Mendocino, CA Nov 6, 2011 The Redwood Forest Foundation (RFFI), a non-profit organization that acquires and restores depleted forestlands in order to establish sustainable working community forests, closed a $25,500,000 landmark conservation transaction on their 50,000 acre Usal Redwood Forest. The Foundation sold a conservation easement on the 49,576-acre Usal Redwood Forest to The Conservation Fund and a 957-acre coastal parcel, known as Shady Dell, to Save the Redwoods League. RFFI and the conservation partners are protecting one of the largest non-profit owned ‘working community forests’ in America-a landscape almost twice the size of the city of San Francisco. The ambitious and complex transaction was supported by a strong coalition of national and local elected officials, conservation organizations, industry leaders and committed regional residents.The Redwood Forest Foundation (RFFI) will continue to own and manage the Usal Redwood Forest, located on the Mendocino-Humboldt county line, for the economic and ecological benefit of the region. This easement sets standards in place that protect the forest in perpetuity, regardless of its ownership. The easement establishes a fundamental conservation scenario that will be monitored by The Conservation Fund as the easement holder. It permanently prohibits subdivision and development; imposes harvest limitations; requires forest stewardship certification; and transitioning to uneven-aged management over a 50-year period.
The Conservation Fund acquired the easement with a $19,500,000 grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and an additional $500,000 grant. This transaction along with the $5.5 million Shady Dell parcel sale to Save the Redwoods League insures that Usal Redwood Forest will remain a working community forest. The sale of the Shady Dell parcel permanently protects a 957 acre coastal parcel with windswept, medieval redwoods and public access to the Lost Coast. This transaction assures that Usal Redwood Forest will remain, in perpetuity, a working community forest for the economic and ecological benefit of the fish, wildlife and humans that reside in and near it. RFFI’s mission includes their commitment to investing the excess revenue that will eventually be generated from the ongoing sustainable harvest back into the community.
The California’s Wildlife Conservation Board and California Coastal Conservancy supported this project. This innovative model of forest financing and management conserves a large landscape that holds promise for regional and global impact due to the climate change and ecological implications of large landscape protection, economic impact and replicability of the model. US Forest Capital served as lead expert advisor on these complex conservation transactions, partially funded by the Walker Foundation.
RFFI passed another major milestone in their mission to acquire and manage redwood forest land for the ecological, economic and social benefit of the region. RFFI, as an organization, receives no funding from this transaction. All funds will be used to reduce the debt on the property. RFFI is carrying out an innovative financial strategy that utilizes private capital to leverage public dollars for landscape-level conservation investments that benefit the common good. RFFI, a grass-roots conservation organization, works to assure regional benefit, relying on private grants and donations. Visit www.rffi.org for info.