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The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program  was set up by the Government of Ontario to incentivize landowners to maintain forest cover on their properties. Eligible landowners include corporations, conservation authorities, and private landowners. Eligibility requirements include having 4 hectares of forested land (or more) per property, among others, and the intention with the plans being submitted to the program is to give landowners some structure and some tools in ensuring they are managing their forests in a sustainable manner. Landowners successfully entered into the program pay the same tax rates on the forested portion of their property as they would if it were agricultural land. The farm tax rate in Ontario is 25% of the residential tax rate, and so landowners will see tax savings of 75%.

Managed forest plans can only be submitted by Managed Forest Plan Approvers who are people that have been certified by the province as qualified to write and submit these plans. As a Managed Forest Plan Approver, Rainer is certified to write, sign-off on, and/or submit plans to the province’s Managed Forest Tax Incentive Plan. In writing plans for this program, FFCI’s focus is on customer service, ensuring the customer gets as much out of the plan as possible, and on sustainable land management. In some cases, landowners are very interested in their property, and although they enter the program for financial benefits, they are also keen on leaving a legacy with their property. In this case, a landowner may be far more invested in the plan, and perhaps much more involved in the writing process. In other cases, a landowner may have really specific objectives with their property, such as hunting or recreational enjoyment, and so the plan can be tailored in such a way to incorporate those values. The advantage with being more invested in the plan is that it can be written with goals and objectives in mind that will bring the property to a state that is closer to what the landowner desires. This could include planting certain tree or plant species that will attract specific wildlife, and it could also provide timelines for when trails are put in, for example.