Supporting and Enabling Local Partnerships

Tahoe National Forest

“The Yuba I FRB was successful due to the compelling business case for all involved. Investors received an acceptable return, utility infrastructure risk was cost-effectively reduced, and the U.S. Forest Service accomplished its land management goals, bigger, better, and faster. In our eight years of collaboration, the Forest Resilience Bond has blossomed from an idea into a first-of-its-kind transaction to advance conservation. The project has set the foundation for replication throughout California and across the West.”

Todd Gartner, WRI’s Director of Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure

The North Yuba Forest Partnership is a great example of Blue Forest helping to bring together different local organizations to work collaboratively.

All nine of the organizations that make up the partnership are passionate about forest health and the resilience of the North Yuba Watershed in particular.

Through ecologically-based forest thinning, prescribed fire, and holistic restoration, the partnership is actively working to protect North Yuba communities from the threat of catastrophic wildfire and restore the watershed to more resilient state.

“Without the North Yuba Forest Partnership, the area restored in the Yuba could have taken ten years to complete. With the partnership and FRB in place, it took three years, and the size of the area restored was 20 times larger.”

Without this innovative partnership, the area restored in the Yuba I FRB work would have been much smaller and could have taken nine to ten years to complete. With the partnership and the Forest Resilience Bond, it was completed in just three years and the size of the area restored was 20 times larger.

The partnership includes: Yuba Water, the U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, South Yuba River Citizens League, Camptonville Community Partnership, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, National Forest Foundation, Sierra County, alongside Blue Forest.

Washington State’s Upper Wenatchee I FRB is another highly collaborative effort, with partnerships between Blue Forest, Chelan County, Chelan Public Utility District, Washington Department of Natural Resources, and the USDA Forest Service. Support from the North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative and other local partners has also been essential to the creation and launch of the Upper Wenatchee I FRB. Together, these partners support forest health treatments including fuels reduction, prescribed burning, and accompanying aquatics restoration projects across a 15,000-acre project footprint. This project aims to reduce fire risk, increase community safety, and protect infrastructure, recreation, habitat, and water resources for nearby communities.

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