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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The Cumberland Forest Project with Greg Meade