BETHESDA, Md. & GREENVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Enviva Forest Conservation Fund (the Fund) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2020 grants in the total amount of $500,000. The projects funded will help protect a total of 3,322 forested acres and conserve ecologically sensitive bottomland forests in the coastal regions of Virginia and North Carolina.

Including those announced today, the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund has awarded 20 projects totaling almost $2,500,000 in grants over the past five years. An estimated 27,850 acres will be protected when these projects reach completion. The forests conserved as a part of the Fund help clean drinking water, purify the air, buffer structures from storms, and provide habitat for many species of wildlife, while at the same time, providing jobs and economic opportunity for rural families and private landowners.

About the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund The Enviva Forest Conservation Fund is a $5 million, 10-year program established by Enviva Holdings, LP, in December 2015 to protect environmentally sensitive bottomland and wetland forests permanently. Administered by the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Fund awards grants annually to nonprofit organizations and government agencies for conservation projects in North Carolina and Virginia. The next grant cycle will begin in late 2020. To learn more about the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund, please visit envivaforestfund.org.

About the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working 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 www.usendowment.org.