Some find it difficult to plan ahead for their own future. But at the 700-acre Blue Den Ranch, the Bentz family is talking about how today's investments will impact their family long after today's grandchildren become grandparents.

Ron and Barbara Bentz began with what they called a "stump ranch" 39 years ago. The ranch is on the north slope of Rodgers Mountain, east of Scio, Oregon.

When they bought the land in 1964 it had just 350 thousand board feet of standing timber and little else. Blue Den Ranch now has 7.1 million board feet standing, plus 425 acres of young plantations grown with careful planning by the growing Bentz family.

Ron and Barbara believed in family participation from the very beginning. All five of their children took part in the land's journey back into abundance when they were growing up. The extended family is now spread all over the country. Eighteen grandchildren ranging in age from 19 to babies will be the next generation to steward the inheritance.

The family gets together at least once a year to plan for the future. "At these meetings we share our passion for this property with each other, dream together about what we want this place to be in the future, discuss business and make decisions about the major projects we will undertake in the coming year."

The grandchildren, even young ones, are included in the meetings. "With the younger kids the goal is to build an emotional connection to the land."

Over the years the Blue Den Ranch has become a family home, a business and a thriving forest. Their earliest investment was a fish hatchery. It is now the second oldest private hatchery in the state. They hatch and raise around 60,000 rainbow trout each year using the three Class I streams and several springs that provide ideal conditions for the fish.

A fishing club was started in the 1960s. Club members fish and hike the property year-round. The club lodge, picnic shelters and hiking trails are also places for the family to gather and celebrate important traditions together.

Forestry and a modest cattle-grazing operation are the two other components of the ranch operation's stewardship and income. Approximately 200,000 seedlings have been planted and 2.4 million board feet harvested since 1964. They have reduced the number of head grazed on the land as forest restoration decreased the amount of pasture.

Clint Bentz thinks a lot about inter-generational responsibility. It is the nature of the timber business, Clint says, that we benefit from our ancestors' forethought. "I don't personally benefit from any capital improvements I'm making now. I won't live long enough. On the flip side, I am benefiting now because of the trees planted by those who have come before."

With forestry, the hatchery and fishing club all expanding, the family talks about how decisions today will impact the future for both land and family. "With every decision we think 'How could this improvement be used by the family 100 years from now?'"

Because of their average 60-year rotation, it will take six generations to grow two rotations of timber. This means everyone has to be in agreement on the family's values.

Clint explains it this way: "We did our first brush conversion project in 1984. My dad was 48 at the time. I was 25. My oldest son, David, had just been born. David will be an adult, between 20 and 60, when periodic thinning will be required. The trees my dad planted in 1984 will be ready to harvest when David is 60." At that point he will be planting trees for his own grandchildren.

The legal and financial side of their inter-generational management is thought out just as carefully. They created a limited partnership to help transfer ownership of the property to the next generations.

Ownership is being transferred gradually and for the time being, all income generated by the ranch is reinvested. Clint, who is a partner in a local CPA firm, now manages the day-to-day operations of the ranch.

Family members have to check back with their core values sometimes when making some of the bigger and more expensive decisions. One ongoing discussion is about possible purchase of adjoining cutover timberland. "It will be fifty years before there is any income from this. My kids will be past retirement. So it's about their kids - who don't exist yet."

These conversations often go slowly. "We talk about the values we share. Do we believe in making our own mark on this enterprise we have inherited?"

Christine Bentz, age 16, works hard on the ranch along with her brothers and cousins. The older kids split up the mowing and maintenance projects in the orchards and hatchery.

Christine reflects on how being part of the family's ranch has influenced her. "One thing about planning for the future is you don't quit, because you are working for a goal."

When asked what it is like to be a part of the Blue Den Ranch heritage, Christine says "When I was younger and I didn't work there, I didn't appreciate it as much. Now, when I go there I see something like a dam or hatchery project and I think 'that's what my grandpa and I fixed last summer.'" It's a place I work, but also full of family memories."

Landowners have to work hard to pass on assets from generation to generation. Clint feels American public policy can discourage inter-generational accumulation of wealth in some ways.

"With our 50% divorce rate in America, even thinking about a family surviving over time is difficult. Thinking about the family in intergenerational terms harkens back to an earlier time. Our tree farm gives us an excuse to continue to be a family after we have all moved away from home."

The Bentz family's excellent management has gained notice over the years. Ron and Barbara Bentz were named Linn County Tree Farmer of the Year in 1990 and 2001, and Western Region and National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year in 2002. Last month the family was given an award by Governor Kulongoski for their participation in the Oregon Plan for Salmon.

"None of this is easy," says Clint. "If we want something good to happen we have to be very intentional about what we are doing and why." After almost 40 years of investment the Bentz family is halfway to their initial goal of a fully stocked, sustainable forestry operation over the entire property. Fully realizing it will take 40 more years. The ranch will be in the hands of the third and fourth generations by then.