Sam Cook
Sam Cook
Executive Director, Forest Assets and Vice President, Natural Resources Foundation Board - North Carolina State University College of Natural Resources
Forests in Transition: Ownership, Equity, and the Next Generation of Private Land Stewardship
February 17, 2026 - 12:00 PM
Patterns of private forest ownership are changing as demographic, economic, and legal pressures reshape how land is held and passed on. Sam Cook will examine the growing role of land trusts, conservation easements, heirs’ property initiatives, and other mechanisms that influence the resilience of family forests. Cook will discuss how these shifts create both barriers and new possibilities for equitable stewardship and long-term forest health.
Speaker Biography
Sam Cook – Executive Director of Forest Assests and Vice President of the Natural Resources Foundation, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University
Sam Cook is the Executive Director of Forest Assets and Vice President of the Natural Resources Foundation for the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University. He oversees management of forestlands owned by the state of North Carolina, the NC State Endowment Fund and the College of Natural Resources Foundation. Cook served as President of the Society of American Foresters beginning in January 2023, following his election as Vice President in 2021. He serves on the boards of Tuskegee University’s Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the World Forestry Center, the Forest History Society and the Land Trust Alliance, and is a Resource Committee Adviser to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, representing the Black Family Land Trust. Previously, Cook was Director of Forestry at the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation and worked as a private forestry consultant. His career also includes roles with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Duke Energy Progress and International Paper. A conservation leader for more than 40 years, Cook was inducted into the World Forestry Center’s Forestry Leadership Hall in 2021 and received NC State’s Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Natural Resources.