Pair
to Market Guilt-free Tropical Woods
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is the complete text of the article.
The Columbus Dispatch - Tuesday, May 4, 1993
by SUZANNE STEEL
Exotic wood lovers soon will be able to
enjoy teak and other tropical woods without guilt.
Sherry and Steve Brunner say they have
found a free-enterprise solution to the problems of rain forest deforestation.
The Columbus couple combined years of real
estate investment experience in Costa Rica with concerns over the loss of tropical rain
forests and developed a tropical hardwood tree farm on what was once a 1,400-acre cattle
ranch in the Central American country.
"We're doing it for profit, but also
because we want to stop seeing the rain forests cut down, " Mr. Brunner said.
For their efforts, the Brunners were among
12 honored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska City, Neb., last weekend.
The genesis for the tree farm started 20
years ago when Mr. Brunner first visited Costa Rica to buy land on the Pacific coast for
investments.
Over the years, "I watched the rain
forest coming down. As I'd fly over I'd see plumes of smoke," he said.
About 10 years ago, the Brunners started
thinking about how to replace some of the trees being cut. After researching with
foresters, lumberyards and others, the couple decided to take the plunge in 1991.
They worked with a Costa Rican forester to
find land with the soil, climate and terrain that would support the types of high value,
fast-growing hardwoods they wanted to plant.
The cattle ranch they settled on had
previously been a tropical rain forest, Mrs. Brunner said. The flat, alluvial soils
were ideal for the teak they wanted to plant, she said, and some of the hillsides were
right for the indigenous tree species.
They planted 62,000 trees last year, and
expect to plant another 100,000 trees this year.
Teak is the best-known tree the Brunners
are raising. Others, more readily known on the international market, include goncalo
alves, idigbo, lapacho, nargusta, peroba rosa and trebol.
They also are raising native trees for the
local cabinetry and woodworking market.
The Brunners expect the first harvest in
seven years, or eight years after the first planting. The average annual rainfall of
120 inches helps.
On average, teak will grow 40 feet in eight
years, and some 9-month-old trees already were 20 feet tall in March, Mr. Brunner said.
The trees are planted about 9 feet apart.
The first thinning produces actual lumber, because teak begins forming hardwood at
six years. Harvests will continue about every four years, until the stand is 25
years old. At that point, the growth curve of the trees begins to slow, and the
remaining trees will be harvested, he said.
While the Brunners have not established a
specific market, they have talked with brokers and buyers to confirm there is one for the
trees they are planting. About four years before the first harvest, they'll become
more aggressive in working with buyers, Mr. Brunner said.
They easily will be able to ship to both
the Asian and the European market, because Costa Rica has both Atlantic and Pacific
seaboards.
Sawmills, located about 15 miles from the
farm, will process the logs into timber for export.
Because they are marketing tropical
hardwoods without harming existing rain forests, the Brunners may be able to command a
higher price for their product. In the United Kingdom, such woods are bringing 13
percent above market prices, he said.
On contract, the Brunners also plant trees
for others for investment purposes. Contractors pay $15 to $23 per tree, depending
on species and quantity, plus a care and management fee at each harvest. The
smallest contracts are for 100 trees. |
