Does Longleaf Pine Make Dollars and $ense? (continued)

Risk Reduced

Better quality seedlings have taken much of the risk out of planting longleaf pine. We have learned much about handling and planting longleaf seedlings in the past several years as well. These gains, coupled with increased knowledge about the role of competing vegetation and the development of selective herbicides to control it, have made is possible to shorten and in many cases eliminate the grass stage. That accomplished, we have learned that longleaf is not, as often reported, a slow-grower-only a slow starter. Research has shown that once established on average and poor sites, it will catch and pass faster starting loblolly or slash pine in a reasonable time; 12-15 years on poor sites and 25-30 years on average sites. On very good, productive sites, it takes longer to catch up, often outside a reasonable investment period if return on the investment is the only measure used.

One consideration often overlooked is that the growth rate of wood volume is not the only or even the most important measure of the value of a forestry investment. The more important measure is the growth rate in value or dollars. Remember that longleaf products return a premium and value is actually growing at a faster rate than volume.