Nonprofit Acquires 50,000 Acres With Bank Financing

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis (left) joins Don Kemp (center) and Art Harwood of the Redwood Forest Foundation at a San Francisco press conference to announce the transaction that will enable RFFI to purchase more than 50,000 acres of forest in Northern California to preserve redwood trees and local jobs.

SAN FRANCISCO — More than 50,000 acres of timberland in northern California will be preserved through the first forest acquisition by a nonprofit made possible entirely through private capital.

The Redwood Forest Foundation purchased property north of Fort Bragg from Hawthorne Timber Company with $65 million in flexible long-term financing from Bank of America.

The transaction provides a model for nonprofit ownership of forestland and allows local environmentalists and timber companies to use sustainable logging practices, while also providing a return on Bank of America’s investment, according to bank officials.

The financing is the latest development in the bank’s pledge to spend $20 billion on the environment.

“This is one of the most significant transactions of our recently announced $20 billion environmental initiative,” says Kenneth Lews, Bank of America chairman and CEO.

The initiative includes plans to invest $1.4 billion for LEED-certified construction, $100 for energy conservation, and a pledge to reduce energy use at bank facilities by 7 percent by 2008.