|
Tropical American Tree Farms: Managed Care for Exotic Hardwoods
WOODWORK -
A Magazine For All Woodworkers
, August 1998
Click here for the complete text of the article, or click on each thumbnail below to go to a full size image of that page.
 
 
Below is the complete text of the article (back to the top of the page)
Tropical American Tree Farms: Managed Care
for Exotic Hardwoods
WOODWORK - A Magazine For All Woodworkers, August 1998
By Kerry Pierce
For woodworkers using only those hardwood species native to the United States, little is necessary in the way of material conservation. Walnut, cherry, oak, and most other temperate species are available at reasonable prices. Furthermore, reserves of these species are, according to many experts, adequate to meet projected needs. But for those craftsmen using woods originating in tropical rainforests, the responsibility is greater. The rich diversity of species occurring in the world's equatorial regions is threatened because the rainforest that produces this diversity is under
constant assault from ranchers, farmers, developers, and lumbermen.
It's difficult for the individual woodworker to know how to respond to this situation. Some have turned away from tropical hardwoods, substituting other, perhaps less desirable, temperate species. Other woodworkers, in the face of a problem of overwhelming dimensions, have simply thrown up their hands and continued using whatever is available.
Steve and Sherry Brunner - originally from Columbus, Ohio, now residents of Costa Rica - have a different answer. On 6500 acres near the Pacific shore of Costa Rica, the Brunners have established Tropical American Tree Farms for the purpose of planting and raising a variety of rainforest species under a carefully conceived management program. Working with the blessing and encouragement of the Costa Rican government, the Brunners have planted 860,000 trees since 1992. Many of the species are familiar to American woodworkers: teak, purpleheart, cocobolo, mahogany. Others are
local varieties, recommended to the Brunners by natives of the area for the quality of the wood these species produce. While most of the trees (830,000) are intended to be harvested, many (30,000) were planted with no intention of harvest. Instead, these fruiting, flowering, and shelter trees were planted to prevent erosion and to provide wildlife habitat.
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica is an ideal choice for an operation of this kind. First, it is located in that narrow, globe-circling band of warm, humid climate necessary for tropical rainforest (see map). Second, the country has a stable, democratic government that provides a high degree of comfort for American investors. And third, it offers an educated work force, with a rate of adult literacy not far behind that of the United States.
Steve's involvement in Costa Rica began twenty five years ago. With an eye to future development, and working with a group of investors, he bought several farms near the Pacific coast. As he traveled in Costa Rica managing these farms, he saw and became concerned by the destruction of the rainforest there.
"For nearly twenty years, I watched in dismay as, piece by piece, the tropical forests disappeared," he explains. "I realized that I was witnessing firsthand the destruction of the world's richest ecosystem and along with it the supply of tropical hardwoods."
In 1983, Steve began to investigate the possibility of growing the highly prized rainforest hardwoods under managed conditions on a tree farm. He reasoned that, in addition to providing him with an opportunity to do business, such an alternative source of supply might relieve some of the pressure on what remained of the world's rainforests.
After eight years of planning, he and his wife, Sherry, bought three parcels of land along the Barú and Savegre Rivers not far from Costa Rica's Pacific coast, beginning with Campo Real, a 1400 acre former cattle ranch.
Before a single tree was planted, the Brunners hired a forester who conducted a comprehensive survey of the land, noting slopes and soil conditions, among many other characteristics. The planting map he produced took into consideration not only the needs of the trees that would ultimately be planted from the land; it also addressed the needs of local wildlife. Steve cites one example of their desire to accommodate the wildlife: "We realized that if we harvested all the trees we had planted from certain areas, the monkeys wouldn't be able to move from one island of natural
rainforest to another. So we designed a corridor system of plantings that will connect the forested areas on the farm. These we will never cut."
The Brunner's work has benefited the Costa Rican people, as well as its ecosystem. Before being purchased by the Brunners, the six farms now under their management employed a total of 10 to 12 men and women. Those same farms, now transformed for the purpose of growing trees, provide employment for 180 men and women. In a recent newsletter to tree owners, Steve noted that the 1997 Christmas party for employees and their families (held at the Santo Domingo farm) was attended by nearly 500 people.
