The Green Advantage

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WOOD PRICES IN COSTA RICA

Tree owners: By the time the first of the 2003 teak is ready to be thinned, we’ll be very anxious to buy your logs.

Sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time, and one of the situations where that’s true is being in a business when demand exceeds supply. In Costa Rica, the supply of wood is dwindling at an alarming rate. The ministry of environment and energy (MINAE) is tightening the rules on harvesting wood, a very good thing. The days of harvesting trees from the rainforest are nearly over for Costa Rica, a wonderful thing.

Just looking at Costa Rica and not taking into account demand from other countries, there is a steady flow of Baby Boomers moving here, and they want fine wood for building. (Many people have contacted us regarding spam they have received offering real estate deals in Costa Rica—so watch out!) Tourism expanded by 20 percent in 2005, and still there are people who haven’t come because they couldn’t get a room, so hotel construction is really fueling the demand.

According to official government figures, the price of wood in Costa Rica has risen 15 percent per year between 2003 and 2005. According to MINAE, as of 2008, Costa Rica will have to start importing wood—perhaps sooner.

For all of you who have purchased trees with us, it looks like our estimate of a 7 percent wood price inflation rate was very conservative, as we thought it would be. There must be an upper limit on the price of wood, but for tropical hardwood, the prices are going to go up for a long time yet.

The demand is such that we normally require a deposit on wood before we even cut it and dry it. Our biggest issue right now is trying to create an inventory—not a bad problem to have—and we’re starting to do that by cutting other people’s teak and also fallen trees on our farm and nearby farms. To see photos of the portable sawmill in action on an ojoche log, click here. When we watch the cutting speed, we have to remind ourselves that this is a very dense log, too heavy to be put on a truck and too big for a conventional sawmill to handle even if they could get it there. The crew cut 700 board feet that afternoon. (Tree owners take note—the few teak that got crushed when this tree came down belong to us, not to any of you!)

As we often say, we’re not just in the reforestation business; we’re also in the lumber business. The more lumber we produce in an environmentally sound way, the more land we can afford to turn into perpetual forest.

Read It on the Web Site

Enjoy the newest Life in the Campo story, Fixer-Uppers Costa Rican Style, about our adventures in home renovation, then browse the photo gallery.

The latest articles on native tree species from our director of research include: acacia, which is the most valuable of the fast-growing species and makes beautiful flooring; caobilla, which is an excellent alternative to hard-to-grow mahogany; Costa Rican ipe; and ron ron. Upcoming articles: guapinol and ojoche.

TROPICAL TREE SPECIES TO PLANT IN 2006

This week and next, we´re finalizing our selection of tree species to plant for 2006. If you plan to buy any native varieties this year, we´d like to hear from you so we can make sure we´ll have what you want. The Adirondack chair at right shows off the beauty of a variety of tropical hardwoods.

To help you with your choices, you may want to read the articles in the Tree Information section. Of interest to those looking for earlier harvests is acacia, and there is a wood similar to mahogany that some perceive as even better (see Mahogany Substitute).

We still can't believe how fast things grow in the tropics, especially in the volcanic soils of our farms. This teak is less than 6 months old. Acacia grows even faster.

BRING BACK THE RIVERS

Many of you know that our partner and operations manager, Hector Ramirez, was born in the area of our farms. On the day before his birthday, one of his cousins, Irma, rode out to one of the farms to help prepare for the big fiesta.

As they approached the biggest log bridge, Hector’s wife commented that it was good that they had just fixed some of the potholes on the bridge, as they were traveling with a full load and wouldn't want to fall into the river. Irma looked down and exclaimed, “What happened to all the water? I haven't been out this way since about 15 years ago when we lived in the next town over.” Then she told a story of how 4 decades ago, she and her older brother had to cross three rivers to get from town to her house. One day, when they were crossing the next river over, she had just got onto the river bank and a surge of water came through and wiped her brother clear off the horse. Only by a miracle he was saved, but unfortunately, the horse and a cow they were leading drowned.

They drove on a little bit, and as they crossed the next bridge, someone asked Irma, “Is this the river where your brother's horse and cow drowned?” As she answered affirmatively, they all sadly looked down at the small, slow stream that was passing beneath. “This is because of deforestation,” Irma explained.

Costa Rican farmers are witnessing firsthand the effects of deforestation, and our neighbors are watching with interest the strategies that Finca Leola uses to reforest. As they’ve seen the rivers increasing on our property, they’ve started asking us about ways they can help the environment that will work for them. We explore with them how they can partner with us to grow trees for prime wood while maintaining a livelihood off the land as they wait for harvest.