TREE OWNERS NEWS
Winter 1997
As many of you know, Sherry
and I have been planning for the last several years to move to our tree farms once Jake,
my younger son, graduated from high school and went off to college. Well, Jake graduated
in June and has just finished his first semester at Austin Community College (he got all
A's – better than his dad ever did). Josh, my older son, is also in Austin, working
full-time and finishing up his degree at the University of Texas. Since both boys have
been going to Costa Rica since they were each 18 months old, we will probably see them
more often in Costa Rica than we would have had we stayed in Columbus.
So, Sherry and I are moving
to our little house on Campo Real to take even better care of your trees. Our office there
is in our home, just as it was here in Columbus.
To be sure that you can
reach us as easily as always, Sherry has set up an 800 number that rings right into our
office. You can also easily reach us by mail, fax and e-mail.
Please keep our new phone
and address information in a safe place. But if you misplace it, for the next several
months, just dial our Columbus office number, 614-443-5300, and a recording will give you
all of this new information.
If you have any questions
at all, or if you'd like to come visit your trees, please just give us a call.
Steve with a four year old teak tree on Campo Real
PRICES GOING UP!
Prices of all of our species will
be going up
effective February 15. |
Just a little over five
years ago, Sherry and I set out to plant a few thousand tropical hardwood trees.
With your wonderful support
and enthusiasm, Tropical American Tree Farms has grown into much, much more.
Today our farms cover more
than 4,700 acres. We have set aside over 60% of the farms in conservation areas,
protecting more than 2,000 acres of rainforest and another 900 acres where we are allowing
the forest to regrow.
And on the productive parts
of the farms, we have planted more than 665,000 tropical hardwood trees for harvest, and
another 28,000 tropical trees that will never be harvested.
Our dedicated team has now
grown to about 100 workers, with a planting-season high of about 120. Our workers and
their families are very grateful for their employment. Before we began this project, these
same farms employed a total of 7 workers.
In addition to providing
future tropical hardwoods that won't be taken from the rainforest, your trees are
providing employment and bringing economic viability to our areas of Costa Rica.
Because of our dedication
to conservation and social responsibility, and because our trees and farms are well
managed, Tropical American Tree Farms is still one of only eight tropical forestry
operations in the world to have the Smart Wood certification. It is a privilege to be in
such an honored group.
Sherry and I thank God, and
every one of you, for the opportunity to work in such a fulfilling and worthwhile
endeavor.
The data continue to roll
in about the disappearance of the world's remaining tropical rainforests, and the reasons
why.
Two inexorable forces are
causing the destruction of the rainforests - the needs of a growing tropical population
for land to grow food, and the growing world demand for tropical hardwoods.
An August 4, 1996 Internet
Wall Street Journal article cited a study financed by the World Bank and the United
Nations which warned that nearly half of the world's remaining tropical forests could be
lost as poor farmers use slash-and-burn agriculture to feed their families, and that the
other half of the remaining tropical forests is endangered by logging.
An August 19 Journal
article reported that, having logged most of the rainforest resources in their own
countries, Asian logging giants are now branching out and "have begun stripping
millions of acres of timberland around the world." These companies are moving into
the forests of Africa, and are buying up huge tracts of the rich Amazonian rainforests,
the largest remaining rainforest in the world. The article reported that these Asian
companies have bought 8.6 million acres in the Brazilian Amazon, and that purchases could
reach over 22 million acres in the next two years.
The same article reported
that, "The expansion of Asian loggers occurred as world prices for tropical hardwoods
like mahogany and teak as much as tripled" because suppliers "had logged
themselves out of the market, creating shortages."
Just three months later, a
November 11 Journal article brought this accelerating trend into even sharper focus,
reporting that, "In the last few months alone, the amount of Amazonian forest under
concession to Asian firms has nearly quadrupled, to about 30 million acres, an area
roughly equal to the state of Georgia."
It is obvious that Tropical
American Tree Farms is very small when compared to the magnitude of the tropical
deforestation and the growing world demand for tropical hardwoods.
The need, and the
opportunity, are huge. With your continued support and enthusiasm, Sherry and I are
dedicated to continue to plant as many tropical hardwood trees, and to protect as much
rainforest, as humanly possible.
One of our many blessings
is to be with you as you see your trees for the first time, and as you experience the
incredible beauty and lushness of the tropical rainforest.
More than 160 of you, about
a third of all of our tree owners, have now been to the farms to visit your trees, some of
you many times. We encourage all of you to come.
To help you plan a trip to
see your trees, Sherry has put together a simple packet of travel information - names and
telephone numbers of the major airlines flying into Costa Rica, car rental agencies in
Costa Rica, and the names of several hotels which have been recommended by fellow tree
owners.
The packet also includes a
list of what to pack, helpful tips on immigration and customs in the San José airport,
and how to find a taxi to take you to your hotel. Specific driving directions are included
to get you from San José to the tree farms. Sherry and I are also always very happy to
answer any questions you may have.
