JOINT PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
LA PUSH, Washington — EFM and the Quileute Tribe are pleased to announce the Quileute Tribe’s acquisition of approximately 492 acres of forestland on the western Olympic Peninsula from EFM’s Fund III, returning a significant parcel within the Tribe’s ancestral territory to Quileute ownership and stewardship.
The acquisition represents an important expansion of the Tribe’s land base adjacent to the Quileute Reservation and strengthens the Tribe’s ability to protect lands, waters, habitat, and natural resources that have sustained the Quileute people since time immemorial.
The property consists largely of low-elevation temperate rainforest and is strategically located near the Quileute Reservation, Olympic National Park, and Washington Department of Natural Resources lands. Its location provides the Tribe with an important opportunity to manage the property as part of the broader landscape surrounding La Push and the Quillayute River watershed while protecting natural and cultural resources for future generations.
The property also encompasses a portion of State Route 110, the primary transportation corridor connecting La Push with surrounding communities, and a segment of the Olympic Discovery Trail, a regional recreational corridor planned to ultimately span more than 130 miles across the Olympic Peninsula.
Of particular importance to the Quileute Tribe is the property’s relationship to the lower Quillayute River and the Tribe’s ongoing efforts to protect and restore the watershed. The Tribe has undertaken significant planning and investment in the lower river system to improve climate resilience, protect community and tribal infrastructure, restore natural river processes, and enhance critical salmon habitat.
Salmon and the rivers that sustain them are inseparable from Quileute culture, treaty rights, subsistence, and the Tribe’s way of life. Tribal ownership of the property provides another tool for protecting these resources and allows the Quileute Tribe to make long-term land-management decisions informed by generations of knowledge and its responsibility to future generations.
“This acquisition represents an important step in restoring Quileute stewardship within our ancestral homeland,” said Quileute Tribal Chairman Justin “Rio” Jaime. “These lands are connected to who we are as Quileute people. Our forests, rivers, fish, wildlife, and coastline have sustained our people since time immemorial, and we have a responsibility to protect them for those who come after us. Bringing these lands back into Quileute ownership strengthens our ability as a sovereign Tribal Nation to fulfill that responsibility.”
“EFM is honored to support the Quileute Tribe’s vision for conservation and stewardship,” said Bettina von Hagen, CEO of EFM. “Returning land to tribal ownership is an important way to advance ecological restoration, strengthen community resilience, and recognize the enduring connection between Indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. We are proud that this transaction contributes to those goals.”
In addition to a broader PNW portfolio, EFM manages approximately 93,000 acres of forests across the Olympic Peninsula and remains committed to responsible forest stewardship, conservation, and collaborative restoration efforts throughout the region. The company values opportunities to partner with Tribal Nations and other stakeholders to support healthy forests, thriving salmon ecosystems, and resilient rural communities.
For the Quileute Tribe, the acquisition is part of a broader commitment to restoring and strengthening its land base and ensuring that lands within its ancestral territory are managed with the long-term interests of the Quileute people in mind. Tribal stewardship incorporates protection of cultural and natural resources, forest and watershed management, habitat restoration, access and infrastructure needs, and responsible economic and community development.
The Tribe will evaluate the property through its own land-use, natural-resource, cultural-resource, and long-term planning processes. Future management decisions will reflect the Tribe’s sovereign authority, cultural values, environmental responsibilities, and the needs of current and future generations of Quileute people.
The transfer reflects a shared commitment by EFM and the Quileute Tribe to responsible land stewardship, ecological restoration, and the long-term health of the forests and waters of the western Olympic Peninsula.
About the Quileute Tribe
The Quileute Tribe is a federally recognized sovereign Tribal Nation whose people have lived on and stewarded the lands and waters of the western Olympic Peninsula since time immemorial. Based in La Push, Washington, at the mouth of the Quillayute River, the Tribe maintains enduring cultural, spiritual, governmental, and economic relationships with the forests, rivers, fisheries, wildlife, and marine resources throughout its ancestral territory.
The Quileute Tribe exercises sovereign governmental authority and manages natural and cultural resources for the benefit of its citizens and future generations. Protection of treaty-reserved resources, restoration of salmon habitat, stewardship of forests and watersheds, climate resilience, and the preservation of Quileute culture remain central to the Tribe’s long-term work.
About EFM
EFM is an investment and management firm that acquires forests and implements climate-smart strategies in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
EFM manages forests with a climate-smart strategy that enhances value by combining timber production with revenues from carbon sequestration, conservation, recreation and biodiversity.
EFM’s investment management business focuses on FSC-certified forests in the US, and its advisory business focuses on cutting-edge natural climate solutions opportunities globally. The firm has two decades of experience and manages more than 200,000 forestland acres and is expanding to markets where increased funding for climate benefits and ecosystem services can create a competitive advantage and deliver value to investors, local, communities and the public.
Media Contacts
Quileute Tribe
Emily Foster
Operations Manager
operations.manager@quileutetribe.com
EFM
Colette Smith
Associate, Operations and Investor Relations
info@efmi.com
503-467-0805