Director, Forest Restoration Finance Innovation

POSITION SUMMARY

America’s forests are a critical natural climate solution. Reforestation/afforestation offers the most immediate and ample carbon removal solution across public, private, and Tribal lands. There are many opportunities for this in the U.S., with as much as 148 million acres suitable for reforestation (Reforestationhub.org). Out of this, American Forests has a specific goal of addressing the 17 million acres of reforestation opportunity on public and Tribal Nation lands through our own forestry programs and through policy innovation and movement building. 

Despite reforestation being the largest natural climate solution in the U.S., deployment of quality reforestation at scale has been limited by high upfront costs that are out of sync with the timeline for carbon removal, as well as reforestation supply chain constraints ranging from seed supply shortages, insufficient workforce, nursery capacity, and financing to support increasing the scale of the entire restoration economy. American Forests’ Resilient Forests program is focused on identifying and deploying solutions to address these constraints. 

 

This position is focused on one of the most critical supply chain constraints, reforestation financing challenges. We are currently developing a unique portfolio of climate-adapted reforestation projects with public land management agencies, Tribal Nations, and underserved private landowners who do not have access to the necessary funding to reforest severely burned lands in the western United States and other lands suitable for reforestation in other geographies throughout North America. American Forests is doing this through our traditional approach to philanthropy-backed reforestation but also through our newer initiatives like the Reforest America Carbon Program (RACP), which is designed to address the financing challenges associated with reforestation/afforestation and advance the highest quality climate-adapted projects, as well as by exploring innovative impact investment, debt financing, and blended financial approaches to the reforestation supply chains most pressing challenges. 

This position will focus on two of our Resilient Forests program’s flagship initiatives. First, a multi-year project to support partnerships and innovations needed to advance climate-informed reforestation with Tribal Nations, Native Hawaiian organizations, and underserved private landowners. American Forests recently received a USDA Forest Service (USFS) cooperative agreement to support the participation of federal recognized Tribal Nations, Native Hawaiian organizations and underserved private landowners, in emerging markets for resilient reforestation, or reforestation that is resilient to future climate changes and disturbances as well as future market and economic conditions.

Second, this position will also focus on American Forests' REPALANT Initiative with the USDA Forest Service through which we are addressing the multi-million-acre backlog of reforestation needs on the National Forest System with climate-informed techniques. Innovative financing mechanisms are needed to fully address multi-billion-dollar reforestation costs. To help the USFS ramp up its reforestation program under the REPLANT Act, our REPLANT Initiative is focused on supply chain solutions to scale climate-informed reforestation of the entire National Forest System—including the funding and financing conundrum. 

Across these two major initiatives, we are working to develop and implement financial innovations that:

• Create new opportunities for Tribal Nations, Native Hawaiian organizations and underserved private landowners, to access new income streams and deploy climate-informed reforestation practices well suited to emerging markets for climate mitigation and resilience (carbon, biodiversity, water quality/quantity markets)
• Catalyze innovative funding and financing partnerships for National Forest System reforestation, with a goal of leveraging $25 million in private funding against $125 million in USFS REPLANT Act resources to help address approximately 10% of the current reforestation backlog and inspire other innovative funding and financing partnerships. 
• Draw investment into expanding reforestation supply chain linkages—i.e., nursery capacity, reforestation workforce, seed production and collection efforts, post-planting monitoring, climate adaptation and forest science, and other critical interventions to increase the pace, scale, and quality of climate-informed reforestation across America.

 

To advance this work, American Forests is looking for a Director of Restoration Finance Innovation to direct American Forests’ development and implementation of innovative financial approaches to scaling our critical work across the Forest Restoration program.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

The Director of Restoration Finance Innovation will develop and implement innovative financial solutions to complex challenges addressed by Resilient Forests’ forest restoration programs. They will work collaboratively with American Forests staff from Forest Restoration and Philanthropy departments and external partners to catalyze funding and financing into National Forest System reforestation, create new opportunities for underserved landowners to access emerging markets for climate resilience and mitigation, and lead financial innovations across the reforestation pipeline – from seed to post-planting monitoring. They will both crunch the numbers and clearly present investment opportunities to existing and new partners – fostering deep understanding of financial innovations, their risks and benefits, within and outside of American Forests. Specific responsibilities include:

Climate, Biodiversity, and Water Finance Leadership (40%)

• Build robust program and project level financial models and analyses for the Reforest America Carbon Program to guide program and project offerings and ensure long-term program sustainability.
• Build relationships and collaborations with other market players such as investors, brokers, offtake aggregators, and corporations interested in carbon, biodiversity, and water markets.
• Secure long-term contracts, offtake agreements, loans, and other investments into the Reforest America Carbon Program and its projects in partnership with Philanthropy department and program partners and contractors.
• Lead development of approaches and organizational strategies for engaging with nascent private markets for biodiversity, water quality, water quantity and other ecosystem services.
• Be a service leader in the climate finance arena, participating in working groups and engaging with federal and state agencies, non-profit organizations, carbon registries, leading corporations, and carbon finance experts to inform and develop our strategies.
• Alongside Philanthropy department, act as the main contact for major global clients supporting large-scale nature-based solutions programs, afforestation/reforestation carbon projects.

