The following pictures from Monday’s site visit show 2’ to 3.5’ tall loblolly pines part way through the 1st growing season in Madison County, Florida.  Some of the pictures show study trees from an embedded operational FORTE (Forest Owners Research and Technology Exchange) Genetics x Density Study Installation. The rest are from the surrounding 130-acre operational loblolly pine planting.

What is the goal here? Strong investment returns for this landowner. And, strong research leverage for the forest investment community. The decisions of which pine species and genotype to plant and how many trees per acre to plant initially are two of the biggest questions in the business. And the right (best) answer differs greatly based on local markets, climate and soils, available genetic options, and investor constraints and objectives. That is why FORTE has multiple Genetics x Density Study Installations in the ground across the Southeast US.

What now in regards to this study / operational plantation? For now, we are going to get out of the way so as not to get hurt! These trees are really growing now, pushing through a high deer population, tough N. Florida tip moth attacks, and working their way towards a log truck in their future, going to one of multiple local chip-n-saw (Hood Industries, Binderholtz, Langdale) or pulp or OSB (GP, PCA, Langdale) mills in a few years.  Along the way, we will conduct measures in the established embedded study and provide growth and investment value summaries to FORTE Participants.