GOOD STEWARDSHIP
Their work at Tropical American Tree Farms has won the Brunners recognition from several environmental groups. In 1993, the National Arbor Day Foundation gave them its Good Steward Award for their "economically inspired solution to tropical deforestation." In the words of Mary Yager, then the director of program services for the Foundation, this award is given as part of an "annual competition that recognizes efforts on behalf of trees, including work on private property." She went on to explain that out of several hundred entries that year, only twenty
awards were given, among them the award received by the Brunners. In May of 1994, Tropical American Tree Farms was certified as a well-managed tropical hardwood plantation by the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance, one of only 11 tropical forestry operations to have received this certification. Kate Heaton, then Associate Director of the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood Program, explains that the Brunners were recognized for their integrated landscape approach (suiting wood to terrain) and for their "wildlife corridors maintained in perpetuity."
To woodworkers who want to act in an environmentally responsible manner, the Brunners (and other wood producers like them) are offering an alternative to material acquired through rainforest clear-cutting. The Rainforest Alliance cites the importance of this alternative: "Consumers can start (to act) by asking suppliers about the origin of wood products and expressing a preference for buying environmentally certified products. In this way the public can influence the quality of forest management and make it economically worthwhile for producers to invest in better
management techniques."
The Brunners can be contacted at the following address:
Tropical American Tree Farms (SJO)
c/o AAA Express Mail
1641 N.W. 79th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33126
1-800-788-4918
trees@tatf.com
Kerry Pierce is a contributing editor to Kerry Pierce is a contributing editor to Woodwork magazine.
(sidebars in the article):
Teak
Although more than 40 species have been planted on Campo Real (and its companion farms), one species, teak - an import from Asia - promises the quickest return on investment. This is due to teak's rapid growth and to the already established market for its wood.
Teak seed is prepared for germination with a two-week series of 48-hour soakings in river water, alternating with 48-hour drying periods. The seeds are then placed in germination beds. When the sprouts have produced four leaves and reached a height of three inches, they are transplanted in neat rows in the nursery and allowed to grow for five months, at which time they will stand over six feet tall. Next, workers dig the plant from the ground and trim off all the foliage and much of the root. This pruning is done to promote vigorous growth at the final planting site.
The field location is prepared by a bulldozer with a special deep plow. Individual planting sites are next drilled with a power auger. Then, in each of these holes, a trimmed teak stake is planted.
When a stand reaches eight years of age, the first thinning harvest takes place. At this time, individual trees produce only 20-25 board feet of usable lumber. Other thinning harvests will take place at three to four year intervals, with the final harvest occurring 25 years after field planting, at which time each tree is expected to yield more than 500 bd. ft. of usable lumber.
The Brunner's Premium Mixture
This past fall, Steve and Sherry Brunner began planting a mixture of fourteen different species in the same fields. There are several reasons for this decision. First, they are interested in producing a variety of tropical hardwoods. Second, Steve and Sherry believe that trees planted in a mixture like this may grow faster than single-species plantings. And third, they believe that this approach enhances their prospects of growing mahogany. Steve explains: "Mahogany planted in a pure stand tends to have a problem with a little shoot-tip borer moth. But growing in the natural forest, the
odors of the surrounding vegetation tend to foil the little moth's ability to locate the mahogany trees." And last, the mixture-method of planting produces more natural stands of trees, a quality that may be more inviting to Costa Rica's wildlife.
The Brunner's premium mixture includes mahogany, cocobolo, primavera, trebol, Brazilian cherry, bocote, purpleheart, goncalo alves, ipe, peroba rosa, roble, Santa Maria, madero negro, and wild tambran.
Tree Owners (Investors)
In addition to the trees we are growing for ourselves, we are growing several hundred thousand tropical hardwood trees by contract for nearly 700 other companies, trusts and individuals. We grow the trees for our tree owners in multiples of 100 trees. Depending upon the species of tree and the quantity of trees ordered, the cost ranges from about $15 per tree up to a little over $30 per tree, which includes the cost of the tree and its planting and care, and the cost of the use of the land.
Our tree owners actually own their specific trees, and the wood their trees produce. Their trees are marked in the field. At harvest time, tree owners may choose to keep their wood or sell it themselves. Or they may ask us to sell their wood for them and send them the proceeds. In talking with many, many of our tree owners, we have found that they have us grow trees for them for a combination of reasons. Many are motivated by the likely value of the wood in relation to the cost of having us grow the trees. Others, mostly woodworkers or wood-related companies, are primarily interested in owning
or using some or all of the wood that their trees will produce. And still others are principally motivated by a concern for the environment or simply the love of trees or beautiful woods. All of our tree owners are invited to visit their trees and to enjoy the wonderful beauty of the farms, the rivers, waterfalls, and nearly 3,000 acres of tropical rainforest. They can walk or ride horseback for hours along the miles of private roads and trails that wind throughout the farms.
More than 200 of our tree owners have come to see their trees.
-- Steve Brunner
(end of sidebars) |
|
|
