The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) today announced a $5 million commitment as the anchor investor in Conservation Resources’ CRSilva Ventures, LP fund. The fund will back practical, scalable businesses built around forests, forest products and the rural communities the industry supports. The newly established venture capital fund will invest primarily in pre-seed/seed and early-stage companies that turn the biological, material, carbon, water and data systems within forest ecosystems into scalable businesses. CRSilva, a new venture strategy, seeks to invest in opportunities that enhance forest ecosystems, including new technologies, products, materials, services and AI-integrated systems. As a limited partner, the Endowment is committed to supporting work that makes forests and forest-based markets more productive, resilient, measurable, useful and valuable. Deploying capital to enhance forest ecosystems is directly aligned with the Endowment’s mission, as pulpwood markets across the U.S. continue to shrink.