Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is a day of global giving fueled by the power of social media and community collaboration. Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season-when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. If you want your gift to make a difference, to improve lives, even change the world, support life-giving forests.

Redwood forests are vital to combatting climate change, providing essential habitat and supporting local economies. Yet, only 110,000 acres of old growth Coast Redwoods remain, 5% of the original. At the same time, over 1.2 million acres of previously harvested Redwood lands are in private ownership, many still heavily logged. How will these forests be managed to benefit their communities into the future?

RFFI’s first 22 years were dedicated to creating a model for managing working forests that would answer this question. Now it is time to take the next step and expand the impact of the RFFI model on future forest management.

RFFI 1.0 (1997 to 2007) – Community leaders responded to the 1990s Timber Wars by founding RFFI in 1997 with a mission that still guides us today centered on the Three Es: Ecology, Economy and Equity.

RFFI 2.0 (2007 to 2012) – We boldly purchased the 50,000-acre Usal Redwood Forest with a $65 million Bank of America loan. RFFI developed a market-based strategy using private capital to leverage public, philanthropic, conservation and preservation funding, along with timber sales and usage fees to retire the debt. After weathering the 2008 recession, RFFI implemented this strategy and twelve years later we are in full compliance with our loan, improving forest health and creating community jobs.

RFFI 3.0 – (2013 to 2019) – RFFI completed our first two sustainable timber harvests, suspended herbicide use, achieved FSC ® certification, completed $5 million in watershed restoration, and registered California’s largest forest carbon offset project. In 2016, we took over Usal management and hired our first forestry team led by respected Chief Forester Linwood Gill.

2021 has been a year of renewal. We dedicated a significant amount of time identifying our strategic priorities for 2022-2025. In the process we revisited our origin story as well as our mission and vision. We were anxious that our priorities were timely, aspirational and tied to the deep commitment we have to our vision of healthy productive forests that restore local connection and control, ecosystem health and diversity, economic opportunity, and climate resilience throughout the Redwood Region. To that end, view our Strategic Priorities here.

As I write this, I am struck by the amount of work each entails starting with the creation of a common set of beliefs about
what success looks like how we will measure progress. Acceleration of the effects of a changing climate means we have no time to lose. The board, staff and community advisors have committed to the priorities, but implementation will require the commitment of many more. It is critical that we build capacity to accomplish our ambitious goals and we will need your help. RFFI is a model that can influence the actions of other forests owners.

We invite you to become a part of creating that model. Time is of the essence. I hope you will consider becoming part
of the RFFI family by providing financial support as well as rolling up your sleeves and volunteering your time.