A 'growth' investment
You can save the rainforest or you can grow the rainforest. Tropical American Tree Farms will help you do both.
Tropical American
Tree Farms plants 45 species of tropical hardwood trees in Costa Rica. The trees are cared for, harvested and processed into marketable lumber. Its customers, who actually own the trees, can choose to keep the lumber or have
Tropical American Tree Farms sell it.
"The tree owners have full control," said Steve Brunner, who founded
Tropical American Tree Farms with his wife, Sherry, by planting their first trees in 1992. "We'll send them a note saying when our foresters give the go-ahead for harvesting, but they have the final say when it gets cut and milled."
Basically, it's an investment. But the Brunners, who have 6,000 acres of trees and more than 700 tree owners, view
Tropical American Tree Farms as an effort to grow precious tropical hardwoods for profit while offering an alternative to the destruction of rainforests.
"We're fully certified by Smart-Wood," said Steve Brunner, referring to the Vermont-based independent certifier of sustainable forestry practices. "Forty percent of the land is tree farms, while the other 60 percent is protected."
Trees must be purchased in multiples of 100 from a species list that includes teak, Brazilian cherry, purpleheart and cocobolo.
The cost varies by species. As examples (based on a total order of 100 to 400 trees), 100 teak or cocobolo trees sell for $3,192, while 100 Brazilian cherry or purpleheart trees sell for $2,755.
Tropical American Tree Farms projects that after 25 years, investors will make a profit of $103,701 on 100 teak trees. If customers choose to sell their
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lumber, Tropical American Tree
Farms charges a 6 percent care and management fee of the net harvest proceeds.
For more information, contact Tropical American Tree Farms, c/o AAA Express Mail, 1641 N.W. 79th Ave., Miami, FL 33126. Tel: 800-788-4918.
E-mail: trees@tropicalhardwoods.com.
Web:
http://tropicaltreefarms.com or www.tropicaltrees.com.
— Compiled by
Compiled by
Melanie Winters
Steve Brunner, co-founder of Tropical American Tree Farms in Costa Rica, with a 5-year old teak tree. |
