“[W]e can only do what we are able to do at any given time and under a single set of circumstances, and we must not feel unsuccessful in any one attempt. The opportunity will rise again to do something else, and the courage to act will rise with it.” – Betty Reid-Soskin
Forestry remains one of the most overlooked frontiers of African American institutional development, even though Black landownership stretches across 42 states, forming one of the largest and least protected asset classes in Black America’s portfolio. African Americans own an estimated 1.1 million acres of timberland across the United States, representing approximately $3.4 billion in timber asset value, yet this land has never had the institutional protection or forestry infrastructure capable of defending it. Forests, rangelands, farms, hunting land, wetlands, and timber stands make up millions of acres of African American–owned property, but between 1910 and 1997, Black families lost approximately 90% of their farmland—a staggering decline from 16 to 18 million acres to fewer than 2 million acres today. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, especially the 1890 land-grant institutions, were never adequately funded or politically supported to build forestry schools, timber research labs, wildfire academies, or land-management offices that could anchor a national land-protection ecosystem. That vacuum has had devastating consequences.
The loss of African American land over the past century through heirs’ property exploitation, tax manipulation, predatory timber buyers, USDA discrimination, forced sales, and wildfire vulnerability is not solely the result of racism; it is the result of being institutionally unprotected. Studies indicate that heir property affects an estimated 60% of Black-owned land in the South, leaving millions of acres legally vulnerable to partition sales, clouded titles, and involuntary dispossession. Between 1950 and 1969 alone, discriminatory USDA lending practices resulted in the denial or limitation of 13,000 farm ownership and operating loans to Black farmers—loans that would have totaled approximately $4.8 billion in today’s dollars. Without institutional guidance, Black landowners have been systematically stripped of generational wealth, losing an estimated $326 billion in land value over the 20th century.
White land-grant universities spent 150 years building wealth from land that was stolen from Indigenous nations and denied to African Americans. They built forestry programs, extension services, research forests, and land-management infrastructures that allowed White landowners to stay on their land, grow its value, and profit from its timber, minerals, water, and agricultural productivity. The 1862 land-grant institutions received over 10.7 million acres of expropriated Indigenous land, generating endowments worth billions. In contrast, the 1890 land-grant HBCUs—established under the second Morrill Act—received a combined total of only 160,000 acres, most of it marginal or non-forested. Even today, 1890 institutions receive approximately 4-5% of the total federal funding allocated to land-grant universities, perpetuating a resource gap that began at their founding. African American landowners, in contrast, navigated some of the most complex land-related challenges in America without the technical support, policy guidance, or institutional backing that White landowners received as a matter of routine. The lack of a national HBCU-based forestry apparatus meant Black landowners were often negotiating timber contracts in the dark, entering carbon deals without verification, handling wildfire risks without training, and dealing with heirs’ property without legal or forestry guidance. The result was predictable: millions of acres lost, billions of dollars gone, and rural Black communities left economically hollowed out.
The proposed HBCU Forest Service is the long-overdue institutional correction to this century of loss. It is designed not as a campus-by-campus program, but as a national institutional system that serves African American landowners wherever they are—Georgia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Washington, Alabama, Maine, Maryland, Arkansas, California, New York, and beyond. It recognizes that African American land stretches far beyond the traditional HBCU footprint, and therefore, the institutional ecosystem that serves that land must be national in scope. The HBCU Forest Service would provide forest management plans, wildfire protection support, timber sale oversight, carbon market literacy, forest-tech tools, drone mapping, heirs’ property resolution guidance, and contractor connections to Black landowners across the nation. For the first time in history, Black land would have a dedicated institutional guardian.
The scale of need is immense. Currently, there are fewer than 50 Black foresters employed by the U.S. Forest Service out of a workforce of approximately 30,000—a representation rate of less than 0.2%. Across the entire forestry sector, African Americans constitute only 1.6% of the workforce, despite owning substantial forested acreage. The national forestry workforce crisis presents an urgent opening: over 60% of the current forestry workforce is over the age of 45, with retirement waves expected to eliminate thousands of positions over the next decade. Meanwhile, wildfire suppression costs have exceeded $2 billion annually in recent years, with shortages in trained wildfire personnel reaching critical levels. Timber harvesting, forest management, carbon accounting, GIS analysis, and drone-based forest monitoring all face severe labor shortages. The HBCU Forest Service could address this national crisis while simultaneously protecting Black land assets.
But to anchor such an institution, HBCUs need land. Not theoretical land, not symbolic land—real acreage, real forests, real timber assets, and real natural resource portfolios that can generate long-term institutional revenue. This is where the creation of the HBCU Land Trust becomes indispensable.
