Report on Community Forests Highlights Economic, Cultural, Spiritual, and Other Benefits
The USDA Forest Service Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program Helps Communities Create These Assets
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 30, 2021)
Greenville, SC – Community forests can bolster rural economies, provide tangible economic value, enhance the quality of life, and enrich cultural and spiritual heritage, according to a just-published report from The Trust for Public Land. The report, Community Forests: A path to prosperity and connection, notes that “Community forests are protected forestlands that contribute to healthy, flourishing communities. Importantly, they offer residents and community members a direct say in how these lands are stewarded over time.” The report was co-funded by the USDA Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment).
“The community forest movement is powerful because it provides spaces for people to connect to nature and each other where they live, and direct economic benefits to the people in the communities they serve,” said Diane Regas, President and CEO of The Trust for Public Land. “The rich diversity of the communities that are stewarding and creating community forests across the country is inspiring, and we’re proud to ensure that community voices drive this work. I’m grateful to the U.S. Forest Service and the Endowment for their partnership in highlighting the range of benefits community forests bring to communities through this important new report.”
“Community forests are another economic development tool that benefit residents, tourists, and businesses,” noted Peter Stangel, the Endowment’s Chief Operating Officer. “These local forests provide economic returns from traditional forest products such as timber and fiber. They also help protect drinking water sources, sequester atmospheric carbon, provide habitat for wildlife, and offer superior recreational opportunities, among other amenities. This report provides tangible evidence of their benefits.”
Case studies for 17 community forests created between 2001 and 2018 are included in the report and emphasize the diversity of forests funded by the USFS. For example, the 355 acre Barre Town Forest in Vermont boasts 20 miles of a 70 mile plus trail network that is a regional destination for mountain biking and cross-country skiing. The Trust for Public Land estimates that non-local visitors to the community forest generate about $130,000 in direct spending annually. In another example, the 299 acre Mt. Adams Community Forest/Pine Flats in Glenwood, Washington, generated $610,000 in gross timber receipts and contracts for forest management activities between 2014 and 2017. These activities helped provide full-time, year-round work for local logging crews.
The USFS Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program provides grants to help communities and tribes establish community forests. Through March 2021, the program funded 62 projects, awarding $19.9 million that has leveraged an additional $38.2 million to help create nearly 25,000 acres of community forests.
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For more information contact:
Brandon Walters, Communications and Administrative Coordinator, 864-233-7646, brandon@usendowment.org
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities – www.usendowment.org
Enviva Forest Conservation Fund Awards 2021 Grants
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 29, 2021)
Greenville, SC and Bethesda, MD – The Enviva Forest Conservation Fund (the Fund) today announced the recipients of its 2021 grants. The projects funded will help conserve more than 4,000 acres and protect ecologically sensitive bottomland forests in the coastal regions of Virginia and North Carolina.
Including those announced today, the Fund has awarded 24 projects totaling more than $2,600,000 in grants over the past six years. An estimated 31,000 acres will be protected when these projects reach completion. The forests conserved as a part of the Fund help clean drinking water, purify the air, buffer structures from storms, and provide habitat for many species of wildlife, while at the same time, providing jobs and economic opportunity for rural families and private landowners.
“We are proud to partner with several prominent conservation groups in this grant cycle, helping to promote responsible forest conservation by building climate resilience while preserving precious habitats and protecting natural heritage,” said Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Enviva.
The 2021 Enviva Forest Conservation Fund grant recipients include:
The City of Franklin, VA in partnership with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF): A permanent conservation easement will be placed on one tract of 140 acres of bottomland hardwood forests in the City of Franklin, Virginia. The property is part of a natural land network which sits at the intersection of two important Natural Heritage sites, the Blackwater River Main Stem Conservation site and the Antioch Swamp Stream Conservation unit, supporting several rare species and significant natural communities including anadromous fish and colonial water birds. Over 200 acres of river frontage will be conserved for the development of a public city park and natural area (dubbed the Blackwater Park) including the creation of picnic areas, and a trailhead on the Blue Water Trail that terminates at the River Walk Park in downtown Franklin.
Bottomland hardwood forests in the City of Franklin, Virginia
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust (NCCLT): More than 1,600 acres of floodplain wetlands and important natural areas wetlands will be conserved along the Chowan River and Keel Creek, a tributary, in Bertie and Hertford Counties, North Carolina, and along Hoggard’s Mill Run, a tributary of the Cashie River, also in Bertie County, through acquisitions by NCCLT.
The “Chowan-Cashie Wetlands Conservation Partnership” project represents a unique community conservation partnership as it will not only result in the long-term protection of forested wetlands but will also create additional state-owned public game lands for the local community and a new public nature/historic park.
Chowan River
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC): This project involves the purchase of two wetland properties totaling 568 acres in Pender and Bladen Counties, North Carolina. The land includes areas rated as exceptional for conservation and deemed to have a very high ecological significance by the N.C. Natural Heritage Program (NCNHP).
