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NatureVest (The Nature Conservancy)
Today, I’m joined by Greg Meade, Cumberland Forest Project Director at NatureVest. In this conversation, Greg explains how the Cumberland Forest Project was structured as a closed-end private investment fund designed to put conservation and community outcomes on equal footing with financial return. We talk about blended finance, sustainable timber harvesting, carbon offsets, conservation easements, renewable energy, and the project’s community fund in rural Appalachia. Greg also shares what NatureVest has learned from building this model, how the fund is performing relative to US timberland benchmarks, and what investors and forest managers can take away from this whole-forest-value approach.
“What makes this project different is that we didn’t treat conservation as an add-on—we embedded it directly into how the asset operates, which allowed us to attract concessional capital and approach forest management in a fundamentally different way.”
00:12 – Introduction to Forest Invest
00:34 – Greg Meade’s favorite tree: sourwood
01:32 – Greg Meade’s background in forestry
03:07 – What NatureVest does
03:30 – Overview of the Cumberland Forest Project
04:38 – Fund assets and geography
05:51 – Blended finance and concessional debt
09:49 – Who invested in the fund
11:54 – How the project differs from traditional TIMOs
13:27 – Exit strategy and protecting long-term impact
15:48 – Forest management and revenue streams
18:05 – Community fund and local economies
20:41 – Mineral royalties and reclaimed coal revenue
23:35 – Revenue diversification across the portfolio
26:21 – Investor concerns about geographic concentration
27:40 – Local staff and operational setup
29:54 – Impact outcomes achieved so far
33:37 – Financial performance
34:06 – Lessons learned
38:32 – Advice for replicating the model
40:40 – What’s next for NatureVest
43:37 – Advice for new forest investors
44:52 – Closing remarks
Founding Director and Host: Shauna Matkovich - The ForestLink
Producer and Editor: Magdalena Laas - Unscripted Creatives
Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud
Ambient Documentary by Sound Guru (Pixabay)
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