Game-Changer in Maryland: $2.5 Million CWSRF Loan Guarantee to Family Forest Impact Foundation
Northbridge is proud to have supported the Maryland Department of Environment's efforts to develop a framework for financing and quantifying the co-benefits of reforestation to protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Through an EPA-sponsored Nonpoint Source Pilot, we developed the Maryland Forest Financing Implementation Tool (MD FFIT) to quantify the benefits of reforestation. Northbridge also helped to expand their Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan guarantee authority, now the first in the nation to use this innovative strategy to leverage carbon markets and private financing to watershed stewards like the Family Forest Impact Foundation for funding critical ecosystem restoration projects that improve water quality and offer natural climate change solutions!
Water insecurity is a growing challenge in many states where diminished forest health impacts watersheds used for drinking water. Watershed infrastructure financing solutions like this are the key to making meaningful progress in addressing source water protection challenges.
