RFFI 2022-2025 Strategic Priorities

VISION AND MISSION

Vision:
We envision healthy productive forests that restore local connection and control, ecosystem health and diversity, economic opportunity, and climate resilience throughout the Redwood Region.

Mission:
Through inclusive community engagement, we acquire, restore and manage depleted forest landscapes to benefit the environment and the wellbeing of the Region’s people.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Priority A: Manage the Usal Forest in a way that creates a model for other forests, focused on fire resiliency, carbon capture and climate mitigation, resulting in clean air and water, increased summer stream flows, restored habitats, and local community benefit in addition to timber productivity.

Goal #1 Complete our Stewardship Plan, integrating community, scientific and indigenous knowledge as we add management objectives addressing: fire resiliency, carbon capture, climate mitigation, habitat restoration, and local community benefit.

Goal #2 Create a progress report identifying contributions of RFFI’s work to date in the areas of economy, environment and equity.

Goal #3 Identify the baseline against which to measure future progress.

Priority B: Redefine the relationship between communities dependent on forests and the ownership and management of the timberlands that surround them.

Goal #1 Deepen and expand the communities’ connections to the forest and their ability to engage in forest planning for resilience and sustainability in economic, ecological, and social terms.

Goal #2 Strengthen policies, tools and partnerships that support community ownership control and management of local contiguous forests focusing on community and forest resilience.

Goal #3 Support the development of a community sense of both pride and responsibility for the forest along with their capacity to engage by increasing access, expanding educational partnerships and providing more opportunities for citizen science.

Priority C: Strengthen RFFI/URFC financial position to allow for sustained management of the Usal Forest as an outstanding example of community driven forestry and a model for other forested lands.

Goal #1 Complete the long term model for the USAL forest taking into consideration our deepened knowledge of the forest’s capacity, climate change resiliency objectives, stakeholder input and the desire to be a replicable model for other forests.

Goal #2 Come to agreement with Bank of America to retire all debt related to the Usal purchase on terms supportable by Usal Forest’s long term cash flow.

Goal #3 Identify and secure revenue sources that can support expansion of the model beyond Usal Redwood Forest.