On each farm we have
well-mannered horses with comfortable saddles, saddlebags to carry cool drinks, snacks or
a picnic lunch, and rubber boots to keep your feet dry as you explore waterfalls and
bubbling streams. If Sherry and I are not available, a guide will accompany you.
Whether Sherry and I are
available or not, Beto always has a copy of the tree registry and knows exactly where your
trees are. As you ride to see your trees, you will pass through fields of thousands of
neatly planted and well cared-for tropical hardwood trees.
You may also find yourself
surrounded by a myriad of colorful flowers and delicious scents as you pass among
flowering and fruiting trees we have planted. You may see iridescent blue morpho
butterflies, or brightly colored toucans, or chattering green parrots flying overhead.
At Campo Real you can bask
in the tranquil beauty of one of several waterfalls. When you enter the rainforest there
is a hush as you slowly travel along the trails through the tall trees and hanging vines.
As your eyes and ears become accustomed to the stillness of the forest, you will begin to
hear the forest sounds - the songs of the birds, a leaf falling from a tree, or possibly
monkeys making their way through the canopy.
It is difficult to explain
the joy Sherry and I feel when you see your trees for the first time. What we see on your
faces is an indescribable feeling of ownership, of pride, and of "Wow! I really am
making a difference."
Joaquin, the older Costa
Rican forester with bright eyes that we wrote about in our Tree Owners News a year ago,
came to Beto several months before our 1996 planting season and said that after reviewing
our farms, he felt we were doing a superior job.
But then he added, if we really
wanted to do a good job . . .
Those are words that always
bring us alert because they are always followed by a suggestion of something we can do to
improve our project, and the suggestion is usually something that noone else is doing.
Joaquin had observed for
years that in areas where the rainforest is allowed to regenerate naturally, the species
of high-value tropical hardwood trees appear later in the succession of the natural
forest. That is, they are preceded by fast-growing lower value species whose partial shade
encourages the upward growth of the hardwood trees and whose leaf litter provides added
nutrient for their growth.
He knew too that the
practice of planting nurse or mother trees for the same purposes in coffee farms, widely
spaced throughout the coffee plants, encourages the growth and production of the coffee
plants.
He had long ago concluded
that the planting of nurse trees made just as much sense on a tree farm as it does on a
coffee farm. He had planted his own tree farm that way. But he couldn't get others to
listen.
Sherry, Beto, and I are
good listeners. Joaquin carefully explained that, from his observations of the natural
forest and his experience on his own farm, if we would plant fast-growing gallinazo trees
widely spaced in among our native species, we could improve the growth and yield of our
native species well beyond the cost of planting the gallinazo trees.
He then added something
that Sherry and I had already observed - that gallinazo trees have seeds that both birds
and animals love. Sherry and I have seen toucans gathering to eat the gallinazo seed, and
watched as young coatimundis climbed to get the seeds. And, as an added bonus, once a year
the gallinazos drop a golden shower of beautiful yellow flowers.
Sherry and I both want our
tree farms to be world-class, not for any notice to us, but so you can be very proud of
where you are having your trees grown, and so others hopefully can copy what works.
We gave Beto the go-ahead,
and in this last planting season our workers planted nearly 9,000 gallinazo trees in among
the native species. It is a new practice that we plan to continue.
Your teak is growing way
ahead of projections. The four year old teak on Campo Real is now 6 to 10 inches in
diameter, and 40 to 50 feet tall – about twice what we had projected for this age,
and larger even than we projected them to be at eight years old. Because of that growth,
we are now planning the first thin in the 7th year, instead of the 8th year as we
originally projected.
But two different foresters
have suggested that because the teak is so substantially ahead of our projections, we
might want to consider an even earlier thinning. They believe that an earlier thin would
result in even greater growth of the trees remaining after the thin, and that those
remaining trees would produce more wood than all the trees if we waited until the seventh
year. The compromise is that a very early thin, for example in the 4th or 5th year,
doesn't normally produce quality wood from the trees thinned.
To better evaluate the
alternatives, Beto has done an early thin on some of TATF's four year old teak. Our
foresters will now carefully monitor the growth of our trees remaining in the area thinned
and compare that growth with the trees that haven't been thinned.
We will let you know the
results and our foresters' recommendations, and if you own teak, ask what your preference
is for your trees.
A proud tree owner!
As you all know, Sherry and
I did a great deal of research before we ever began to plant trees, and we believe we are
giving your trees the very best care.
But as we have worked with
you during these last five years, one of our precious lessons is that the accumulated
experience and knowledge of you tree owners is priceless.
As your numbers grow, and
as more of you visit your trees and make requests or offer suggestions and observations,
the potential benefit to all of us is immeasurable.
Several of you have
expertise in areas that specifically relate to our project, whether in woodworking,
growing of trees, or the harvest, milling and sale of hardwoods. Others of you work in
completely unrelated fields. But your insight and inspiration are invaluable.
All of you who have visited
the farms have been very generous in your praise of our care of your trees and the
organization of the farms.
