11/13/2023 0 Comments Green acres forestry and landscape![]() ![]() Conserving forests, addressing climate change, supporting good jobs in rural economies – these are values that have been passed down through generations of Fishers, and this gift honoring Brooks Fisher is a wonderful new chapter in their family’s legacy. This lead gift will help announce to the rest of the country the importance of conserving our nation’s last, large, intact working forests and the critical role that philanthropy must play. In honor of their son Brooks, who was himself a passionate conservationist and outdoorsman, the family is making the very first charitable investment toward this next phase of the Working Forest Fund. We are grateful to the Fisher family for once again leading the way. To reach our forest conservation goal, we intend to raise an additional $350 million in philanthropic support to match the bond. ![]() To launch this ambitious growth phase of the Working Forest Fund, the Fund recently issued the nation’s first-ever green bond for conservation, a $150 million ten-year taxable note, with 100% of the proceeds being used to conserve working forests. Doing so will make a significant positive impact on our nation’s efforts to address climate change by sequestering more than 10 million metric tons of Co2 annually and supporting thousands of jobs in rural communities that need them. We are now taking this national initiative to scale. Importantly, the Beebe River Tract, acquired through the Fund’s Working Forest Fund, will continue to be managed as a working forest where trees will be harvested according to a sustainable management plan thereby ensuring that the forest-based jobs and revenue will stay in the region. These efforts are especially good news for wild brook trout, which are one of New Hampshire’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need and spawn in only 7 percent of the state’s rivers. Restored stream crossings reconnect fish access to nearly six miles of spawning and rearing locations, reduce water temperatures for cold-water fish, and link 15 miles of aquatic habitat. This watershed includes a 950-acre parcel owned by the Fisher family. Today, Nancy’s son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Audrey Fisher, continue the family’s great legacy of conservation, including leading the charge to protect 5,435 acres of the Beebe River watershed. Frank’s daughter, Nancy Grady, picked up the reins and continued her father’s passionate fight to conserve the best of the Squam Lakes region. Today, the SLCS is one of the premier land trusts in America and one of The Conservation Fund’s outstanding partners. The Fisher family has quietly become one of the leading families in conservation, beginning with Frank Webster, the founder of the Squam Lakes Conservation Society (SLCS) in 1960. We leveraged the bond proceeds with funding from other sources, including generous support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, to acquire more than 220,000 acres through the end of 2020. Our first step was a bold and innovative issuance of the nation’s first green bond solely dedicated to conservation in the United States in 2019. Finally and forever, we can save America’s forests. Together we can embark on a path to fundamentally transform the conservation landscape. ![]() The Fund is confident that it can secure these one million acres within five years, but the Working Forest Fund’s ambition requires bold response from the philanthropic community. This first one million acres will lay the foundation for our ultimate 5 million acre goal. To reach this audacious goal, The Conservation Fund aims to raise a combination of impact investment and philanthropic capital to permanently secure the first one million acres of critical forests. If we act now, we can save these acres before they are lost forever. Over the next 10 – 15 years, the Fund estimates that five million acres of critical, privately-held forests will be at high risk of fragmentation and development. Over the past ten years, The Conservation Fund proved the concept of sustainable forestry investing for conservation outcomes, but the capital base of the Working Forest Fund simply is not big enough to fully address the challenge we face. ![]()
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