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January 1998
We have just completed another
wonderful and fulfilling year of hard work and growth at Tropical American Tree Farms.
Sherry and I want to thank every one of you for making this all possible. Together with
you, our tree owners, we have planted many more trees, protected much more rainforest, and
in the process, created much more employment, than we could ever have done alone.
We are now growing trees for
nearly 700 of you - individuals, companies, and trusts. Because of you, our tree owners,
Tropical American Tree Farms has grown to six tropical hardwood tree farms, encompassing
more than 6,500 acres, of which we have set aside more than 60% in conservation areas. We
are now protecting nearly 3,000 acres of tropical rainforest on the farms, and allowing
another 1,200 acres to regenerate into forest.
We have planted more than 830,000
tropical hardwood trees for harvest, and nearly 30,000 fruiting, flowering and shelter
trees that will never be harvested.
And our team of dedicated workers
has grown to 180 men and women grooming and caring for your trees. These same six farms
employed a total of 10 to 12 workers before we began planting trees.
Also, we are still one of only
fifteen tropical forestry operations in the world to be certified by the Smart Wood
program of the Rainforest Alliance.
Sherry and I thank God every day for
this wonderful experience and opportunity.
We thank every one of you for your
faith in us and for making this all possible. It is an honor and a privilege to be growing
trees for you.
And we thank Beto, our general farm
manager, Rigo, Pedro, William, Eduardo, Luis, and Victor, our farm foremen, and every one
of our wonderful team of dedicated workers, all of whom work so very hard together to take
such excellent care of your trees.
Other than raising my two wonderful
sons, this all is by far the most rewarding, most fulfilling endeavor that either Sherry
or I have ever embarked on in our lives.
We thank you all very, very much!!
Steve with five year old teak on Campo Real
PRICES GOING UP!
Prices of all of our species will be going up
effective February 28. |
Three years ago, Beto came to us and
asked if he could have a Christmas party for all of our employees and their families, to
express to them his and our gratitude for all their hard work during the year, and to let
them know that they are all part of a greater team and not just workers on a farm.
Sherry and I of course readily
approved. And so began an annual Tropical American Tree Farms tradition.
This year's Christmas party was the
first one that Sherry and I were able to attend. And we had the added blessing that
Sherry's wonderful parents were there with us.
Beto had been planning for weeks.
There were gifts to buy and wrap for 195 children, Christmas bonuses to be calculated for
180 workers, transportation to be arranged for all of our workers and their families, and
food to be purchased and prepared for everyone, nearly 500 people in all.
The fiesta was at the corral near
Pedro's house on our Santo Domingo farm. Those of you who have visited Santo Domingo, know
it as a tranquil farm, situated back in on a quiet country road.
But when Sherry and I arrived the
morning of the party, it was startling to see four large Greyhound-size buses parked at
the bottom of the hill, some cars and trucks parked along the driveway, and several horses
tied to the fence. As we began to walk up the driveway toward Pedro's house, we could
already smell the delicious scents of food being cooked over charcoal fires and see many,
many people relaxing on the lawn.
As we reached the top of the
driveway, we could see that Beto had transformed the corral for the day's festivities.
Brightly colored balloons and colorful streamers hung from the ceiling of the corral.
Several huge charcoal grills, made of barrels cut lengthwise, were ablaze. Workers and
their families were already lined up, filling their picnic plates with grilled marinated
beef and "arroz con pollo", rice with chicken.
Sherry and I were thrilled to be
there. It was a day to celebrate our workers and to reward all their hard work and
dedication throughout the year. A day to thank their families for their contributions to
the success of Tropical American Tree Farms. A day of delicious food, warm camaraderie,
balloons, and brightly wrapped gifts. Although the day was planned to reward our workers
and their families, it was Sherry and I who received the most.
As we shook each worker's hand and
thanked him sincerely for his work, each earnestly thanked us in return, for their work
and for the party.
We were delighted when one worker,
who had always before been very shy when we had seen him working in the field, walked up
to Sherry and me, shook our hands, and proudly introduced us to his wife and children.
We were moved when a worker told us
with tears in his eyes that he thanks God for us, that without TATF he would not have work
and would not be able to feed his family.
We marveled when the time came for
the children to receive their gifts. All 195 children waited quietly in front of Beto as
he called each child by name and each came forward with wonder on his or her little face
to receive their Christmas present.
It was gratifying as each worker
came forward to receive his Christmas bonus check. Each was grateful and delighted to have
the extra money at Christmas time.
We watched as one worker ran his
finger over his check for several seconds and proudly showed it to his son before
carefully folding it and putting it in his pocket.
Sherry and I each spoke to the
gathered families and told them how much we appreciate their work and dedication, that we
thank God for them. Much to our surprise, they enthusiastically applauded after we each
spoke.
Words can't adequately describe our
feelings as we looked out over the nearly 500 smiling faces. We were truly humbled - at
the responsibility, and the opportunity to be a part of the lives of these warm, decent,
loving people.
You and we together are truly making
a difference in their lives.
Sherry and I thank you. And 500 wonderful people
in Costa Rica thank you all very much!
Sherry's father helping children catch a balloon at our Christmas party
Many of you have asked how the
actual growth of our trees compares with what we had expected.
All of our species are healthy and
growing very well. Teak however is the only one of our species about which enough is known
to make detailed projections, and so is the only species whose growth we can compare to
original expectations.
Sherry and I are excited to tell you
that your teak is growing very much ahead of our projections.
We made our projections before we
bought our first farm, and based those projections on planting the trees on average sites.
But we have carefully chosen farms that are excellent for planting our trees. That careful
site selection, together with excellent planting and care, has resulted in a growth rate
well ahead of our projections as you can see from the charts below.