Even so, Sherry and I would
like to repeat here what we have said as we have talked with you, and wrote in our Fall
1995 newsletter. Whether you have been to the farms or not, and regardless of your
occupation or profession, we want to encourage you to please make any suggestions or
observations, whether they relate to the care of your specific trees, or to the project as
a whole.
We want you to be
completely happy with your trees. And we all will benefit from your suggestions.
For example, one of you, an
arborist, came to the farms to visit your trees. You observed the whole operation, and
then suggested a refinement in our pruning procedures. We acted on your request on your
trees, and then adopted the practice on all of the farms.
Another tree owner recently
asked that on some of his trees we implement a special tree-care regimen that reportedly
improves tree growth through the application of a special fertilizer and growth hormone in
conjunction with other measures. Sherry and I will go over that in detail with Beto and
our foresters when we are in Costa Rica next week. If it is feasible, we will do it. If it
works, we may make it available to all.
Several of you who have
milling experience have asked that at the time of the harvests, particularly the first
thinnings when we will be working with smaller diameter logs, that we please get someone
to mill your trees right on the farms with portable band mills, rather than transport your
logs to the mills in San Isidro.
Your request was because
the smaller band mills are more efficient, convert less of the log to sawdust and more of
it to lumber, and significantly lower the transport costs because only the lumber leaves
the farm.
We are pursuing those
requests, and again will make the feasible alternatives available to everyone. Beto has
located an independent contractor with a portable band mill, a Wood-Mizer, who has just
finished milling logs on a nearby farm. He (Beto) has visited the farm, watched the
Wood-Mizer crew at work, and gotten preliminary prices from the owner.
Sherry and I are also
studying the feasibility of TATF buying portable mills. One of you suggested that we buy a
Mighty-Mite. Others suggested Timber King, and still others recommended Wood-Mizer. One of
you, a sawmill owner, suggested that most important is the ready availability of repair
parts in Costa Rica.
As in everything we do,
Sherry and I will carefully study all of the alternatives with Beto and our foresters. We
will then make all of the reasonable alternatives available to all of you.
A number of you have asked
that we plant mahogany trees for you. Mahogany can have a problem with a shoot tip borer
moth, but because of your requests, and because mahogany is very much in demand and is
very rapidly approaching extinction, we are actively researching the possibility. If we
can do it, we will.
Others of you have asked if
we can plant your species in a mixed planting. Because each species has different care
requirements, we have so far been planting single species in a given area. But we have now
asked our foresters to identify those species that will do well in a mixed planting. We
hope to make mixed species plantings available to you soon.
One of you has invented a
simple but very clever device to measure the tree diameter high above the ground, and sent
a prototype with us to test in the field.
Another has suggested the
design of a hydraulic pruner, to prune the branches on the taller trees.
Several of you who are
woodworkers have made it very clear that we save your burls and crotches, parts of the
tree that are often discarded in conventional logging operations. We will do it.
Several of you have asked
us if it looks in the later years as though your native species should be allowed to grow
longer than 25 years, would that be possible. We have answered yes, that if there is still
good growth potential, for a small additional fee for their care and for the use of the
land, we would be happy to allow your trees to continue to grow.
For us, the lesson is very
clear. The available wisdom, expertise and insight among you tree owners is priceless.
So please know that Sherry
and I treasure your ideas and suggestions, whether about your trees, or any aspect of what
we are doing.
And if you have specific
requests about your trees, we will commit to implement your request, with the only
limitations being that the cost is within what we have budgeted for your trees, and that
it doesn't risk the safety of our workers, or the other trees on the farms, nor jeopardize
our Smart Wood certification.
They are your trees. We
treasure your involvement. And we all will benefit from your ideas and shared knowledge.
On one of the last days of
our last trip to Costa Rica, Sherry and I were meeting with Beto and going over our plans
for the coming months. It was Sunday and Beto's time was more flexible, so we decided to
go to Santo Domingo and Capital and continue our conversation in the car.
By the time we reached
Capital, it was late, about 4:30 in the afternoon, and it was raining hard.
As we neared Capital,
looking into the fields of little trees, we could see four men walking in the pouring
rain.
As we came closer, we could
see that one of the men was Eduardo, our foreman there at Capital. He and three of our
workers were carrying rolls of barbed wire and posts. They were absolutely soaked.
Eduardo told us that some
of our neighbor's cattle from across the river had broken the fence and had gotten into
one of our fields of newly-planted trees. He and the workers had gone out to get the
cattle out of the field and repair the fence along the river to make sure the cattle
couldn't get in again.
He and these three workers
were out there working, late on a Sunday afternoon, in the pouring rain, without being
asked and without having any idea that we or Beto were anywhere around. They were simply
being incredibly responsible taking care of all of our little trees. Tears of gratitude
and appreciation welled in Sherry's eyes.
This is the true spirit of
our Tropical American Tree Farms' team. Men and women working hard, going above and
beyond, motivated by simple pride and a true sense of responsibility. We are blessed to
have the opportunity to work with them.
Sherry and I thank all of
you again for all of your support, enthusiasm, patience and suggestions. We have come a
long way together in five short years. Thank you very much! |
