Keeping Forests is a coalition of diverse multi-sector partners working together to conserve the natural, economic, and cultural value of working forests in the U.S. South.
Our collaborative efforts enable us to accomplish what none of us could accomplish alone. Explore our innovative approach to forest conservation.
We promote and expand markets for southern forest products that deliver benefits for climate, nature and people.
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Southern Forest Product Markets
Strategy Roadmap
Short Term
Develop an innovation challenge to crowdsource new applications for fiber sourced from small diameter trees.
Medium Term
Launch the innovation challenge, using it to engage diverse stakeholders with the power to drive market interest and development. Build upon the momentum of the innovation challenge to lay the groundwork for developing a Southern Forest Products brand.
Long Term
Fully establish the Southern Forest Products brand identity, leveraging innovations from the challenge to position the brand as a leader in sustainable forest product markets.
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We catalyze opportunities to compensate Southern Forest landowners for sustaining the health of the ecosystem and the benefits it freely provides to society.
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Emerging Markets
Strategy Roadmap
Short Term
Develop decision-support tools to identify watersheds where landowners and corporations can achieve mutually beneficial ecological and economic outcomes.
Medium Term
Pilot a corporate engagement model within selected watersheds, testing collaboration frameworks between landowners and corporations to determine effective compensation mechanisms for ecosystem services.
Long Term
Codify, replicate, and scale Keeping Forests’ Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) framework across multiple watersheds. Use the framework as a model to foster widespread corporate investment in ecosystem health and long-term financial benefits for private landowners.
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Create a broad base of support for working Southern Forests by activating a network of trusted leaders who can communicate their relevance to new audiences.
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Champions & Leaders
Strategy Roadmap
Short Term
Collaborate with trusted leaders to create and distribute compelling stories that connect working forests to their audiences’ priorities.
Medium Term
Launch a series of 12 video vignettes telling the stories of working forests with Keeping Forests partners.
Long Term
Expand the Forest Champions network and deepen engagement by producing additional content that ties forest values to broader social and environmental issues.
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Forest Values
There’s nothing Southern Forests can’t do. They contribute billions to the economy, create millions of jobs and produce nearly 60% of America’s timber harvest. Beyond the economic value, these vital lands connect people to nature in a variety of ways. We uphold these Forest Values to illuminate what makes our woodlands so powerful.
Water More than 50% of our country’s drinking water originates in forests, which filter the most critical element of life and prevent soil erosion.
Fiber & Pulp In ways large and small, our lives touch the forest every day, thanks to materials and products derived from wood fiber.
Biodiversity & Habitat As the cradle of wildlife, forests provide a fertile, replenished home for a wide variety of species.
Recreation As the cradle of wildlife, forests provide a fertile, replenished home for a wide variety of species. Forests fulfill our primal need for play, offering space for hiking and hunting, photography, camping and so much more.
Human Health Woodlands provide a place to improve our bodies and minds, and studies link time spent among the trees with improved mental health and physical well-being.
Carbon Capture Southern Forests work hard to capture the carbon that is warming our planet, disrupting the balance of nature, and threatening the well-being of human communities.
Heritage & Culture Our stories, traditions and history are rooted in the Southern forest.
Forest Economies Working forests keep our rural economy strong, and private landowners earn their livelihood from timber sales, eco-tourism and more.
