Forest Resilience Bond (FRB)

The Forest Resilience Bond, or FRB, was developed in partnership with the World Resources Institute (WRI), the USDA Forest Service, and the National Forest Foundation (NFF).

How it works

It’s a public-private partnership that uses private capital to ease cash flow constraints. And it puts benefit evaluation models to work bringing in new money, so that multiple groups share the costs of forest restoration.

Building partnerships

First, Blue Forest partners with communities, land managers, governments, and non-profits to design conservation finance projects that improve forest and watershed health.

We also look for an experienced land manager who selects an organization to be the implementation partner and manage the work on the ground.

Evaluating the benefits

Then, working with beneficiaries, we evaluate the benefits of these projects and use this information to establish an economic, social, and environmental case for funding. Beneficiaries can be anyone who benefits from the work taking place – organizations like water and electric utilities, or agricultural producers.

Getting private investment on board

The FRB is then brought to private investors, like foundations and institutional asset managers, who provide capital to finance the project work.

This means critical financing is available up-front for restoration projects, enabling them to happen at pace and scale.

The end result

The investors receive a small return, and the restoration work gets done, protecting our communities and forests from catastrophic wildfire for future generations.

When small, naturally occurring fires are suppressed, the forests we’re left with are denser than before. They have more trees, more bushes, more flammable material than would naturally occur.

If fire enters these overstocked forests, it’s catastrophic. We need to remove some of this flammable material so the forest can safely receive fire. And we also need to restore habitats, rivers, meadows, and other parts of the ecosystem.