Ecotrust leads the way in bringing ecosystem services and nontraditional revenue streams to conserve forests and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, and in the heart of the temperate rain forest, Ecotrust is a unique organisation: it integrates public and private purpose and for-profit and non-profit structures. Over nearly 20 years, Ecotrust has converted $60 million in grants into more than $300 million in capital for local people, businesses, and organisations from Alaska to California.
“Put simply, Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates economic opportunity, social equity and environmental well-being,” says Bettina von Hagen, CEO of Ecotrust Forest Management, Ecotrust’s forest management arm.
“We are focused on the geography of the Pacific Northwest, which features some of the most productive forests, rivers, and oceans in the world. However, when we look at our natural resource sectors we see a pattern of declining natural, social and financial capital. We believe there is a different way of managing our relationship with the land that creates real, enduring value and that’s what we are trying to address through our work.”
As highlighted in its mission statement, Ecotrust’s role is to innovate, invest and inspire to provide for a “reliably prosperous” future. It is a “think tank” and a “do tank” designed to identify and test deep innovation. Recognised as a vehicle for access to capital to invest in promising innovations as proof of concept and scalability, it is also viewed as a growing constellation of public, private, for-profit and non-profit organisations designed to inspire people around the world.
Natural competitive advantage
“We work at a bioregional scale because there is a natural competitive advantage implicit in the particular characteristics of every bioregion, and because it has global applications,” explains Ms von Hagen. Ecotrust created Ecotrust Forest Management in 2005 to pursue one of these competitive advantages – the capacity of the Pacific Northwest to grow native forests that produce much-sought after commercial species such as Douglas-fir, hemlock, and cedar, while sequestering more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem and simultaneously providing wildlife habitat, clean water, recreational opportunities, and scenic vistas.
According to Ms von Hagen, the current environment presents an opportunity for those who want to develop a range of forest products and services. “We think the current environment, which contains great opportunity as well as potential risk from both financial markets and climate change, demands a diversified approach based on building long-term value and resilience.”
She adds, “Our forest management strategies include developing and selling high-quality timber, as well as selling conservation easements, carbon sequestration offset credits, community benefits, and exploring potential new markets such as biofuels, water quality and species banks. Our management emphasises the long-term value and health of the land over short-term net profits. Through demonstrating the advantages and potential for success inherent in a management approach that keeps environmental stewardship, community enrichment and profit in mind, we hope to act as a catalyst for the improvement of forest management practices throughout the region.”
Supporting local landowners
Meanwhile, Ecotrust, the non-profit parent organisation, has initiated a complementary forest carbon program to leverage grant funds and consulting fees to help provide access to local landowners and tribes who have not traditionally been able to participate in the carbon offset market. Over the past year, the program has worked with the Climate Action Reserve to develop a new Aggregation Protocol for voluntary carbon offset projects on forestlands. This tool will allow smaller landowners to pool together their properties into a single carbon project that will lower project development costs.
Earlier this year the Ecotrust Forest Carbon Program announced the approval of a methodology for launching forest carbon projects that will make it much easier for forest managers around the globe to participate in both the voluntary and emerging compliance carbon markets. This work represents the first Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) methodology to have completed the Voluntary Carbon Standard’s (VCS) double approval process.
Carbon hotspot
“It is our hope that this forms a new tool to help launch forest carbon offsets,” says Steve Dettman, forest carbon program manager at Ecotrust. “As required by the VCS double approval process, the methodology was submitted to two VCS-accredited reviewers – SCS and DNV – for review and approval. The methodology arrives at a time when the world needs rigorous approaches to ensure that carbon offsets are real, permanent, measureable and verified by an accredited authority.”
“We’re sitting on a carbon hotspot here in the Pacific Northwest,” adds Ms von Hagen. “Given the uncertainty around carbon markets, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the short term. There’s plenty of reason to be pessimistic given the lack of US national legislation, but at the same time the level of state and local action around carbon markets, coupled with the huge potential of the region’s forests to store carbon and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, suggest that demand for forest carbon will play an important role in shaping our future forests. We are excited by that potential and ready to harness it for the benefit of our forests and the region’s residents.”