the group on paper, but they don’t actually understand the needs of the community. Keystone landowners, however, are already well-established and active in the community, and understand the land and its needs, through current work and/or intergenerational knowledge. 

Looking for a keystone landowner is a lot like hiring someone for a job because they essentially become a recruiter for your agency. The goal of a keystone landowner is to reach as many landowners as possible and connect them to your agency. However, it is important to manage your expectations of a keystone landowner, especially if they are volunteering their time. Be mindful of their other commitments and capacity to take on more. If your organization is able to compensate a keystone landowner, such as through a rental fee if they host an event on their land, or more formally compensate their time, make this clear at the outset of your approach. Regardless of their compensation, keystone landowners should receive ongoing support from the agency or organization they’re working with. There should be at least one person on your team who’s consistently fostering the relationship with the keystone landowner. 

Qualifications for a Good Keystone Landowner 

The qualifications here aren’t strict parameters but are considered best practices. In addition, you may want to include more qualifications that may be unique to the demographic of landowners you’re working with or the area where you are working. For example, if you’re looking for a good keystone landowner in New Mexico, it’s best practice to recruit a person who is bilingual. 

Characteristics to look for in a keystone landowner: 

• Already serves as a community leader in some capacity. 

• Holds clear title to the land.

• Is open to giving and receiving feedback.

• Is willing to familiarize themselves with government processes.

• Owns a vehicle and is either willing to drive to meet other landowners or host groups of landowners on their property.

Nice to Haves for a Keystone Landowner

These additional “nice to haves” can help keystone landowners be even more effective:

• Someone who has already had forest management done on their property.

• Veterans or farmers, as they are often used to dealing with federal government processes and programming. 

• A family with a compelling story, such as someone who lives in a city but manages their family land. This encourages other people to look into what they may have happening with their family’s property.

• Someone who has a lot of land in a biodiverse environment, such as a swamp/wetland. This can be more interesting for other landowners you want to recruit and it’s more critical to preserve.

• Someone whose land contains a historic site like a cemetery, old building, or church.

• Someone who produces valuable forest products and wood products. 

Connecting with a Keystone Landowner

After knowing what you’re looking for in a keystone landowner, go to places where you may find them. Some examples are local community centers, public events, events hosted by community organizations, local colleges and universities, education workshops, public libraries, homeowner’s associations, landowner social groups and more. Be sure to check social media, Eventbrite, and local news channels to stay up to date on what’s happening in the area. You can always host your own event and recruit from the landowners who participate. As you get to know different landowners,  you will begin to see who fits the qualifications above and who is able to commit the time and attention required.

Becoming a keystone landowner requires a commitment of time and effort that not everyone can make. If this is the case for a landowner who still fits the description above, consider giving them the opportunity to share the story of their land through a written or video profile.

If you would like to connect about this topic, please reach out to:

• Trinity Barnes, Climate Smart Forestry Program Specialist, Trinitydbarnes24@gmail.com