An approved stewardship plan makes a landowner eligible for one of two incentive payment programs.
-       Sustainable Forest Incentive Act (SFIA) Program
-       2c Managed Forest Land Tax Classification Program

Both programs require that a Woodland Stewardship Plan be in place for the property, which is less than ten years old, from a Department of Natural Resources (DNR)  approved plan writer. For both programs, developed acres are ineligible and development of enrolled acres during the term of the agreement is not allowed. The agreement term for 2c is one year and eight years for the SFIA plan. By enrolling in one of these tax reduction programs you are also agreeing to follow the recommendations of your plan.

The SFIA and 2c plans requires that it be registered with the DNR. Being registered adds you to a list of landowners with DNR approved stewardship plans that were written in the last ten years. If you enroll in 2c, you are on a list that the County Assessor will reference to ensure that you meet the program plan requirements.

In exchange, the 2c program lowers your tax rate to 0.65 percent which typically saves about 35% a year on property taxes (rural vacant land tax class is typically 1%).
SFIA is an annual payment and will pay for an eight year covenant $8.91/acre/year, for twenty years $12.33/acre/year, for fifty years $15.76/acre/year.

For example, with an estimated 59 eligible SFIA acres and an 8 year SFIA plan you could expect an annual SFIA payment of $526.00. A 20 year SFIA plan would give you $727.00 and a 50 year SFAI plan $930.00.

Enrollment annual deadline for 2c is  May 1st .
Enrollment annual deadline for SFIA is October 30th .
One parcel can only be enrolled in one of the two plans.

Mail the SFIA application to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Mail the 2c application to the County Assessor’s office.

Both programs typically result in a financial benefit, but generally speaking, for non-shoreline frontage in northern Minnesota, SFIA pays a bit more. On the SFIA and 2c applications, parcel numbers and total eligible acres need to be listed for each of the parcel forties rounded to the nearest whole acre. A 10 acre structure reduction is required from eligible 2c acres and the excluded 10 acres will be taxed at a different higher rate. SFIA requires a 3 acre minimum structure reduction.