New England Forestry Foundation, Inc.

In 2012, the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) board adopted the goal of ensuring at least 70% of New England remains forested, protecting ecological values and the availability of land for sustainable management.

Founded in 1944, NEFF pursues innovative programs to advance conservation and forestry throughout New England. In partnership with land owners, NEFF has conserved more than 1.1 million acres of forest, including one out of every three acres of forestland protected in New England since 1999.

NEFF's core activities include land conservation; exemplary management of 144 community forests comprising more than 27,000 acres across New England; outreach and communications to convey the importance of sustainable forest management; and stewardship of conservation easements. New initiatives include a program to encourage all-wood building construction in urban areas as a means to increase demand for sustainably sourced wood; an innovative planned giving tool—the Pooled Timber Income Fund—that has the potential to accelerate the pace of land conservation while also integrating exemplary forest management practices; efforts to use 21st century marketing techniques to identify landowners most likely to be open to forest management and land conservation; and connecting forests and forestry to people's daily lives through a partnership with the Boston Public Market. These new programs complement NEFF's strengths in working directly with private landowners to protect forestland and encourage its active and sustainable management.

New England Forestry Foundation is a resource for all individuals and organizations passionate about conserving New England's forestland and forest resources. We demonstrate new forestry tools and techniques on our land. We help landowners achieve their personal land conservation and legacy objectives. We educate landowners and the general public about the importance of forestry and multi-generational forestland planning. We also engage strategic initiatives to accelerate the pace of land conservation in New England, increase access to capital for land protection, advance understanding of forests and forestry, and enhance NEFF's conservation and educational impact.

New England Forestry Foundation, a leader in forest conservation and management in the most heavily forested region of the country, owns 144 forested properties and holds easements on more than 1.1 million acres, including the largest forestland conservation easement in the United States. We have a record of success, a reputation for innovative conservation solutions, success in raising private funds for working forest conservation, and a track record of effective partnerships.

NEFF has credibility with both rural and urban constituencies through our strong connections in Boston and New York City and our on-the-ground work with forest landowners in rural New England. NEFF's donor base has been hugely supportive of its past projects, helping to raise millions of dollars for conservation in support of local communities. We are confident our work will attract interest and support from new donors in addition to continued funding from our existing donors.

Unparalleled staff leadership includes Bob Perschel with more than 40 years as an environmental professional with expertise in forestry, and Frank Lowenstein with over 20 years of experience in conservation and strong skills in climate policy, science, communications and marketing.

Since 1944, NEFF has led conservation and sound management of the region's forests. A focus on innovation has enabled NEFF to conserve nearly 1.2 million acres, and inspire the era of large easement conservation. Among our major accomplishments are the successful acquisitions of the Pingree Forest easement (762,000 acres)—the largest forestland easement in the US—and the Sunrise easement and Farm Cove Community Forest (342,000 acres), all in Maine. In executing these large projects we gained national recognition for our ability to design innovative conservation solutions, our commitment to maintaining the working forest landscape with its associated ecological and economic values, our success in completing the campaigns, and our skill at crafting and guiding partnerships and collaborations. We expect to continue to drive conservation innovation into the future.

The need for conservation innovation work is greater than ever. According to Harvard Forest's Wildlands and Woodlands project and U.S. Forest Service projections, over the next 20 years forest conversion and development will intensify on private lands throughout New England. In response, NEFF is piloting approaches to change the dynamics of forest use and management at a region-wide scale, to increase the pace of land conservation activities, and to improve public understanding of the benefits of exemplary forest management—all toward the end goal of ensuring that sustainable forest harvesting and wood use remain a core element of New England's economy and social fabric.