African American Forest Owners Benefit from Industry Partnership
Enviva and Roanoke Electric Cooperative Partnership Supports Forest Health and Retention
Greenville, S.C. – October 4, 2017 – Enviva Holdings, LP today announced a $45,000 grant to support African American land retention and healthy forests in northeastern North Carolina. The grant to the Sustainable Forestry Program of the Roanoke Center—a nonprofit affiliate of the Roanoke Electric Cooperative headquartered in Ahoskie, North Carolina—deepens the existing partnership between Enviva, the Roanoke Center, and the U. S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment). That program serves forest owners in seven counties in the Cooperative’s service region and near two of Enviva’s wood pellet facilities.
“Sustainably managed working forests are the lifeblood of many North Carolina communities and the environment we all share,” said Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, Enviva’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “This project has done exceptional work helping hundreds of families restore their land rights and conserve working forests.”
“We’ve enjoyed supporting the project’s outreach efforts over the years, and are very excited to foster their broader education, legal assistance, and forest management missions,” Jenkins added.
The Roanoke Center is the community economic development arm of the Roanoke Electric Cooperative, a 14,500 member cooperative. “We are very pleased to have Enviva join us in the effort to boost sustainable forestry in northeastern North Carolina,” said Curtis Wynn, Roanoke Electric’s CEO. “Their generous investment will change family dynamics and economic prospects in our region for generations to come.”
The Roanoke Center’s Sustainable Forestry Program is one of 8 affiliate programs of the Endowment’s Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Program (SFLR). At the region-wide level, SFLR is supported by the Endowment, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the USDA Forest Service. The Enviva announcement was made today at an Endowment-sponsored annual SFLR retreat that brings together on-the-ground partners, landowners, government agencies, and private collaborators.
“Collaboration between Enviva and the Roanoke Center is a great example of the types of partnerships between the forest industry, local development organizations, and private landowners that will sustain the important work of restoring forest health and using forests to create intergenerational wealth in rural minority communities,” said Carlton Owen, President and CEO of the Endowment.
About The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
The Endowment is a not-for-profit corporation established in 2006 at the request of the governments of the United States and Canada. The Endowment works collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities.
To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at http://usendowment.org/
About Enviva Holdings, LP
Enviva Holdings, LP is the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source used to generate electricity and heat. Through its subsidiaries, Enviva Holdings, LP owns and operates plants in the southeastern United States that produce nearly 3 million metric tons of wood pellets annually. We export our pellets primarily to power plants in the United Kingdom and Europe that previously were fueled by coal, enabling them to reduce their lifetime carbon footprint by about 80%. We make our pellets using sustainable practices that protect Southern forests. And we employ about 600 people and support many other businesses in the rural South, where jobs and economic opportunity are sometimes scarce.
Enviva Holdings, LP conducts its activities primarily through two entities: Enviva Partners, LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership (NYSE: EVA), and Enviva Development Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned private company.
To learn more about Enviva Holdings, LP and its subsidiaries, please visit our website at http://local-enviva-data.com
About the Roanoke Electric Cooperative
The Roanoke Electric Cooperative is a dynamic organization that serves 14,500 members in northeastern North Carolina’s Bertie, Halifax, Gates, Northampton, Hertford, Chowan, and Perquimans Counties. Along with delivering safe, efficient, and reliable electric energy, the Cooperative commits its resources to building economic development and a healthy environment in its region. To learn more about the Roanoke Electric Cooperative, please visit our website at: http://www.roanokeelectric.com/
Contact:
Carlton Owen
864-233-7646
carlton@usendowment.org
