Jeff Schnurr, a local community forest and solar energy champion, has deservedly earned a spot in this year’s Wallace McCain Institute’s Entrepreneurial Leaders Program. Jeff is the executive director and founder of Community Forests International (CFI), an organization devoted to community forests, sustainable forestry techniques and environmental education.
Jeff and others with CFI introduced themselves to the Conservation Council almost a decade ago and quickly became part of collaborative efforts to forge sound forest policy and a community forestry movement in New Brunswick.
CFI’s tree planting work is simply inspiring: Over a dozen community-owned projects in Tanzania, operated by 1,800 locals, 70 percent of them women. In 2013, the organization celebrated the planting of 1 million trees!
Under Jeff’s guidance, CFI has gone from tree planting to organizing workshops on sustainable forestry, safe chainsaw use, native plant identification, permaculture, food forest gardening, beekeeping and timber framing. CFI began working on a carbon offsetting program in 2011 and in 2012 they bought the Whaelghinbran Farm, which was operated by organic farmers Clark Phillips and Susan Tyler. CFI was able to buy the farm by creating carbon offsets through the conservation and management of the property. They turned it into a perfect demonstration site for sharing lessons on sustainable land-use.
Jeff has also taken his skills, knowledge and expertise to Jaza Energy, a company working to create user-friendly solar management systems to power regions in East Africa.
It is not the first time that this local and global change agent has been recognized. Jeff was recognized by CBC in 2010 as a Champion of Change. Jeff told CBC: “We must rewrite the history of natural resource manipulation and focus on practices that provide for humanity while improving the natural world. The future will be written with saw or spade. In both farm or forest, we can work together to make conservation the consequence of production.”
The Conservation Council could not agree more with Jeff and celebrates his participation in the McCain Entrepreneurial Leaders Program as he will no doubt use the learning and networking opportunity to further his work of healing our natural world at home and abroad.
The Conservation Council congratulates all of the sixteen selected to participate in the Wallace McCain Entrepreneurial Leaders Program. We hope to feature the other participants in the future.