community-based forestry in the united states a report from the u.s. endowment for forestry &...
TRANSCRIPT
Community-Based Forestryin the
United States
a report from theU.S. Endowment for
Forestry & Communities
Community-Based Forestryin the
United States
Capturing Value: Business Development, Markets, & Raw
Material
CBF Business Development
• Leveraging primary and value-adding processing infrastructure
• Creating new businesses based on sustainable forestry non-wood forest products, recreation & tourism
• The result: diverse, resilient, and wealthy local communities
Business Development:Issues & Challenges
• Local ownership/management of forests, & locally-owned businesses help keep benefits closer to home
• Ensure sustainability & optimize value streams by managing forests at the appropriate scale, and sizing enterprises and infrastructure to that scale
Smallwood & Integrated Facilities
• For locally-owned businesses
Elk City Small Business Incubator
• Sort yard reduces costs & maximizes value
• State-of-the-art manufacturing facility• Future: dry kiln & power cogeneration
Biomass
• Yielding lower-cost energy
Community Energy Solutions
• Brokering long-term contracts for managing & utilizing biomass
• Building local capacity & infrastructure
• Working with tribes, rural communities & energy companies
Access to Capital
• Need to experiment with venture capital, revolving loan funds & micro-finance
• Essential to acquire land and start businesses
• Sources include grants, tax credits & private capital
Community Smallwood Solutions• Aggregated public & private
financing with a local investor group to build new smallwood products company.
• Built track record—company purchased by socially responsible investor in just 4 years.
Market Development:Successful Strategies
• Value-added products
• Labeling
• Web marketing
• Product differentiation
• Producer organizing
Market Development:Questions & Issues
• How do they differentiate themselves?
• How do businesses find reliable markets?
• Linking landowners through cooperatives, associations & networks can help “aggregate power”
Market Development:Successes & Opportunities
• “Green” certification
• Transforming and accessing local& regional lumber markets
• Tapping emerging markets for ecological services
Market Development:Successes & Opportunities
• Innovation (technology, new business models)
Sustainable Forest Futures
• Regional forest products consortium (New England & NY)
• Marketing& networking (eg regional branding)
Market Development:Successes & OpportunitiesWhite Mountain Apache Tribe• National Football League
purchased carbon credits to offset Super Bowl footprint.
• Income helped pay for raising seedlings to be used in restoration projects
Market Development:Challenges
• Education, technical assistance, & support for communities & landowners
• Access to information and markets
• Potential market niches for ecological services from low-wealth communities & landowners
• Supportive policies