Careers

New England Forestry Foundation

The New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) stands at a pivotal moment of opportunity for advancing cutting edge forest-based climate solutions across New England and beyond. NEFF is an advocate for forest-climate solutions; a generator of new information and science on how Exemplary Forestry can advance the integrated goals of ecological health, forest carbon, and a dynamic bioeconomy; a conservation landowner that actively manages forest land; and an active collaborator in support of ecologically aligned forestry.

Position Summary

Under the direction of the Director of Finance and Administration, performs a variety of professional level accounting duties involved in preparing, maintaining, analyzing, verifying, and reconciling complex financial transactions, statements, records, and reports; maintains the accuracy of the Foundations ledgers and financial systems; assists in the preparation of assigned budgets, annual audit, and monthly, year-end closing; provides assistance to management; perform special department projects as assigned; grant billing; pooled income trust maintenance, reconciliation & reporting.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Perform a variety of professional accounting functions supporting operations; maintain accuracy of general, revenue, and expenditure ledgers and financial systems.
• Reconcile financial ledgers and records; prepare financial statements and reports, general and subsidiary ledgers and supporting schedules; research and resolve discrepancies.
• Review and audit all accounts payable, cash receipts, payroll, and other accounting records and transactions; ensure funds are posted to the correct accounts and that all accounts balance.
• Prepare a monthly cash report for management, detailing the current cash position for each bank account and reconciling all temporarily restricted fund balances.
• Prepare bank reconciliations and related journal entries for a variety of accounts.
• Prepare investment reconciliation and related journal entries.
• Prepare and review a variety of monthly, periodic, and annual financial and statistical reports.
• Preparation of year-end closings and accompanying financial reports.
• Manage grant financial activities related to federal, state or grant agency funding, including tracking expenses/billing, preparing financial reports, and ensuring compliance with grant guidelines.
• Maintain and track fixed asset depreciation schedule.
• Aid in the development of the annual budget.
• Participate in the year-end audit; compile and prepare supporting schedules, work papers, and financial reports as requested by auditors.
• Maintain and reconcile NEFF’s pooled timber income trust.

Preferred Experience & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Finance or Business (or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience).
• 5+ years’ experience in accounting, in a non-profit or foundation environment.
• Grant management and compliance experience.
• Excellent technical skills, specifically in Financial Edge, Raiser’s Edge, QuickBooks, Office 365, and other project management applications.
• Advanced experience with MS Excel.
• Strong knowledge of GAAP.
• Ability to navigate the general ledger, including running, interpreting, and explaining data both verbally and written.
• Fun, collaborative, and curious work style.

Compensation, Location & Other Information

• The salary range for this position is $75,000 – $85,000 commensurate with experience.
• New England Forestry Foundation offers a comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees including health/dental/vision insurances, paid time off, parental leave, retirement plan with employer match and vesting and a congenial and flexible working environment.
• NEFF staff are currently working as a hybrid team. Most team members are located in Massachusetts and divide their time between our office in Littleton, Massachusetts, and their home offices.

New England Forestry Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. NEFF commits to respecting and learning from different perspectives, reflecting the diverse citizens and communities of New England. In hiring, mentoring, and managing staff, the organization seeks to maintain a diverse, supportive, friendly, and discrimination-free workplace.

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume via email to Kim Doherty at kdoherty@newenglandforestry.org. Please use Senior Accountant as the subject line of your submission.

Expanding Markets for Climate-Smart Wood | Request for Proposals | January 16, 2025

Introduction

Through this RFP, New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) seeks proposals for a consulting partner to help the NEFF team expand markets for climate-smart wood through building market opportunities and the bioeconomy. This RFP seeks a contractual partner to conduct the following primary areas of work over the coming 1.5-2 years:

• Pilot a climate-smart wood registration project to develop approaches to identify landowners that practice climate-smart forestry and, thereby, serve as a market catalyst to drive design and adoption of more robust climate smart certification programs within existing third-party certification programs.
• Bring specific CSC climate-smart forest management practices and implementation methodology (including cost per practice, carbon outcome modeling, etc.) to the 9th American Forest Congress to drive industry-wide market expansion, understanding, and adoption of climate-smart forestry.
• Provide general support to NEFF’s Bioeconomy program to help expand markets for climate-smart wood through informing NEFF’s development of climate-smart wood sourcing criteria and other related initiatives.

Project Context & Background

NEFF is part of the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program—a highly innovative program linking verifiable climate-smart production practices on working lands with market development for the resulting commodities.

