Errol New Hampshire Forest photo Monkmans
OSI's Community Forest Fund
Town forests are an historic fixture in many northern New England communities. However, global economic change, the large-scale disposition of industrial forestland, and continuing fragmentation of the land have highlighted the need for new models of land ownership and management in Northern New England.
Community forests have the potential to stabilize ownership of the region’s productive forestland, expand the assets of rural communities and build civic capacity and social capital. Building on successful projects, such as the Errol and Randolph Community Forests in New Hampshire and the Farm Cove Community Forest in Downeast Maine, OSI's Community Forest Fund seeks to support growing interest among local communities in conserving and capturing the economic, social and ecological benefits of forestland ownership.
OSI's Community Forest Fund recognizes that towns and communities play a critical role in conserving natural resources and that stewardship is often best assured through local involvement in the sustainable management of resources, for a variety of purposes, including timber revenues, watershed protection and other ecosystem services, and recreation.
The Community Forest Fund supports the permanent protection of municipal or community-owned forestland that provides economic, cultural, educational, recreational and ecological benefits. The Fund supports projects that are designed to capture the long term flow of benefits from forestland for local communities.
The Community Forest Fund is a new initiative designed to support the creation and expansion of community forests in northern New England. The Fund achieves its mission through (1) matching capital grants and loans for the purchase of land and conservation easements and (2) support grants for planning, transaction and stewardship grants activities for community forest projects.
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