Fisher Family’s Generous Support for Working Forests
The Fisher family has quietly become one of the leading families in conservation, beginning with Frank Webster, the founder of the Squam Lakes Conservation Society (SLCS) in 1960. Today, the SLCS is one of the premier land trusts in America and one of The Conservation Fund’s outstanding partners. Frank’s daughter, Nancy Grady, picked up the reins and continued her father’s passionate fight to conserve the best of the Squam Lakes region. Today, Nancy’s son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Audrey Fisher, continue the family’s great legacy of conservation, including leading the charge to protect 5,435 acres of the Beebe River watershed. This watershed includes a 950-acre parcel owned by the Fisher family. Restored stream crossings reconnect fish access to nearly six miles of spawning and rearing locations, reduce water temperatures for cold-water fish, and link 15 miles of aquatic habitat. These efforts are especially good news for wild brook trout, which are one of New Hampshire’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need and spawn in only 7 percent of the state’s rivers.
Importantly, the Beebe River Tract, acquired through the Fund’s Working Forest Fund, will continue to be managed as a working forest where trees will be harvested according to a sustainable management plan thereby ensuring that the forest-based jobs and revenue will stay in the region. We are now taking this national initiative to scale. Doing so will make a significant positive impact on our nation’s efforts to address climate change by sequestering more than 10 million metric tons of Co2 annually and supporting thousands of jobs in rural communities that need them. To launch this ambitious growth phase of the Working Forest Fund, the Fund recently issued the nation’s first-ever green bond for conservation, a $150 million ten-year taxable note, with 100% of the proceeds being used to conserve working forests. To reach our forest conservation goal, we intend to raise an additional $350 million in philanthropic support to match the bond.
We are grateful to the Fisher family for once again leading the way. In honor of their son Brooks, who was himself a passionate conservationist and outdoorsman, the family is making the very first charitable investment toward this next phase of the Working Forest Fund. This lead gift will help announce to the rest of the country the importance of conserving our nation’s last, large, intact working forests and the critical role that philanthropy must play. Conserving forests, addressing climate change, supporting good jobs in rural economies – these are values that have been passed down through generations of Fishers, and this gift honoring Brooks Fisher is a wonderful new chapter in their family’s legacy.