The HBCU Land Trust would serve as the land-owning entity for the HBCU Forest Service, holding deeded forestland, conservation easements, carbon-rich acreage, agroforestry plots, and donated parcels. It would acquire land strategically—using philanthropy, federal land transfers, state partnerships, and market purchases to build a multi-state network of HBCU-owned forests. These forests would generate revenue through timber, carbon credits, biomass, recreation, hunting leases, conservation finance, and forest-tech partnerships. The White land-grant universities built their institutional power on their land; the HBCU Land Trust gives HBCUs the same opportunity for the first time in history.
Consider the financial possibilities. Well-managed timberland generates annual returns averaging 4-7% through timber sales, with additional revenue streams from carbon offset markets now valued at $2 billion globally and growing. A 10,000-acre HBCU-owned forest could generate $200,000-$500,000 annually through sustainable timber harvesting alone, with carbon credits potentially adding $50,000-$150,000 per year depending on forest type and market conditions. Hunting leases, recreation fees, and biomass sales provide additional income. Over time, land appreciation typically outpaces inflation, building endowment value. If the HBCU Land Trust acquired just 100,000 acres nationally—less than 10% of what was given to single 1862 land-grant institutions—it could generate $2-5 million in annual revenue while creating a $100-300 million asset base for HBCUs.
Combined, the HBCU Forest Service and the HBCU Land Trust form the institutional foundation required to finally stabilize and grow the African American land base. They provide a system capable of addressing the national forestry workforce crisis, which presents a rare moment of opportunity. Foresters are retiring. Timber workers are aging out. Wildfire fighters are in short supply. Drone and GIS technicians, carbon analysts, and forest-thinning contractors are in high demand. HBCUs can build national pipelines into these fields, producing graduates who can serve federal agencies, state forestry divisions, private timber companies, landowner cooperatives, and forest-tech startups. Workforce transformation can become institutional transformation.
The institutional ecosystem protecting Black land cannot function without robust legal infrastructure, which is where HBCU law schools become essential partners. Currently, there are five HBCU law schools—Howard University School of Law, North Carolina Central University School of Law, Southern University Law Center, Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and Florida A&M University College of Law—serving a combined enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. These institutions must become centers for land rights law, environmental law, property law, and natural resources law as they relate to African American communities.
HBCU law schools can establish specialized legal clinics focused on heirs’ property resolution, helping to clear clouded titles that currently affect an estimated 3.5 million acres of Black-owned land worth approximately $28 billion. Law students, under faculty supervision, could provide pro bono title research, estate planning, partition defense, and property rights advocacy to Black landowners nationwide. These clinics would serve dual functions: protecting Black land while training the next generation of attorneys equipped to navigate complex rural property issues.
Beyond direct legal services, HBCU law schools should develop certificate programs in natural resources law, forestry law, carbon market regulation, conservation easements, and Indigenous land rights. They can produce research on discriminatory land-loss patterns, advocate for policy reforms at state and federal levels, and represent Black landowners in timber contract disputes, USDA discrimination cases, and environmental justice litigation. Howard Law School’s history of civil rights litigation provides a powerful model: just as Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston used legal strategy to dismantle segregation, a new generation of HBCU-trained attorneys can deploy legal expertise to defend Black land.
HBCU law schools can also partner directly with the HBCU Forest Service and HBCU Land Trust to provide legal counsel on land acquisitions, conservation easements, carbon credit contracts, timber sales, liability issues, and partnership agreements. This integration ensures that every land transaction, every forest management decision, and every carbon market engagement is legally sound and protects Black institutional interests. The legal infrastructure must be as sophisticated as the forestry infrastructure—both are necessary for land protection to succeed.
While the HBCU Forest Service provides ongoing technical assistance and the HBCU Land Trust builds institutional land holdings, there remains a critical need for comprehensive landowner education. This is where the 1890 Foundation can play a transformative role by developing an African American Landowners School—a national certification program that equips Black landowners with the knowledge, skills, and networks necessary to manage, protect, and profit from their land.
The 1890 Foundation, which represents the 19 land-grant HBCUs established under the 1890 Morrill Act, is uniquely positioned to design and coordinate this program. These institutions—including Tuskegee University, Alabama A&M University, Alcorn State University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Delaware State University, Florida A&M University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Southern University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Alcorn State University, Lincoln University, North Carolina A&T State University, Central State University, Langston University, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University, and Virginia State University—have deep roots in agriculture, land management, and rural community engagement.
The African American Landowners School would offer tiered certification programs:
Level 1 – Foundational Land Stewardship (40 hours): Covering basic forest ecology, timber identification, wildfire risk assessment, heirs’ property basics, forest management planning, and financial record-keeping for landowners.
Level 2 – Advanced Forest Management (80 hours): Including timber cruising and valuation, sustainable harvesting techniques, wildlife habitat management, prescribed burning, carbon market fundamentals, contract negotiation, and tax strategies for forestland owners.
