Couple's
Dream Takes Root Abroad
Below is the complete
text of the article.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer - Tuesday,
September 6, 1994
by Sherry Beck Paprocki
In early 1980, Brunner decided to build more bungalows. But Costa
Rican advisers said wood was too expensive. So Brunner began dreaming about buying a farm
to plant tropical hardwood trees.
Columbus - Steve and Sherry Brunner hope to
ease the world crunch for hardwoods and want to make an environmental impact by preserving
and encouraging growth of the tropical rain forest.
While many North Americans express concern
about depletion of the world's rain forests, the Brunners are taking an active role to
preserve them.
They own Tropical American Tree Farms, a
combination of three farms near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. In just two years they
have planted nearly a half-million trees - some to be harvested and others that will help
restore the forests.
It has been more than 20 years since Steve
Brunner, 50, began honing his interest in Costa Rican real estate. And, he admits, in the
beginning his interest was purely business. Environmental concerns hardly played a role.
After graduating from Ohio State
University's law school and passing the bar exam, Brunner began selling real estate in
German Village, a restored neighborhood just south of downtown.
He and a friend began
discussing investment properties and settled on "warm weather, oceanfront
property" as a possibility. Then they began looking at areas outside of the United
States. While studying countries, Brunner and his partner had a list of qualifications,
including government stability and private ownership of land guaranteed by the
constitution. "Little Costa Rica kept turning up," Brunner said.
In early 1974 Brunner flew the whole
Pacific coast of Costa Rica and chose five sites he was interested in buying. The partners
were able to purchase four of the five sites, totaling 2,500 acres.
"I'm sure we paid more than another
Costa Rican farmer would have," he said. Three of those farms are now owned by a
limited partnership of nearly 15 entities. Managers look after them, raising some cattle.
The group has recently started some development of oceanfront housing in the area.
Early on, the partners built four wooden
bungalows on Punta Dominical, a high rocky point that juts out into the Pacific. Brunner
often stayed there when he visited.
During those trips he saw the burning of
forests as Costa Rican farmers cleared the land for planting beans and creating pastures,
a practice encouraged for years. He remembers thinking: "This is incredible. If
you're flying in, you just see plumes of rising smoke."
Although loggers and large lumber companies
get much blame, too, for loss of the rain forests, "it's really a cultural thing as
to why the rain forests are disappearing, in addition to dollars and cents," he said.
In early 1980, Brunner decided to build
more bungalows. But Costa Rican advisers said they would have to be built of brick or
other materials because wood was too expensive.
So Brunner began dreaming about buying a
farm to plant tropical hardwood trees.
A few years later, after meeting his wife,
Sherry, that dream became a reality. "We just decided that we were going to plant
trees," said Steve. At first, their friends and co-workers didn't believe them.
"Now people realize that we are following our dream," said Sherry, 43.
She quit her job as a sales representative,
and Steve sold Brunner Realtors. By June 1, 1992, they were standing on Campo Real - their
first Costa Rican farm.
Since then the Brunners have purchased two
additional farms. One farm can be reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicle, a swing across
a river on a primitive cable car, then by horseback.
On their farms, 1,700 acres has been
reserved for planting and 1,000 acres protect existing rain forests. The remaining 700
acres are stream beds and steep terrain.
The couple divide their time between
Columbus and Costa Rica. While in Columbus, they speak about their efforts to reforest the
area.
The couple spend nearly six months working
on their plantations. They visit schools in Costa Rica, explaining the importance of trees
and distributing seedlings.
Farmers are beginning to realize clearing
trees may not be the best practice.
As their trees grow, the Brunners are
witnessing the return of native species to their land. Last year they planted 6,000 trees
that will never be harvested, according to Steve. Some are being used as connecting
corridors that will help two patches of native jungle connect.
Teak, purpleheart, cocobolo and more than
40 other species have been planted. Some, such as teak, should be ready to harvest in
seven or eight years.
Teak is so rare that one tree sells for
$20,000 to $30,000. "Some of the trees are so rare we can't get the seeds or the
seedlings," he said.
The Aja tree, for example, has been cut
down by farmers because it casts a lot of shade and can be used for fence posts. Now it is
scarce. The first year the Brunners could not get Aja seeds to germinate. The second year,
only four seedlings grew. This year, 500 are taking root in their nurseries.
Builders, architects and others have
expressed interest in buying the hardwoods that have become so difficult to get in the
United States. The Brunners have started an investment program in which organizations and
individuals can participate in growing the trees to earn profits when they are harvested.
Although the wood will probably be sold
internationally, some of their products will stay in Costa Rica, which imports much of its
wood from Chile.
The Brunners' tree farms recently were
certified by the Smart Wood Program of the Rainforest Alliance, based in New York.
"We have a specific guide for how forest management needs to take place," said
Richard Donovan, director of the program.
According to Donovan, the Brunners are
doing an especially good job with planting species native to Costa Rica and preserving the
native forests on their lands.
The Columbus-based company was the first
foreign tree farm owned by Americans that was certified by the Alliance.
In 1993 the Brunners received the Good
Steward Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for their commitment to reducing
destruction of existing rain forests.
Through the years of learning forestry,
farming and a foreign culture, Steve Brunner would recall his childhood when he attended
Johnny Appleseed Junior High School in Mansfield.
"My father used to talk to me about
planting trees," he said. "He would say, 'We're just going to run out of trees.'
"
Paprocki is a free-lance writer from Granville, O. |
