September 2010
In this Newsletter:
- From the Director
- Sustainable Woods Showcase
- Welcome New Staff!
- They're Back! NNFP Webinars
- Enhancing Creating Leadership
- Appalachian Forest Resource Center & Forest Value Chains
- AFRC Tapped for Appalachian Regional Commission Assessment
- Funding Leads
- Follow NNFP on Facebook and Twitter
- Upcoming Events of Interest
- In the Next Issue
From the director
A friend of mine always likened his life in Fall to that of a squirrel. Because it was hard to find work in the Winter, Fall always had him scurrying around frantically, trying to gather enough nuts so that he could spend Winters happily nesting in his cabin.
Winter is busy for us at NNFP, but Fall usually involves the most travel. Forestry events are plentiful and we scurry around to gather contacts, ideas, and move projects forward. This Fall we will be attending trade shows to help market SustainableWoods.com, exploring our role for the 2012 Farm Bill and other policy work, working with wood producers on their web sites, and conducting outreach and support for forest cooperatives and sustainable small businesses.
While we will be busy, we will work to keep you informed of more of our activities. In addition to more frequent newsletters, we will be posting updates on Facebook and our web site, to keep us in closer communication. Moving into the Winter we will be again offering more webinars; missing a couple hours of a icy winter day is easier than sacrificing beautiful Fall weather.
While we are excited about many things that are happening within NNFP, we are particularly excited to be welcoming new staff - Debra McBride, John Fenderson, and Pradeep Edussuriya. Please make them welcome, and share any ideas and suggestions you may have. In the coming months, we’ll share more about the projects they are working on.
Best Regards,
ColinSustainable Woods Showcase
As part of NNFP’s work supporting small sustainable wood businesses we have developed the Sustainable Woods Network (www.sustainablewoods.com).
This site provides an on-line destination where conscious consumers can buy sustainable wood products including furniture, flooring, gifts and artworks.
Part of NNFP’s assistance, in addition to the web site, is our participation in green trade and consumer shows. Over the past year NNFP participated in Green Festival DC, Green Festival Chicago, and Green Build. The shows drew over 80,000 green consumers, builders, and architects and allowed NNFP to connect with customers interested in finding green wood products.
Coming up NNFP will exhibit at:
Green Festival, DC, October 23-24
Green Build, Chicago, November 17-19
If you are a producer of sustainable wood products, contact colin@nnfp.org. Membership in the site is currently free to NNFP business members!
Welcome New Staff!
NNFP would like to extend a warm welcome to three new staffers who have joined us this year:
Debra McBride, Operations Director. Debra brings extensive experience in small business development, organizational improvement, and business planning. Debra anchors the NNFP office, and provides organizational support to NNFP and business assistance services for members.
Pradeep Edussuriya, Media Producer. Pradeep brings his MFA in film, and his extensive experience in photography and media instruction to NNFP’s work communicating stories of People and the Land. Currently NNFP is launching the People + Land media services, and is available for video, audio, and web production work.
John Fenderson, Southern Regional Director. John is a certified forester and comes to us from his work with the Tennessee Division of Forestry. He has a broad work experience from work with the Forest Service to operating his own portable sawmill. He will be leading up outreach work in the Southeast and leading NNFP’s carbon credit efforts. They’re Back – NNFP Webinars
Check out the E-Learning Center on NNFP’s website to learn more about upcoming webinars, including:
- Cooperative Biomass: A report from Austria, presented by NNFP’s Scott Bagley and Bob Parker of Oregon State University Extension
- Considering a Cooperative: What to Know Before Pushing the “Go” Button, presented by NNFP’s Scott Bagley and Eric Bowman of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center
- Funding Opportunity Briefing: SARE Farmer-Rancher Grant
Learn more about these opportunities and how to participate by visiting: http://elearning.nnfp.org/
Stay tuned for additional webinars as we move through the Fall and into Winter. And feel free to contact us to offer any ideas for webinar topics and presenters.
NNFP Presenting Webinar for USFS Changing Roles WUI Professional Development Program
NNFP will also be featured as part of an upcoming webinar series produced by the USFS Southern Research Station's Changing Roles Program, which targets natural resources professionals in the Urban-Wildland Interface in the South. NNFP's Scott Bagley will be presenting a session about Forest Cooperatives, and their potential as a tool for addressing some of the complex challenges in the WUI, including reaching new landowners and making small parcels operational.
