Bank of America and Redwood Forest Foundation Partnership Are Nation’s First Private Capital Forest Acquisition by Nonprofit
Kenneth D. Lewis, former B of A chairman and CEO; Art Harwood, former RFFI President; and Don Kemp former RFFI Executive Director. 2007
Bank of America and Redwood Forest Foundation Partnership: Nation’s First Private Capital Forest Acquisition by Nonprofit
The Bank of America made it possible for the Redwood Forest Foundation to acquire the more than 50,000-acre Usal Redwood Forest in northern California in mid-2007. The carefully structured financing package allowed the Foundation to purchase the Usal Redwood Forest in a timely manner in 2007’s highly competitive marketplace. A major component of the overall financing package was a temporary bridge loan to be repaid from proceeds from the sale of a conservation easement. The Bank and RFFI have continued to work together to use innovative financing strategies to satisfy the loan requirements. This purchase saved one of the nation’s few remaining large redwood forests from fragmentation or aggressive harvesting by another commercial buyer. The 50,000 acre Usal Redwood Forest, which is almost twice the size of San Francisco, continues to benefit the economy, ecology and regional community, as one of the nation’s largest working community forests.