The timber business is booming in northeast Florida with demand booming for the natural resource worldwide. The towering grove of century-old longleaf pines surrounding Roger Ward’s family home is a rare site in this verdant swath of north-central Florida — most pines there are cut and processed for profit as soon as their 15-to-18-year growth cycle is complete.
The demand for timber worldwide is booming and that remote section of Florida, along with other timber-growing regions of the southeastern U.S., are benefiting. Dozens of lumber mills and pine straw, bark and wood pellet processing plants have sprung up in north Florida to take advantage of the unique soil composition, lengthy growing season and warm, moist climate in which pine trees thrive.
In a state where undeveloped real estate quickly gives way to neighborhoods, strip malls, hotels or amusement parks, this timber-rich part of Florida is unique.
Ward jokes that the acres of tall pines constituted his college fund and his parents’ 401k. The family’s fortunes have long been linked to the rise and fall of the timber market. “This is certainly one of the better times around here for timber,” Ward said as he inspected a field of tree saplings on a recent afternoon.
Timber prices are rising as demand grows for timber used in building, paper products and biofuels worldwide. Prices for Florida saw pine peaked around 2005 — before the housing bust and the recession — at $40 a ton, according to Timber Mart-South, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that tracks the timber industry. Prices fell to $21 a ton in 2011 but are now around $25 a ton and rising.
From CBS Miami: https://miami.cbslocal.com/2015/09/04/timber-business-booming-in-parts-of-florida/