September 27th at Noon Eastern. For more information, visit: http://www.interfacesouth.org/products/changing-roles/changing-roles-webinar-series-2010/
Other webinars in the series include:
- Green Infrastructure, presented by Karen Firehock, Executive Director of the Green Infrastructure Center (held September 20th at Noon Eastern)
- Ecosystem Goods and Services, presented by Dr. Francisco Escobedo, Assistant Professor, Urban Forestry, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida (October 4th at Noon Eastern)
- Climate Change, presented by Dr. Steve McNulty, Team Leader, Ecologist Eastern Forest Environmental Threats Assessment Center. USDA Forest Service (October 15th at Noon Eastern)
Leaders Gear Up for NNFP's
“Enhancing Creative Leadership” RetreatThe second class of NNFP’s innovative leadership program is set to meet again in early October in Philadelphia. Facilitated by Barbara Wyckoff, this initiative is a 7-month intensive program designed for middle managers of non-profit organizations and small businesses.
Learn more at: http://nnfp.org/Activities/Leadership.php
Thanks to those donors who supported this important program. We couldn't have offered it without you.
Appalachian Forest Resource Center (AFRC) and Forest Value Chains
NNFP, along with our regional Appalachian Forest Resource Center, was invited to partner with other cutting edge non-profits to explore ways to create “wealth that sticks” in the Central Appalachian region.
The region, with its history of natural resource extraction, particularly coal mining, has been underdeveloped, and many counties suffer from chronic poverty and unemployment.
The Ford Foundation has invested in a project supporting Rural Action, Appalachian Sustainable Development, and the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), under the banner "Central Appalachia Forestry Alliance" to explore new strategies to create sustainable livelihoods and build wealth from sustainable forest businesses.
NNFP was invited in as a partner because of our experience in the region, including the AFRC. Our role will be to assist in understanding of forest value chains and interventions that can increase forest livelihoods and wealth creation. In addition to collecting and analyzing research with our partners we will offer several direct support services to producers in the region including:
Marketing in the 21st Century workshops, focused on cutting edge branding and web marketing practices
Web Wellness Checkups, free assessment of businesses’ web sites that will provide recommendations for ways to improve traffic and sales.
Digital Onramp Sites, cost-share assistance for wood businesses in key counties to get their first web sites.
Web Upgrade Services, cost-share assistance for businesses in certain counties to get their existing sites to the “next level”, by adding adding video or audio features, e-commnerce, or by expanding their existing sites.
Other services are being developed in response to further research into the region’s value chains and research into customer preferences. For information, contact Colin Donohue, colin@nnfp.org.
AFRC Tapped for ARC Forest Assessment
The AFRC was tapped to be a partner in a successful proposal to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) on forest assessment. NNFP is an advisor to the project which will help inform the ARC’s forest related projects, and will look at the various competing uses of the forest, and the market and non-market values.
Upcoming funding opportunities
Visit the "Funding Leads" page of the NNFP website for additional details about upcoming funding opportunities from the following federal programs and private foundations:
Federal Programs:
USDA Renewable Energy for America Program
SARE Northeast Partnership Grants
SARE North Central Farmer Rancher Grant
SARE Western Professional + Producer Grants
SARE Western Farmer/Rancher Research & Education
SARE Northeast Farmer Grants
USDA Risk Management Agency
USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant program (RBEG)Private Foundations:
The Joyce Foundation
Seventh Generation Fund
The Davis Conservation Foundation
Catholic Campaign for Human Development
The McKnight Foundation
Laura Jane Musser Fund—Rural Initiatives Program
The George Gund Foundation
Great Lakes Aquatic HabitatRenew Your NNFP Membership
Renewing your NNFP membership is easy, and joining for the first time is, too.
To renew or join, visit:
http://nnfp.org/MembersApp/Signup.php
Follow NNFP
Upcoming Events of Interest
In the next issue
NNFP Goes to Europe - a showcase of Scott Bagley and Bob Parker's visit to Austria to connect with cooperatives, economic development professionals, and forest owner organizations and learn about their progress in increasing the role of forest biomass in the country's energy mix. In addition to the next NNFP newsletter, an article about their visit will be published in the next issue of USDA's Rural Cooperatives Magazine.
People + Land Media - we'll review the variety of multi-media projects completed over the past year by NNFP's media services division, including work with NNFP members such as the Living Forest Cooperative and Swan Ecosystem Center.
National Cooperatives Month - we'll highlight forest cooperatives in the United States and other countries and review the important contributions they are making in areas such as forest conservation, job creation, and renewable energy.
get plugged in by joining the
nnfp online member forum
Specific discussion groups formed so far relate to:
- Web marketing
- Policy
- Community-scale biomass
- Innovations in landowner outreach
- Forest landowner cooperatives
- Women and working lands
- Others
Check it out at: http://forestpractitioners.ning.com/