Through this paradigm-shifting award, NEFF is anchoring a 5-year partnership that has launched a groundbreaking and nationally relevant pilot program in New England to build a climate-smart forest-based economy as a powerful tool for climate action. The project builds on a foundation constructed over decades by partners in the forestry and forest products sectors and has three major components:

1. Implement forest management practices that store more carbon in the forest and in wood products that can be substituted for fossil fuel-based materials,
2. Quantify the resulting carbon gains, and
3. Build markets for climate-smart forest products so that such practices will eventually be self-sustaining and economically viable.

The project will realize nationally significant climate benefits from New England, expand forest-products markets, and benefit economically distressed rural communities. A climate-smart supply chain will deliver:

• Economic benefits at the stump and in commodity wood markets
• Improved forest ecosystem health and climate change resilience
• Growth of more merchantable and better-quality wood
• Increased longer-term carbon storage in living forests and wood products over time
• Benefits to people in urban and suburban areas by using locally grown, healthy, low-carbon building materials to help meet the growing demand for affordable housing and other commercial and residential construction

Analysis for New England shows that a holistic approach to forest-based climate mitigation—protecting forests, practicing climate-smart forestry, and strategically utilizing renewable wood products in place of fossil fuel-intensive materials—can deliver carbon savings equal to 30% of the emissions reductions needed to reach net zero by 2050.

Application Guidelines

Interested parties (individuals or firms) should provide responses to the following questions in a format not to exceed two pages. Responses should include, as noted, monthly costs to perform this work in an integrated fashion tied to broad deliverables over a 1.5-2-year period.

Applications are due by January 30, 2025. Please submit your application to Catrina Vear at cvear@newenglandforestry.org. Please note “CSC Marketing Contractor” in the subject line.

RFP Question #1:
Describe how you would develop approaches and methodologies that could be used by NEFF to identify landowners practicing climate-smart forestry. Indicate how you would pilot these approaches to test the proposed methodologies and integrate climate-smart standards with existing certification programs.

RFP Question #2:
Describe how you would advance understanding and adoption of climate-smart forest management as a powerful natural climate solution and as a primary national policy and practice objective across the forest industry and forest practitioners via the 9th American Forest Congress.

RFP Question #3:
Describe what you would focus on and what you could contribute to NEFF’s Bioeconomy program to help expand markets for climate-smart wood through informing NEFF’s development of climate-smart wood sourcing criteria.

Selection Criteria

The contractor for this RFP will be selected based on the following criteria:

• In-depth knowledge of forestry and deep experience in the application of forest management practices in New England (and more broadly) intended to achieve a combination of the highest level of ecological, climate and economic outcomes
• Established relationships with the forestry community (including landowners, state agencies, land trusts, NGOs, etc.) across the New England region and nationally
• Deep understanding of and experience in the role of forests and wood products in the bioeconomy of New England and nationally
• Understanding of climate-smart wood sourcing dynamics, approaches and challenges
• Familiarity with NEFF’s approach to Exemplary Forestry, climate-smart forestry and the underpinnings of NEFF’s 30% Solution
• Established track record of effective leadership and communications on the link between developing forest markets based in ecological and climate-smart forest management in New England and at the national level.

This RFP is issued based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as part of the Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership project under agreement number NR233A750004G017. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

New England Forestry Foundation

The New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) stands at a pivotal moment of opportunity for advancing cutting-edge, forest-based climate solutions across New England and beyond. NEFF is an advocate for forest-climate solutions; a generator of new information and science on how Exemplary Forestry can advance the integrated goals of ecological health, forest carbon, and a dynamic bioeconomy; a conservation landowner that actively manages forestland; and an active collaborator in support of ecologically aligned forestry.

Project Background

The first phase of the Forest Carbon for Commercial Landowners (FFCL) Project determined that the commercial forests of northern Maine could store at least 20% or more additional carbon than they do today while maintaining current-day harvest levels over the long term and improving habitat for vulnerable wildlife species. Through forest management changes, funded by efforts to mitigate climate change (corporate, governmental, and/or philanthropic sources), the commercial forests of Maine can provide even more in terms of social, economic, and environmental value and help fight climate change.

The Forest Carbon for Commercial Landowners Phase II (FCCL II) Project seeks to build on the work of FCCL Phase I and provide a solid base for decisions about program design by doing the following:

• refining elements of the analysis where we could improve the specificity, accuracy, and reliability of the results; and
• developing a blueprint for an implementable forest carbon program that benefits the climate by reducing GHG levels, works for landowners, and maintains harvest levels.

