The Sustainable Forestry Fund is under the umbrella of First Nations' grantmaking component. Both the Sustainable Forestry Fund and the Eagle Staff Fund are collaboratives for Native American development - Native people and organizations, First Nations Development Institute, and a consortium of foundations, corporations and donors interested in Native American development. This page provides information necessary to apply for one of these grants, as well as background information about certified sustainable forests. Grantmaking First Nations invites proposals from tribes with forests that seek certification of their forests as sustainably managed. A list of training programs will be made available by First Nations.
Grants can be for appropriate staff to attend one or more training programs or workshops.
The process includes establishing a relationship with the appropriate forest certifier, gathering information about forest management practices, identifying and addressing barriers or opportunities to certification, assessing the tribe's overall likelihood of becoming certified, identifying and understanding issues to be addressed prior to certification, and developing a strategy to become certified as a sustainable forest. These grants will focus on tribal forestry program development, as they will help the tribe make a decision regarding pursuit of certification. Chain of Custody Assessment - the process in which wood is monitored from point of origin to final product so that it can be sold as having come from a certified forest. Tribes that have mills are better positioned to sell their final product at a higher price if they can trace it to a certified sustainable forest. These grants will concentrate on the marketing aspects of being a certified sustainable forest.