Healthy Watersheds through Healthy Forests Initiative
RFP 2009-002
Overview
Advance watershed management and conservation by linking urban water consumers with rural forestland owners to reinforce the connection between upstream environmental benefits of healthy forests with the needs of downstream water users through the use of innovative programs, technologies, and strategies.
Project Lead
Conservation Trust for North Carolina
Pinchot Institute for Conservation
Virginia Department of Forestry
Project Cost
Endowment Investment: $2,000,000
Total Investment $6,000,000 (Funding Partners: Natural Resource Conservation Service, others)
Status
In progress (3 year initiative)
National Conservation Easement Database
RFP 2009-001
Overview
The National Conservation Easement Database is a collaborative venture to compile easement records from land trusts and public agencies throughout the United States in a single, up-to-date, sustainable, online source to allow better strategic planning for conservation and development
Project Lead
Trust for Public Land
Conservation Biology Institute
Defenders of Wildlife
Ducks Unlimited
NatureServe
Project Cost
Endowment Investment: $1,000,000
Total Investment $1,120,000 (Funding Partners: Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and pending request)
Status
In progress (2 year initiative)
National Community Forest Trust
ESC#2008-004 (RFP 2008-014)
Overview
Augment local and regional capacity through development of a national support system for communities wishing to acquire forest lands
- Test and demonstrate the feasibility of a new entity – the National Community Forest Trust – that will seek partners, resources and strategies to advance community forests (CF)
- Identify resources and opportunities for CF to strengthen forest-dependent communities and protect working forests
- Prepare two communities to acquire, own, conserve and manage working forests; and
- Establish specialized services and a framework for their delivery to promote CF on a national scale
Project Lead
The Conservation Fund
Project Cost
Endowment Investment: $100,000
Total Investment $200,000 (Funding Partner: Ford Foundation)
Status
In progress (2 year initiative)
Partnership for Southern Forestland Conservation
ESC#2008-003 (RFP 2008-012)
Overview
Conserving Working Forest Landscapes across the Southern U.S.
- A south-wide initiative to increase working forest conservation, especially of landscape-level forests across the south to 20,000,000 additional acres by 2020
- Bring together a core team of stakeholders from government, industry and non-governmental organizations to protect forest resources and the related economic, national security, environmental, and quality of life values they provide.
- Develop innovative approaches to ensure the perpetuation of forest cover in large forested blocks in the South to achieve a variety of societal, economic and environmental benefits.
Project Lead
Partnership for Southern Forestland Conservation
Project Cost
Endowment investment: $150,000
Total investment: $450,000 (Funding Partners: U.S. Forest Service; others)
Status
In Progress (3 year initiative)
Advancing Forest Health through Biotechnology
ESC 2008-002 (RFP 2008-011)
Overview
To advance the understanding and potential use of biotechnology to address some of today’s most pressing forest health challenges
- A holistic approach for biotechnology to determine the state-of-the-science along with social and regulatory potential to use biotechnology to address emerging forest health threats from pests and diseases
- Concurrent dialogue with all stakeholders to better understand concerns, inform science and regulatory efforts, and create a more informed citizenry about forest threats and opportunities to overcome these threats
- Focus on 3 objectives: Scientific development on genetically engineered trees for forest health and expansion of modified American chestnut as a model for testing forest health issues; Regulatory and intellectual property needs/issues for modified forest trees; Addressing societal concerns about modified trees to answer forest health problems
Project Lead
Multi-party to be determined
Project Cost
Endowment investment: $1,000,000
Total investment: $5,500,000-$10,000,000 (Funding Partners: U.S. Forest Service; Duke
Energy; others)
Status
In Progress (3 year initiative)
Working Forest Marketplace: Linking Grassroots Investors with Sustainable Enterprises
To Conserve Working Forests in America
RFP 2008-010
Overview
Launch the Working Forest Marketplace (formal name to be determined), an online portal where small, individual investors can support entrepreneurs pursuing projects that support the sustainable management of working forests across the US.
- Develop a new vehicle to stimulate small business start-ups and community forest conservation through the concept of small scale finance drawing from the best of internet-based microfinance portals and donor-advised community foundations
- Establish a donor-advised revolving loan model where each “lender” could gain immediate charitable credit for the full value of their “investment” while retaining the ability to direct specific use of those funds to one or several projects
- Survey the best practices and research existing internet-based giving sites and determine the demographic profile of investors and create a focus group of potential investors, projects, and funders to determine system needs
Project Lead
The Conservation Fund
Project Cost
Endowment’s investment: $1,000,000
Total investment: $1,750,000 (Funding Partner: The Conservation Fund)
Status
In Progress (3 year initiative)
Forest Investment Zones: Co-Creating Innovation and Learning at the Regional Level
RFP 2008-007
Overview
The Endowment has selected 3 regional intermediary organizations as partners to invest in sustainable forestry practices at the regional level that retain and restore healthy working forests, and provide multiple value streams which contribute to the social and economic health of forest-reliant communities
- Catalyze innovation and experimentation, and promote learning and best practices, thereby furthering the practice of sustainable forestry and stimulating new opportunities at regional and national scales, inside and outside Forest Investment Zones
- Advance the Endowment’s primary programmatic priorities of: 1) retaining and restoring healthy working forests; 2) promoting and capturing multiple value streams; and 3) enhancing community capacity, collaboration and leadership, including the capacity of the regional entity or intermediary and supporting peer to peer networking
- Provide and widely share documented analysis and learning regarding the practice of sustainable forestry within Forest Investment Zones
Project Leads
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED)
Northern Forest Center
Sustainable Northwest
Project Cost
Endowment investment: $6,000,000+
Total investment: Unknown at present
Status
In Progress (5 year initiative)
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