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Initiatives
New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) has developed and partnered in a number of initiatives designed to educate, enhance, and inspire conservation, climate change mitigation and sustainable forestry across New England. We invite you to learn more about our work.
Climate-Smart Commodities
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program has awarded $30 million to NEFF and its partners to help forest landowners implement climate-smart forest practices that also protect ecosystem health and biodiversity. Get an overview of the NEFF program funded by the award, including its structure, program and team goals, and overall desired impact.
Exemplary Forestry
Exemplary Forestry is a landscape-scale forest management approach created by NEFF that prioritizes forests’ long-term health and outlines the highest standards of sustainability currently available to the region’s forest owners. Learn how NEFF developed Exemplary Forestry, as well as how it is designed to mitigate climate change, improve wildlife habitat, and help landowners grow more and better-quality wood. NEFF has made the Exemplary Forestry standards and metrics for the Acadian Forest Region available for public use, and they can be dowloaded as PDFs.
Western Maine Habitat Restoration
NEFF is working with private landowners to help create or restore important wildlife habitat across 2.3 million acres of Western Maine. For eligible landowners, most or all of the cost of improving habitat is reimbursable on land with high wildlife value—and improvements are compatible with other uses like commercial forest management, hunting, hiking and snowmobiling.
Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund
NEFF’s Exemplary Forestry management practices are a fundamental tool, but how do we take them to scale across a landscape that is largely privately owned? For many large private landowners in the industrial forests of New England, financial constraints limit their ability to shift their forest management approach. Enter the Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund (EFIF), which is slated to launch in early 2022. Focused initially in the Mountains of the Dawn region of western Maine, the EFIF will be a new, privately held long-term timber investment fund that applies Exemplary Forestry standards on large tracts of forests.
Landowner Outreach
This targeted outreach initiative implements and tests strategies for engaging with private forest owners and supporting their efforts to sustainably manage land. Currently, NEFF and partners are running a project in Massachusetts and Connecticut that connects landowners with trained foresters who provide advice about keeping woods healthy and resilient in a changing climate.
Build It With Wood
Build It With Wood is an initiative designed to increase the amount of wood used in long-lasting wood products, particularly in construction of buildings. Wood is a renewable and more environmentally friendly alternative to building materials like steel and concrete.
Pooled Timber Income Fund
NEFF has created a new land conservation option called the Pooled Timber Income Fund (PTIF) that offers landowners the opportunity to permanently protect their forests and receive tax benefits and lifetime income. It accelerates the protection of working woodlands in the region, and provides short and long-term security to woodland owners. Note: The above PTIF link leads to a page in the Support section of NEFF’s website.
Mountains of the Dawn
NEFF is working to conserve one of America’s last, vast forests for communities, wildlife, and future generations.
The Heart of New England
This campaign seeks to protect the heart of the New England landscape and the soul of a cherished way of life.
Completed Initiatives
Read highlights from some of NEFF’s past campaigns.
Design of a building interior made with sustainable cross-laminated timber. Design concept by John Klein Design + MIT Mass Timber Design.