Reforestation Supply Chain Financial Innovation (30%)

• Evaluate, develop, and implement innovative financial mechanisms across the restoration supply chain including, but not limited to, revolving funds, green bonds, impact investing, infrastructure funding, trust funds, and other mechanism, that support increased pace and scale of reforestation.
• Work with Resilient Forests team to understand, analyze, and summarize financial gaps across the reforestation pipeline to frame the potential investment opportunity to achieve stated reforestation goals and bring needed capital from diverse capital sources.
• Analyze and investigate how to monetize the restoration opportunity to generate revenues to pay investors and repay loans or other sources of capital.
• Create pitch deck and supporting materials to be presented at summits, workshops, and gatherings to assess interest from financial investors and institutions.

Support Resilient Forests’ Philanthropy and Finance Strategy (20%)

• Represent American Forests at conferences, workshops, gatherings, and other public-facing events as needed.
• Support program fundraising with grant writing and participation in other fundraising efforts as appropriate.

Program Administration (10%)

• Track and manage program finances. 
• Develop and manage budgets in partnership with American Forests’ program and finance departments.
• Lead recruitment efforts of staff and/or contractors to meet the finance and administration needs of the program as it develops.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS
Successful candidates will have demonstrated experience in directing program development and implementation of nature-based carbon projects and while we do not expect any one candidate to possess all of these qualifications, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal skills and qualities:

• A BA/BS degree in Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Business Administration, Non-profit Management, Conservation, Natural Resource Economics or Management, Forestry or natural resource management, Environmental Science, Public Policy, or a related field required. Advanced degree a plus. Master’s degree is preferred. 
• 7 years of experience with ecosystem service financial management, impact investment, carbon finance, water markets, or other relevant nature-based climate solution finance. 
• Knowledge of, and/or experience working in, carbon markets, carbon accounting standards and methodologies in a technical capacity, and experience in nature-based solutions projects are strongly desired.   
• Experience leading partnerships with corporations, impact investors, green banks, foundations, and high net worth individuals on climate and environmental programs.
• The ideal candidate will be a self-starting problem solver with a background in environmental economics, forest science and management, forest policy, and/or finance. An ability to learn and adapt quickly is also important.
• Ability to work both independently without close oversight, but also be a team player who will productively engage with others at varying levels of seniority within and outside American Forests. 
• Individual must have a passion for forest restoration and the overall mission of American Forests. 

LOCATION & WORKING CONDITIONS
American Forests’ headquarters is located in downtown Washington, DC. This position can be a remote position. Candidates in the western United States are preferred.

Subject to applicable laws, American Forests requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. We will consider requests for accommodation to this vaccination requirement during the recruiting process. Any requested accommodation(s) must be reviewed and approved (if applicable) in advance of your start date.

TRAVEL 
This position is primarily remote (90%). It requires some travel (up to 10% of time) within the western United States to engage in key stakeholder meetings, program events, and projects as needed. Occasional travel may also be required to engage with colleagues and attend American Forests events. Most of the time will be spent in a general office environment with field-based project visits

SUPERVISORY REQUIREMENTS
There are no supervisory requirements for this position.

BENEFITS
Benefits for full-time American Forests employees include:  
Medical, Dental, and Vision 

• Multiple medical plans with affordable monthly premiums are available along with standard vision and dental plans. 
• A Flexible Spending Account is available for employees to contribute pre-tax dollars to cover the costs of approved health related expenses. 

Disability and Life Insurance 

• Short-Term Disability 
• Long-Term Disability 
• $150,000 Basic life and AD&D insurance 

Retirement Plan 

Paid Leave 

• 16 paid holidays 
• 12 vacation days (accrued) 
• 13 sick days (accrued) 
• Parental leave 
• Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) 
• Bereavement leave 
• Military leave 
• Summer Friday hours (partial workday) 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness 

Pet Benefit 

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) 

 

 

American Forests is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to provide access to all individuals along the continuum of human ability and experience. 

Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran/LGBTQ+

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In accordance with federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, and reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible State or local Agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information is also available in languages other than English.