The focus of this effort is to be on large commercial/industrial ownerships (just 10 entities own 7+ million acres) because, if they can be incentivized to change practices, it will be possible to achieve climate benefits at scale and because that is where the major opportunity to increase “in forest” carbon storage lies. This position will be supervised by Alec Giffen, Senior Forest Science and Policy Fellow.

Position Summary

The New England Forestry Foundation is offering a two-year contract to a qualified applicant to be an integral part of the team designing a self-sustaining institution to fund climate-smart forestry in Maine. This will involve researching similar efforts around the country and the world, conducting sophisticated forest growth and economic optimization modeling and determining the mix of practices that can maximize carbon storage in the forest and products while maintaining harvest levels in the state. All this information will be combined with creative ideas on financing and institutional arrangements to design a program to pay the financial incentives needed to implement climate-smart management in the Acadian Forests of Maine for as long as such incentives are needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide organizational support to assemble a team of approximately 20 persons principally representing large landowners, small landowners, ENGOs, and scientists.
• Provide organizational support to the chairperson/presiding officer of the stakeholder group, by conducting background reading, analyses, defining key issues and solutions in preparation for meetings, support constructive moderation of the discussion in 12 meetings over two years, and draw conclusions from it pertinent to the success of FCCL II (including follow-up conversations with participants).
• Create a tech team consisting of a subset of the Stakeholder group supplemented with persons with specific expertise needed to resolve program design issues.
• Gathering and conveying the lessons learned from work on the Climate-Smart Commodities project.
• Support FCCL II team and partners to: 1) review the literature on how to design and fund incentive programs to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, 2) develop case studies that include domestic and foreign cases, government as well as non-government programs, different mechanisms for payment, different ways of determining rates, etc., 3) synthesize the literature and case studies and 4) develop preliminary conclusions regarding program design, including preparation of a report.
• Conduct a review of the scientific literature and unpublished experimental results to synthesize the empirical evidence covering the climate-beneficial outcomes (GHG reductions) of various silvicultural systems. Supervise the work of modelling experts.
• Supporting experts in the FCCL II team to update and refine the existing LANDIS modeling conducted in FCCL Phase I. Also, compare FVS/Woodstock with LANDIS results for growth modeling, identify strengths and weaknesses of each approach and leverage those results in order to best represent the most likely scenario outcomes.
• Supporting the refining of the economic modeling using Adam Daigneault’s Maine Integrated Forest System model as used in FCCL Phase I and considering results of earlier steps in this workplan.
• Supporting application of the prescriptions and methods developed for using the LANDIS/Maine Integrated Forest System and the FVS/Woodstock approaches to an individual large commercial/industrial landowner’s holdings based on their inventory data.
• Work with modelers to compare the results of the two optimization models (Maine Integrated Forest System and Woodstock) and determine how to most accurately predict carbon storage and cost outcomes.
• Support FCCL II partner organizations to: 1) identify and refine details of landowner incentive instruments and institutional arrangements for financing those incentives; 2) determine institutional responsibility for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for forest and product carbon; 3) and synthesize this into a “blueprint” for a program in Maine that will fund additional silvicultural activities, avoid leakage, be attractive to large landowners, operate at the landscape scale and have a permanent financing stream.
• Support organization of process to elicit review and comments from outside experts at critical steps in the process, starting with the review of this work plan and continuing through when conclusions are being considered. (A full workplan including each task/responsibility, background on the FCCL II project and this position’s role within, is available upon request.)

Experience & Requirements

• Familiarity with New England’s forest ecosystems and forest industry.
• A passion for forest conservation, forestry, and climate change action with a clear understanding of those issues and their relationships to forests, forestry, and natural resource management.
• In-depth knowledge of the methods of statistical analysis.
• In-depth knowledge of forest modeling.
• Written and verbal communication skills, including experience with effectively communicating complex scientific and technical information to a wide range of audiences.
• Ability to work collaboratively with NEFF staff, project partners, and outside stakeholders to build strong partnerships and achieve common goals.
• Organizational skills with fluency and nimbleness in managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Master’s Degree in Forestry or Forest Science with at least three years of experience working on forestry and/or climate mitigation issues.

Compensation, Location & Other Information

• The hourly rate for this position is commensurate with experience.
• This is a 2-year contract.
• Location for this position is flexible within the New England region. The position will require travel to Maine.

New England Forestry Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. NEFF commits to respecting and learning from different perspectives, reflecting the diverse citizens and communities of New England. In hiring, mentoring, and managing staff, the organization seeks to maintain a diverse, supportive, friendly, and discrimination-free workplace.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample via email to Kim Doherty at kdoherty@newenglandforestry.org. Please use Quantitative Silviculturist as the subject line of your submission. Positions will be filled on a rolling basis.