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NatureVest (The Nature Conservancy)

The Cumberland Forest Project

Blended Finance

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

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Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud

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Erscheinungs­datum: 13.4.2026, 07:00:00