Blue Forest, a nonprofit conservation finance organization, announces it has joined the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., California Department of Water Resources and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to launch the North Feather I Forest Resilience Bond.
This bond represents a strategic alignment of organizations and governmental agencies to finance the acceleration of forest restoration activities, known as treatments, bringing a comprehensive approach to address wildfire and watershed risks in California, says Blue Forest. The FRB treatments, including fuels removal and thinning, aim to restore forest health, protect communities and create a more resilient landscape and water supply.
“This swift, collaborative and comprehensive action is essential to protecting our communities while ensuring a thriving forest ecosystem,” said Blue Forest. “We can reinvigorate our landscapes following catastrophic wildfires by working together, fostering recovery and ecological balance.”
The Dixie Fire, one of the largest wildfires in California’s history, devastated Greenville, and damaged Taylorsville and surrounding communities. After the fire, these communities still face a significant risk of catastrophic wildfire due to remaining overstocked green areas and residual dead fuels on the landscape, said Blue Forest. Organization staff point out that forest restoration activities, including thinning and removal of dead fuels, are critical to safeguarding communities and the Feather River watershed. This watershed supplies water to approximately 27 million Californians, or 1 in 12 Americans, while also providing fish and wildlife habitat and recreational benefits.
Sierra Institute, as the North Feather I FRB implementation partner, and the Forest Service are coordinating the treatment of 800 to 1,000 priority acres. These acres are within the broader North Fork Forest Recovery Project, a 166,889-acre project area that is being developed by the Forest Service to strategically enhance landscape resilience, restore ecological function, protect critical resources and support ecosystem recovery, said Blue Forest. Treatment activities are expected to reduce wildfire risk, increase water quality, protect water supply and improve aquatic habitat.
The North Fork Forest Recovery Project is within the ancestral homelands of the Tosidem, or Mountain Maidu, people. It was planned with input from the Greenville Rancheria, and organizers say critical cultural monitoring support by the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summit Consortium ensures the protection of cultural resources.
Areas identified for cultural stewardship by local tribes include the Maidu Stewardship Project Area, the 1,500-acre area home to the largest Native American population in Plumas County. The MSPA was developed by the Maidu Cultural and Development Group to demonstrate traditional ecological knowledge and build a collaborative relationship with the Plumas National Forest.
The forest resilience bond, co-developed by Blue Forest, the World Resources Institute, the Forest Service and the National Forest Foundation, is a financing mechanism that taps into private capital to finance forest restoration projects on public lands to protect communities, ecosystem benefits and rural livelihoods. The provision of upfront capital, supported by contracted beneficiary commitments, allows for financial flexibility that accelerates the pace and scale of restoration activities as well as the ability to quickly pay local contractors, say organizers.
The North Feather I FRB, financed by mission-driven investors through the Blue Forest FRB Catalyst Facility, provides the platform on which organizations from across sectors come together to lend their expertise, pool resources and effectively address large-scale complex environmental problems. Funding contributions from Metropolitan Water, DWR and PG&E, along with grant funding provided by the Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, are supporting the initiation of this pilot project while paving the way to scale this effort across the North Fork Forest Recovery Project landscape.
Blue Forest says that Metropolitan Water District’s support of this project aligns with its mission to enhance water supply resilience for Southern California communities in the face of climate change. By investing in watershed health, Metropolitan aims to protect, inform and improve water source resilience in the northern Sierra Nevada, a critical region as the headwaters of the State Water Project that provides a water supply for 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
DWR, in collaboration with SNC, continues to support watershed health and resilience through the State Water Project. DWR will also contribute technical expertise to monitor and quantify the benefits of forest treatments on water quality and quantity, further highlighting the benefits these projects provide, said Blue Forest.
PG&E is demonstrating its continued commitment to providing resilient power and safeguarding the communities it serves. Blue Forest points out that this is the second forest resilience bond the utility has contributed to.
More information about Blue Forest is available at https://www.blueforest.org/.
