Rain-forest
commuters: Tree farming in Costa Rica
Below is
the complete text of the article.
Columbus Monthly, January 1995
Two years ago Sherry and Steve
Brunner surrendered their urban careers and went to Costa Rica to plant trees. Their goal
is a large one: They want to provide the world with hardwoods grown in an environmentally
sound way, and they want to preserve and encourage growth of the world's rapidly
disappearing rain forests.
Although they still work out of
offices in their German Village home, they frequently fly to Costa Rica to check on the
three tree farms that they own. And when they're not there they're educating American
adults and children about the importance of growing trees. Last year their company was one
of the first in the world to receive certification in the Smart Wood Program of the
Rainforest Alliance, based in New York City.
This is a unique certification for
forestry management created to judge the "quality of the plantation," says
Richard Donovan, director of the Smart Wood Program. It provides specific guidelines for
forest management. In essence, the Alliance hopes to tell the world which tree farmers
have environmental consciences.
Steve Brunner's journey to Costa
Rica, and his acute awareness of the disappearing rain forests, started more than 20 years
ago. After graduating from Ohio State University's School of Law and passing the bar exam,
Brunner began restoring and selling properties in German Village. He and a partner decided to invest in Costa Rican land, figuring that in years to come,
warm-weather, coastal property would be a wonderful investment.
On the land that they purchased on a
rocky peninsula named Punta Dominical, they build four bungalows overlooking the Pacific
Coast. This area, surrounded by farmland, was the incentive for Brunner to make frequent
trips to Central America.
Through the years on those trips, he
watched from the air as Costa Rican farmers cut and burned the jungles to plant beans and
create pastures. "It really bothered me," he remembers. "[They were]
destroying the animals and the homes for animals."
Eventually, he realized that the
hardwoods of the world were disappearing, quickly, because of the clearing practices and
because loggers were pushing farther into the forests in search of rare trees. Brunner
began dreaming about planting tropical trees. He and Sherry were married; together, their
enthusiasm for the idea grew. A Costa Rican forester told him that trees there "grew
a lot faster," Brunner says. "That obviously piqued my interest - to know that
it wasn't going to take 100 or 200 years."
In 1992 Steve sold his German
Village real estate firm to HER, and Sherry quit her job as a sales representative. The
sale enabled them to invest in their first Costa Rican tree farm, Campo Real. Today 10
families live on the farm and care for it.
Since then they have purchased two
additional farms. Next to their second ranch is 2,000 acres of undisturbed rain forest,
where native emerald parrots and spider monkeys still roam. The Brunners will not cut some
of the trees they've planted; those areas will serve as corridors to repopulate and
reconnect segments of the once-thriving jungles.
Their most recent purchase, the Rio
Blanco ranch, is so remote that it must be reached by four-wheel drive, then a primitive
cable car that crosses a river and, finally, horseback.
In all, the Brunners have planted
more than 400,000 trees on their land. Species include teak, purpleheart and more than 70
others. "Some of the trees are so rare we can't get the seeds or seedlings,"
says Steve. When they can get the rare seeds of the giant Ajo tree, for instance, they're
nursed along in the farms' nurseries.
Of the 3,300 acres that they've
planted, 1,700 are reserved for growing more trees to cut and 1,000 acres protect existing
rain forests. The remaining acreage is along stream beds and hills that are nearly
impossible to plant.
Through the years as the numbers of
some trees have dwindled, their values have increased. While a teak tree may only cost $20
to plant and nurture, in the end it may bring several thousand dollars on the world
market. "Profit and concern for the environment can go hand in hand," says
Steve.
Although their first crop of trees -
probably teak - won't be harvested for seven or eight years, in those quiet moments in the
Costa Rican countryside, when native birds call, Sherry and Steve Brunner are sure they
made the right decision. |
