There are many ways to avoid or reduce carbon emissions; however, climate-smart forestry is unique in that it can both avoid carbon emissions through harvest reductions and store carbon through tree growth, removing it from the atmosphere. Stored carbon is increased by leaving more trees in place in reserves, by retaining trees during harvests for habitat, seed provision, and soil protection, and allowing trees to grow longer between harvests.

We hope that this picture of old-growth stands on Henry Creek, a 2,500-acre forest in our Oregon portfolio, will serve as a hopeful reminder to stay grounded and focused on the long-term during these difficult times. These magnificent trees have borne witness to the 1918 flu pandemic, two world wars, and many bull and bear markets and are a beacon of resilience and inspiration for us all. The spread of the Coronavirus is profoundly concerning and we at EFM have adjusted to remote operations with the goal of keeping our employees and partners safe. We are indeed grateful for the opportunity to steward places like Henry Creek and be invested in forests that can continue to increase in value via biological growth and free inputs while markets are in turmoil. As always, we remain committed to proactively managing our forests to maintain clean air and water, carbon storage, and vital rural jobs for the long-term benefit our investors and the world around us.

In the lush, west-side timberlands of the Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir and hemlock/spruce forests often contain 300 to 450 tons of organic debris per acre. This organic debris contains the lions share of important tree nutrients and is enhanced through climate-smart forestry techniques, like those that are practiced by EFM, such as delimbing trees in place during a harvest, and leaving harvested slash on the ground for habitat and soil stabilization.

Mass timber, wood constructed from smaller trees engineered together, is the backbone for this new movement to bring wood into tall building construction. This market can support climate-smart forestry by creating a new market for small diameter logs from forests in need of thinning throughout the western U.S. and is predicted to be worth $2 billion globally by the mid-2020’s. #climatesmartforestry #masstimber

Forests in Oregon sequester over 9 billion tons of C02, which offset 50% of Oregon’s annual emissions. This underscores the critical role forests and climate-smart forest management strategies, such as longer rotations, larger buffers, and increased retention practiced by EFM, play in addressing climate change.

EFM is honored to have contributed to the Cambridge Associates and GIIN partnership that created real-asset impact investing benchmarks, which will help investors measure their performance in timber, infrastructure, and real estate against the rest of the sector.