This work is part of an ongoing and larger regional land and water conservation effort that will significantly add to goals of improving and protecting water quality as well as the protection of forested wetlands. This will also provide additional public recreational opportunities. The land it supports are historic and are recognized as one of the gems of the NCWRC.
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), in partnership with the Virginia Department of Forestry and The Nature Conservancy, will bring an additional 657 acres of wetlands, bottomland hardwoods and working forests under the protected Nottoway River corridor. The tracts contain substantial bottomland hardwoods which contribute to water quality and support the diverse natural habitat in the Nottoway System while helping to provide much needed river access for this community.
The Virginia Department of Forestry: A permanent conservation easement will be placed on 837 acres in Southampton County, Va. The tract fronts on the state scenic Nottoway River and includes just over two miles of frontage. The property contains 600 acres of wetlands including roughly 250 acres of high-quality Cypress Tupelos, and about 350 acres of mixed typical Piedmont bottomland hardwoods. The Virginia Department of Forestry will implement a forest management plan that limits harvest to what is needed to maintain or enhance the health of the mature cypress tupelo marshes along with additional habitat protections for the other hardwood areas in the wetlands to ensure long-term management and forest cover. The tract also contains an uplands portion in pine plantation which will be managed as a long-term working forest.
Nottoway River
“The projects supported by the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund are true long-term investments in the stewardship of our forests,” said Alicia Cramer, Senior Vice President of the Endowment. “By supporting these landscapes and safeguarding against their encroachment, we help sustain sources of clean air and water, protect threatened wildlife and plant life, and provide valuable recreational opportunities. The effects of these investments will be seen in these communities for years to come.”
About the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund
The Enviva Forest Conservation Fund is a $5 million, 10-year program established by Enviva Holdings, LP in December 2015 to protect environmentally sensitive bottomland and wetland forests. Administered by the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Fund awards grants annually to nonprofit organizations and government agencies for conservation projects. Learn more at http://envivaforestfund.org/
About the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities:
The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at www.usendowment.org.
For more information contact: Brandon Walters, Communications and Administrative Coordinator, 864.233.7646, brandon@usendowment.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 10, 2021)
Greenville, SC — The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment), in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory, announces the awarding of $2.4 million in grants to accelerate the use of nanocellulosic materials across various industries to use in a range of applications.
The partnership is funding ten projects ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 and lasting one to three years.
Cellulosic nanomaterials are made by breaking down renewable wood from trees into particles less than 1/1000th the thickness of a human hair. These materials are as strong as steel, yet only one-fifth the weight. They can be used to protect, enhance, and strengthen many commercial materials.
“The Endowment is working to keep our forests healthy, valuable, and intact. We believe markets are essential to forest conservation, as markets help bring forests additional value. Cellulosic nanomaterials are a new market with tremendous economic potential, along with solutions squarely aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change.” said Michael Goergen, Endowment Vice President, Innovation and Director, P3Nano.
Cellulosic nanomaterials have a wide range of uses and are low cost, sustainable, and abundant. They are offering multiple industries sustainable solutions that can strengthen materials, develop safer materials and even reduce carbon footprints.
The following is the projects awarded by the Endowment and the Forest Service:
| Awardee | Project |
| Oregon State University, Western Pulp Products, and FPL | Utilizing Cellulose Nanofibers (CNF) and agricultural waste to expand market opportunities for molded pulp products |
| The University of Texas at Arlington, Performance BioFilaments Inc, US Concrete, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and FPL | Application of CNF as Durability Performance Enhancing Additives for Cement and Concrete Industry |
| University of Maine, Nyle Systems LLC, Pleasant River Lumber, and FPL | Development of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hybrid moisture selective membranes |
| Rice University, Oceanit, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and FPL | Cellulose Nanocrystal-Protein Nanocomposite Coating for Perishable Fruits |
| Temple University, UW-Madison, TAKTL LLC, and FPL | Application of Cellulose Nanomaterials in 3D printed Sustainable Building Composites |
| AVAPCO, Birla Carbon, and FPL | From Trees to Tires: Nanocellulose Dispersion Composite™ (NDC) Scale-up for On-Road Tire Trials |
| Beth Cormier, Qi Wang, Xiao Zhang, Sefik Tunc | Frost Protection of Tree Fruits by CNF – Cost Optimization and Field Trials for Commercialization |
| Tom Parker, JoAnn Parker, Qinglin Wu, Dan Wallace | TigerBullets-Nano: Cellulose Nanomaterials Mediated Fluid Additive for Energy Industry |
| Vireo Advisors | Environmental health and safety of cellulosic nanomaterials |
| University of Wisconsin | Life cycle assessment and economic analysis of cellulosic nanomaterials |
Since 2013, the Endowment and Forest Products Laboratory have partnered through the P3Nano project to accelerate the commercialization of cellulosic nanomaterials. The goal is to develop sustainable and environmentally-friendly forest products that can be used in a variety of industries and commercial goods, including those where forest products have not always been considered a material of choice.
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Media Contact
Brandon Walters, Communications and Administrative Coordinator. (864) 233-7647; brandon@usendowment.org
About the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at www.usendowment.org.
