January 20, 2012--Endowment Opens Field for New Year-long Intern
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) formally announced today an opening for the year-long internship position in the Greenville, South Carolina office. Having just marked its fifth anniversary, this will continue a tradition of successful and engaged interns, offering recent graduates “in the weeds” experience with a nationally-recognized non-profit. Previous interns have gone on to graduate programs and careers in the fields of forestry, conservation, and scientific research.
Regarding the Endowment’s internship program, President Carlton Owen says, “One of our first actions as a new organization was to create a formal university internship program. We couldn’t be more pleased with the mutual benefits that have resulted, among them, extra hands to engage in our important work, fresh perspectives and energy, and the chance to help prepare the next generation of conservation and philanthropic leaders.” A short video highlighting the program (from an intern’s point of view) is available by here.
January 19, 2012 -- Endowment Assists Defense Department with Forest Conservation At military bases across the country, encroachment by non-compatible development (housing, for instance) threatens the military mission as it limits full use and capability of core lands for training purposes. The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced the availability of a special $5 million fund for land conservation to benefit select military bases in Georgia and Florida to highlight innovative approaches that would help stretch the Department’s land conservation dollars. Through their “Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative” (REPI), DoD actively seeks to protect buffer areas around bases using conservation easements and fee-title acquisitions.
“We’ve been actively engaged with DoD for several years now through the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities’ (the Endowment) leadership in the Partnership for Southern Forestland Conservation,” said Endowment Senior Vice President Peter Stangel. “This exciting opportunity advances the Partnership’s on-the-ground goals, serves the military’s mission, and support’s the Endowment’s goal to retain healthy, working forests,” he noted.
As a service to the DoD the Endowment will administer the request for proposals (RFP) process. For more information, see the RFP here.
January 9, 2012-- Conservation Fund Benefits Low-Wealth Communities
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) and our partners such as The Conservation Fund believe that forestland conservation can have positive economic impact for low-wealth rural people. Indeed, there is already exciting impact in our programs to use forests for the economic and cultural benefit of low-wealth and minority communities.
For example, the Endowment helped catalyze creation of the Conservation Fund’s National Community Forestry Service Center with a lead grant of $100,000. Now, more than a million dollars will move to disadvantaged communities in the Carolinas and Georgia for community forestry projects under a new Service Center program. The funds for the community forestry initiative include a $400,000 direct grant from the Forest Service and $400,000 that will come as in-kind contributions from state forestry agencies and various governmental and nonprofit partners.
In associated news, the Conservation Fund recently announced acquisition of a 3,300 acre forested tract near Fort Stewart in Coastal Georgia. The Conservation Fund’s National Community Forestry Service Center and its Resourceful Communities program are working to make the property available for the economic benefit of surrounding low-income communities. In this regard, plans are developing for a partnership with McIntosh SEED, an African American-led coastal community-based development organization, to purchase part of the tract for agro-forestry-related low-income workforce training and entrepreneurship development.
Further north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Conservation Fund’s community forestry programs are supporting the Lac Vieux Desert band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians for a community forestry program focused on engagement of youth in forestry and tribal forestland acquisition.
January 6, 2012 -- Endowment Video Spotlights Healthy Watersheds Work
Water. It's everywhere, or almost so. Yet, in a nation with more than 308 million inhabitants, water -- especially safe drinking water -- could well become the defining natural resource issue of the 21st Century. Strengthening the link between clean water and healthy forests is vital to ensure that future generations will have the water they need.
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) today entered the YouTube-Era with the production and posting of its first video spotlighting the organization's work in its "Healthy Watershed through Healthy Forests" initiative. "As an entity that operates with a very lean staff model (only 5 full-time employees) we depend heavily on the work of one or more interns to help advance our mission," said Endowment Senior Vice President Peter Stangel.
"The work, by our 2011 Intern Michelle McGee, is indicative of the value we gain from the on-going Internship Program," Stangel said. Michelle also played an important role helping organize the Endowment’s April, 2011 Water Convening, that brought together 60 experts to help identify important next steps in the development of water markets as a strategy to help conserve and better manage forested watersheds.
McGee and Kevin Pearce, who has his pilot's license, filmed the video. She wrote and narrated the storyline.
December 16, 2011 -- ShadeFund Introduces “Crowd-Funding” to Jump-Start Green Entrepreneurs.
