
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130173
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FARMERS TOLD MONEY DOES GROW ON TREES

The Agriculture Department says small-scale farmers who have woodlots on their property sometimes don't realize that money grows on trees.

If you start from scratch and wait 15 to 50 years, depending on the region, newly planted trees can turn a profit.

Woodlot possibilities are described in a fact sheet by the Office for Small-Scale Agriculture, which is operated by USDA's Cooperative State Research Service.

Most woodlot farmers "don't fully manage their operations" and timber growth generally reaches only 50 percent to 60 percent of potential, the report said. Good management means getting each acre to produce the maximum annual growth possible and replacing harvested trees.

The publication tells about a couple, Lula and Vern Johnson, who bought their 40-acre Washington farm for $102 an acre, including a six-acre patch of 40-year-old Douglas fir trees.

Between 1949 and 1987, as money was needed to clear and plant understocked areas, they logged and thinned the stand. When it was sold in 1988, it had 660,000 board feet of lumber and brought nearly $382 per thousand, or $252,000.

"Not everyone can find a timber investment to match that," the report said.

For those wanting to start a long-term timber program, unused areas along streams or creeks offer good sites.

"The South produces salable lumber products in 15 to 25 years," the report said. In the North and West, it takes 30 to 50 years. In the South, final harvests usually take place in 30 to 40 years and in the North and West in 60 to 80 years.

by CNB