Level 3 – Professional Land Management Certification (120 hours): Featuring advanced silviculture, forest business management, carbon credit verification, conservation easement structuring, forest technology applications (GIS, drones, remote sensing), estate planning for land succession, and cooperative development.
The program would be delivered through a hybrid model: online coursework accessible nationwide, regional in-person intensives held at 1890 institutions, field training in HBCU Land Trust forests, mentorship from experienced Black landowners and foresters, and ongoing technical support through the HBCU Forest Service. Participants would graduate with recognized credentials that qualify them for forestry cost-share programs, conservation easement agreements, carbon market participation, and preferential lending from USDA and rural development programs.
Critically, the African American Landowners School would create a national network of trained Black landowners who can support one another, share resources, negotiate collectively, and build political power. Currently, Black landowners are isolated, scattered across rural areas with limited peer support. A certification program brings them together, fostering cooperation that can lead to timber cooperatives, shared equipment purchases, group carbon credit sales, and collective advocacy. Research shows that landowner cooperatives can increase timber sale returns by 15-30% through collective bargaining and improved market access. For Black landowners managing 1.1 million acres of timberland worth $3.4 billion, even modest improvements in management and market access could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional wealth.
The 1890 Foundation could launch the African American Landowners School with relatively modest initial investment—$5-10 million could establish curriculum development, hire coordinators at each 1890 institution, build the online learning platform, and fund the first three years of programming. Federal funding through USDA, particularly through programs like the 2501 Outreach and Technical Assistance Program and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, could provide substantial support. Private philanthropy focused on land rights, environmental justice, and HBCU capacity-building would likely respond enthusiastically to a program addressing such a critical gap. Within five years, the program could certify 5,000-10,000 Black landowners, protecting hundreds of thousands of acres and generating measurable increases in landowner income and land retention rates.
But the greatest opportunity extends beyond U.S. borders. The forestry domain is inherently Pan-African. Africa is home to the Congo Basin—one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, spanning approximately 500 million acres and sequestering an estimated 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. The basin’s forests store approximately 30 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to three years of global emissions. Yet deforestation rates across Africa have accelerated, with the continent losing nearly 10 million acres of forest per year. The Caribbean faces extreme deforestation pressures, soil erosion, and climate disasters that demand sophisticated forestry and land-management responses. Haiti, for instance, has lost 98% of its original forest cover, contributing to devastating landslides, soil degradation, and food insecurity. Jamaica has worked to reverse deforestation but still struggles with sustainable forest management amid climate pressures.
Across the Diaspora, land is under threat from foreign corporate acquisition, climate change, monocrop agriculture, and extractive agreements that leave local populations poorer and more vulnerable. China alone has invested over $6 billion in African forestry and timber operations since 2000, often through deals that export raw logs while providing minimal local economic benefit. European carbon offset projects have acquired millions of acres of African land, sometimes displacing local communities while claiming climate benefits. The lack of institutional capacity—forestry expertise, carbon market literacy, legal infrastructure, and scientific research—leaves African and Caribbean nations at a severe disadvantage in these negotiations.
The HBCU Forest Service could evolve into a Pan-African Forestry Consortium, linking HBCUs with African and Caribbean universities, forestry ministries, timber cooperatives, carbon negotiators, and agroforestry innovators. Through this alliance, African American students could train in Ghanaian, Kenyan, Liberian, or Jamaican forests, while African and Caribbean students train in U.S. forest ecosystems. Joint carbon programs could give the Diaspora collective leverage in international climate markets. Mass timber innovations could be shared. Wildfire science could be exchanged. Agroforestry models could be built collaboratively. And the HBCU Land Trust could help structure cross-border land protection strategies that empower communities rather than dispossess them.
Consider the strategic possibilities. African carbon credits currently trade at $5-15 per ton, far below the $20-50+ per ton available in voluntary markets, largely due to lack of verification infrastructure and negotiating capacity. A Pan-African Forestry Consortium could establish regional verification labs, train carbon auditors, and negotiate collective carbon contracts that capture fair market value. If African nations could increase average carbon credit prices by just $10 per ton across 100 million acres of managed forest, that would generate an additional $1 billion annually in revenue—funds that could flow to rural communities, support reforestation, and build local economies.
Similarly, the Consortium could develop Pan-African timber certification systems that ensure sustainable harvesting while commanding premium prices in global markets. Currently, less than 10% of African timber is certified as sustainably harvested, limiting market access and pricing power. HBCU forestry expertise could change that, building systems that protect forests while increasing economic returns.