(click each chart for larger image)
Teak height growth
Teak diameter growth
To maximize the quantity of
marketable lumber available from each stand of trees, our silvicultural program is to
first promote the height growth of the trees, and then to promote diameter growth by
thinning out or removing the smaller trees to make room for the very best trees to
continue to grow.
Our oldest teak is now just over
five years old. We had projected that at five years they would be 27 feet in overall
height and 5.4 inches in diameter.
Leonardo, our forester, has just
completed measuring the teak trees, and his measurements show that the diameter growth is 20%
ahead of our projections, and the height growth is 100% ahead of
projections.
The five year old teak is actually averaging
54.5 feet in overall height - twice as tall as
we had projected for that age. Some of the very tallest of our five year old teak trees
are now more than 75 feet tall, three times the projected
height, and as tall as we had projected they would be at 25
years old.
They average 6.5 inches in diameter,
with some of the largest trees now reaching 11 inches, twice the
projected diameter.
As you can imagine, Sherry and I are
very, very pleased with the growth and progress of all of the trees.
Because the growth is so far ahead
of our projections, Leonardo is now in the final stages of studying the growth data of the
five year old teak to determine if we should now eliminate or cull the smallest and
poorest-formed trees to allow all of the light, water and nutrients to go only to the best
and tallest trees, to further maximize the lumber yield from each stand of trees.
Even though a cull will be an added
expense for TATF, and the culled trees will not yield lumber at this age, our instinct is
that it should be done to even further increase the lumber production from each stand of
trees.
We will wait for Leonardo's final
recommendations and let all of you know.
It is truly satisfying to know that
our years of research, careful site selection, and excellent care of your trees are now
resulting in growth so far ahead of our projections.
The world's tropical rainforests are continuing
to disappear at an accelerating rate. Two recent articles underscored that point.
A December 13 AP article and a Christmas day Dallas
Morning News article both focused on the accelerating problem.
Satellite photos show that the Amazon, the
largest remaining area of rainforest in the world, is disappearing at the rate of 12 to 15
million acres per year, more than three times the rate of just three years ago, in 1994.
The remaining rainforests around the world are
being logged to harvest the precious tropical hardwood trees, and then the remainder of
the trees are felled and the debris burned in the dry season to clear the land for large
cattle and agricultural operations.
In both Indonesia and Brazil, the smoke from the
burning debris blankets entire neighboring countries. Satellite photos of Brazil
monitoring this clearing of the rainforest, recorded 45,000 fires between July to November
of 1997, up 50% from the same period in 1996.
Eduardo Martins, the president of Brazil's
environmental and renewable resources agency, said that the majority of the clearing and
burning in Brazil is authorized by the government as part of their continuing effort to
make more land available for agriculture, and to boost Brazil's share of the international
timber market.
Martins said that massive deforestation in Asia
is causing growing timber shortages, and that the exploitation of that market is part of
Brazil's "positive agenda" to develop the Amazon's commercial potential. He said
that timber sales could represent $20 billion in annual trade for Brazil.
It is ever more clear that the world's remaining
rainforests will be either protected, or destroyed, and that, either way, tropical
hardwoods will continue become increasingly scarce.
Everything points to the wisdom, and the
importance, of continuing to plant as many tropical hardwood trees, and protect as much
rainforest, as possible. Thank you for continuing to be such an important part of this
endeavor. And please continue to share this information with others.
Sherry and I love being able to
work by e-mail. We can
communicate instantly and at essentially no cost. If you have e-mail, or if you don't have
it yet, when you do get it, please send your e-mail address to us at
trees@tatf.com.
Sherry and I are working on setting up a web site
for Tropical American Tree Farms. We hope to have it up and running in the next several
months. We will send you our URL as soon as we are up and running.
The current issue of Today's Woodworker
magazine has a nice article about Tropical American Tree Farms. A number of you have
called or written to tell us that you saw it. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is
the January/February issue, currently on the newsstands.
More of you came to see your trees last year - 43
tree owners in all! Now more than 200 of you have been to our tree farms to see your
trees.
We invite every one of you to come visit your
trees and enjoy the farms.
If you have visited your trees and have a story
or information to share about your trip to Costa Rica - your favorite hotel or inn, an
area of Costa Rica that you would like to recommend, or a special experience from your
travels - we would love to hear from you and will pass the information on to other tree
owners planning to visit! Please drop us an e-mail message or a note to our Miami
address.
One of our youngest tree owners enjoying the farm with his parents
If you read Newsweek, you
may have seen the September 8th cover story about "Generation Global." In their
lifestyle section, Newsweek wrote about the new trend for young men and women in their
20's and 30's who are choosing careers overseas. Highlighted in the article are the ten
most popular foreign cities for young people to choose to live and work.
San José, the capital of Costa
Rica, was in the list of the ten favorite foreign cities. Sherry and I certainly
understand why, but in case you missed the article, we thought you might be interested in
what Newsweek had to say:
"San José - EXOTIC:
Costa Rica's capital of 400,000 is replete with malls and cineplexes. But naturalists are
drawn here to study the exotic fauna and flora that fill the rainforests nearby. In the
city center, mariachi bands stroll the streets, and the food is tasty and cheap; a good
steak dinner costs just $7. One-bedroom apartments start at $150 a month. And students
looking to save a buck can sign on to the homestay program and live with local
families."
Many of you have asked how our 1997 Premium
Mixture was received. Sherry and I were very gratified by your response. Many of you added
Premium Mixture trees to the trees you already own, and many others of you joined us as
new tree owners by starting our with the Premium Mixture. Your response was truly
gratifying. Thank you.
Sherry and I want to thank all of you one more
time for making this all possible. Thank you for your continued enthusiasm, and thank you
for sharing this wonderful opportunity with your friends and neighbors. Thank you!! |
