Schools Reap Benefit from Strong Timber Sales

Speaking at the May 1 meeting of the Tate's Hell State Forest Liaison Committee, forester Ace Haddock said that the reforestation project underway in Tate's Hell is drawing to an end after 13 years.

He said that 4,900 acres remain and the Florida Division of Forestry has scheduled 1,300 for this year, leaving only 3,600. An estimated 20,000 acres has been replanted since the project began in 1995.

The reforestation project began the day after Thanksgiving and crews planted 80 to 100 acres a day, and worked every day except Christmas.

"We're mostly planting slash pine now," said Haddock. "We've pretty much finished the longleaf sites. It's satisfying to see it coming to an end."

He told the committee that the annual timber inventory is almost complete. He said that the Division of Forestry tries to survey 10 percent of the forest each year, or about 20,000 acres. This year 1,700 acres were surveyed.

The survey, which took place from January to March, is to determine if there's been damage during timber sales and "and to see how well the trees have grown since a sale," said Haddock.

Timber sales continue to be excellent and proceeds are expected to be even higher this year than the record $997,500 earned during the 2005-2006 fiscal year. Over 70,000 truckloads of wood, weighing on the average 28 tons, have been removed from the forest since the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, 2007.

"As of this morning, we have sales totaling over $1 million since July," Haddock told the committee, "Spring is traditionally when sales are best, so we expect to do a lot more in May and June."

Haddock said that, in some contracts, buyers are now being required to bid a flat rate per ton of timber. In the past, revenue from harvested trees was dependent on the rate at which the wood was sold and some uses generated more revenue than others. Since the buyer will now be required to offer a flat rate, they will be forced to market the trees for uses that generate higher revenue to make a healthy profit.

Haddock said that he expects a sale that opened for bids on April 29 to bring in over $10 a ton, while, in the past, the trees might have been sold for pulp wood earning around $3 per ton.

Franklin and Liberty county schools each benefit directly from increased timber sales because 15 percent of all revenue generated by state forests is donated to the school systems of the counties in which they are located. Since 85 percent of Tate's Hell is located in Franklin County, the school system will receive a check for at least $140,000 this year.