It has been used to send disaster aid across the globe with a simple text. It has been used to help farmers in Latin America expand their crop production. Artists around the world have used it to craft innovative projects in music, writing, and filmmaking. Now, donors can use it to help green entrepreneurs grow sustainable businesses in America. "It" is "crowd-funding" —a mechanism that allows individuals to pool money and other resources together via the internet— making even a small contribution yield a huge difference.
At the Endowment, we recognize the face of philanthropy is changing. While traditional methods of funding are often still the right way to fulfill our mission, we must also look to new tools and technologies to grow the green economy and support working forests. The Endowment-funded ShadeFund, created in partnership with The Conservation Fund, uses the concept of crowd-funding to provide green loans to small up-start businesses, turning sustainable ideas into sustainable realities.ShadeFund’s newest loan recipient, Fern Studios, crafts “stunning heirloom-quality tables, lamps and other furniture from sustainably sourced American hardwoods.” To this end, ShadeFund has provided a $7,500 start-up loan to buy equipment. But now Fern Studios is seeking an additional $2,500 through crowd-funding to transform space in a 19th century barn from chicken coop to workshop. In the spirit of the season, learn more and contribute to these and other entrepreneurs at www.shadefund.org.
December 14, 2011 -- Endowment Plans Georgia Wood-to-Energy Project to Test Model for Asset Creation
As vitally important as family-supporting jobs are -- especially in this economy -- can a private business be “designed” to do more than provide jobs and generate profits for its owners?That’s the question that the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) hopes to answer with its investment in a wood-to-energy facility slated for east-central Georgia.
The North Star-Jefferson project is a partnership between the Endowment and North Star Renewable Power.The 23 Megawatt plant proposed for construction near Wadley, Georgia would use a well-proven technology while testing a starkly different ownership model. “The Endowment would control up-to 40% of the facility through a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary (Community Wealth through Forestry, Inc. -- CWF),” says Endowment President Carlton Owen.“The intent is to test an ownership model that has a for-profit business partnering with a community – with CWF initially providing the funding and vehicle for community interests. This creates an entirely different mechanism that sees a significant portion of the profits from the business going directly to address one or more priority community needs in addition to the expected benefits that flow from a private business – jobs, taxes, purchases of goods and services, etc.” Click here to read the full press release or here to read an emerging blog series about the project.
December 2, 2011 -- Endowment Releases External Review of Biomass Investments
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) today released the results of an external review commissioned to provide an assessment of its programmatic investments in the rapidly-changing woody biomass/wood-to-energy sector. " Among the greatest challenges facing healthy working forests is the lack of markets for small-diameter, dead, or dying wood," says Endowment President Carlton Owen. "Right-sized or community-scale wood-to-energy facilities offer great promise not only to help meet this challenge but at the same time to provide family-supporting jobs in rural communities while advancing one pathway to reducing dependence on unstable sources of needed energy."
The report, "Woody Biomass Programmatic Investments: An Independent Review and Recommendations," was developed by a five-person team of experts from across the nation. The intent was for results to serve as a mid-course review and offer insights that might aid the Endowment in better targeting future investments. "We are especially appreciative of the time that this 'blue ribbon team' of leaders provided," Owen continued. "They provided thoughtful criticism of things we could have done better in past investments while also offering sound recommendations that will help us better direct our work going forward." One of the Endowment's base commitments is to openly share the results of its works, "warts and all," so that anyone with interest in the subject area might benefit from the organization's experiences.
December 1, 2011 -- Canada Names Farrell to Liaison Role
The Honorable Ed Fast, Minster of International Trade for the Government of Canada, has named James Farrell as "Canadian liaison" to the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment). Farrell, most recently served as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, a position he held from 2006 to December 2010. "We're pleased to have someone of Jim's stature and experience working with the Endowment's Board of Directors," said Endowment Chairman Mack Hogans. "He has big shoes to fill following our two prior liaisons, John Weaver and Stephane Rousseau, who both served with distinction."
Under the terms of the Softwood Lumber Agreement 2006, each of the "meritorious initiatives" that received funding as part of the settlement between Canada and the U.S. were to have a liaison to their governing bodies to represent the interests and views of Canada's forestry sector. The Endowment amended its bylaws to allow election of the liaison to full Board membership. Mr. Farrell began federal public service in 1983 after prior positions with Abitibi Paper Company and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Forestry from the University of Toronto.