Jamie Hailstone | Contributor
A new investment fund, which aims to generate both environmental and financial returns for investors, has made its first acquisition in Maine.
The Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund has bought the 3,000-acre Scammon Ridge Headwaters forest from the Haynes Family of Winn, Maine.
The fund has been created by Exemplary Forestry Management, together with its partners New England Forestry Foundation, Maine Mountain Collaborative, and Quantified Ventures, using a mixture of leveraged philanthropic, private, and public capital.
It aims to eventually own and manage 100,000 acres of Maine forest by utilizing the exemplary forestry approach.
The New England Forestry Foundation’s senior forest science and policy fellow, Alec Giffen said in an interview this approach is all about using the best forestry techniques to help mitigate the impact of climate change, improve wildlife habitats and increase biodiversity.
“You start by looking at each forestry landscape and asking yourself ‘what is missing from this landscape?’,” he explained.
“The approach we have proposed in Maine’s Acadian forests and hard woods is designed to meet the habitat needs of more than 75% of the native wildlife species, who use that area.”
Giffen added under current plans, they also plan to create small gaps in the forest, ranging from under an acre to two or three acres to help thin out some of the trees and improve the residual wood stock.