Aerial photograph of Chimacum Ridge Forest from EFM, the current owner.
“Community Forests are forestlands that are owned and managed on behalf of local people to provide them secure and reliable access to the ecological, social, and economic benefits produced by forests.”
Jefferson Land Trust has been working to help protect Chimacum Ridge Forest since 2010, and through many partnerships has ensured it will always remain undeveloped and managed as healthy timberland. Now, the Land Trust is working to purchase the forestland and transform the property into a community forest designed to provide public access to the ridge as well as certain ecological, social, and economic benefits to the region forever.
This sketch illustrates the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest governance structure.
During 2020, a Strategic Vision Framework was developed to define the purpose and help guide future decisions concerning the community forest. During this planning, Land Trust staff members and a 12-member Project Team made up of community leaders with a strong sense of place and skills relevant to the community forest vision recommended the following governance model:
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Land Trust will own and operate the community forest in a way that meets the terms of the conservation easement, the mission, vision, and values outlined in the Strategic Vision Framework, and the forest’s management plan.
The subsidiary organization will have a volunteer Board of Managers appointed by and reporting to Jefferson Land Trust’s Board of Directors.
Jefferson Land Trust’s Board of Directors adopted the Governance Proposal for the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest at its March 2023 Board Meeting.
A seven-member volunteer Chimacum Ridge Community Forest Board of Managers will oversee the establishment and operation of a community forest following the purchase of Chimacum Ridge Forest by Jefferson Land Trust from EFM by the end of 2023. EFM purchased Chimacum Ridge as our partner to give us the time we needed to to raise the money to purchase the forest.
In addition to the seven-member Board of Managers, three Advisory Groups will support the Board of Managers on the social, economic, and ecological benefits of the Community Forest.
Learn more about the Advisory Groups.
Members of these advisory groups will be recruited in fall 2023.