This global dimension matters because the future of Black sovereignty—whether American, Caribbean, or African—will be shaped by land. Carbon markets are becoming geopolitical battlegrounds, with carbon credit values projected to reach $50-100 billion annually by 2030. Forest reserves determine climate resilience, with the UN estimating that 1.6 billion people worldwide depend directly on forests for their livelihoods. Timber supply chains influence global construction, particularly as mass timber emerges as a sustainable building material with markets projected to exceed $30 billion by 2030. Nations that control forests will shape the climate future; nations that lose them will be shaped by it. HBCUs, through the HBCU Forest Service and HBCU Land Trust, can become leaders in this global domain rather than spectators.
At home, the institutional pairing of the HBCU Forest Service, HBCU Land Trust, HBCU law schools, and the African American Landowners School would revitalize rural Black communities through forestry-based economic development. Sawmills, micro-mills, biomass facilities, mass timber factories, fire mitigation contractors, forest-restoration businesses, drone surveying companies, and carbon accounting firms can reshape local economies. These industries create jobs that cannot be outsourced, inject revenue into small towns, and reinforce land-based wealth.
The numbers are compelling. The U.S. forest products industry generates approximately $300 billion annually and employs over 900,000 workers. Yet Black ownership and employment in this sector remain negligible—less than 2% across most categories. Mass timber manufacturing alone is projected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2020 to $5.6 billion by 2028, creating thousands of new jobs. Rural communities with sawmills, timber processing, and wood products manufacturing have median household incomes 12-18% higher than similar communities without forest industry presence. For Black communities in the rural South, where poverty rates often exceed 25% and median household incomes lag $15,000-$20,000 below state averages, forestry-based economic development represents one of the few viable pathways to wealth creation.
HBCUs can anchor this development—training the workforce, advising the landowners, partnering with industries, and owning forests that serve as hubs for innovation. A single HBCU-anchored sawmill processing 5 million board feet annually could create 20-30 direct jobs with average wages of $40,000-$55,000, plus another 40-60 indirect jobs in logging, transportation, and support services. Across a network of 10-15 such facilities strategically located near Black-owned forestland, that’s 600-1,350 jobs generating $25-60 million in annual wages.
Beyond timber processing, carbon markets offer substantial revenue potential for Black landowners and rural economies. At current carbon credit prices of $15-20 per ton, a 1,000-acre forest could generate $10,000-$30,000 annually in carbon offset sales depending on forest type, age, and management. Scaled across 1.1 million acres of Black-owned timberland, that’s $11-33 million annually—revenue that currently goes largely unrealized because Black landowners lack access to carbon markets and verification infrastructure. The HBCU Forest Service could provide that access, channeling millions of dollars annually into Black rural communities.
The message is unambiguous: African American land needs institutional protection, and HBCUs need land to build institutional power. The HBCU Forest Service, HBCU Land Trust, HBCU law school land rights clinics, and the African American Landowners School provide both. Together, they represent the most significant institutional strategy available to African America for safeguarding land, generating wealth, shaping climate policy, rebuilding rural economies, and forging Pan-African alliances rooted in land, science, and sovereignty.
Initial funding could come from multiple sources. Federal appropriations through the 1890 land-grant system, currently receiving approximately $60-80 million annually, could be expanded with dedicated forestry allocations. The USDA’s Forest Service budget exceeds $7 billion annually—even a 1% set-aside for the HBCU Forest Service would provide $70 million in annual operating funds. The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $3.1 billion for climate programs at USDA, including forestry initiatives; HBCUs should be priority recipients for climate-focused forestry investments. Private philanthropy in climate, land rights, and HBCU capacity-building—sectors that have collectively deployed billions in recent years—represents another substantial funding pathway.
For land acquisition, the HBCU Land Trust could target federal land transfers (excess USDA and Forest Service lands), state surplus property, conservation-focused philanthropy, and strategic market purchases. Conservation easements, which allow landowners to retain ownership while protecting land from development, could be donated to the Trust with significant tax benefits for donors. Over a 10-year period, a combined investment of $500 million—$300 million for land acquisition, $150 million for HBCU Forest Service operations and infrastructure, $30 million for the African American Landowners School, and $20 million for HBCU law school land rights programs—could fundamentally transform Black land protection and build HBCU institutional power.
Forestry is not a side issue. It is the foundation of power that African American institutions have lacked for 150 years. It is the frontier that can redefine the economic trajectory of the next century. And the question is no longer whether HBCUs should enter this domain; it is whether they can afford not to. With 1.1 million acres of Black-owned timberland worth $3.4 billion at risk, with $326 billion in historical land loss unremedied, with 60% of Black land vulnerable to heirs’ property exploitation, with climate markets reshaping global power dynamics, and with institutional sovereignty on the line, the time for the HBCU Forest Service, HBCU Land Trust, HBCU law school land rights programs, and the African American Landowners School is now.
Disclaimer: This article was assisted by ClaudeAI.
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