VARDAMAN VIRTUAL FORESTRY COMPANY

The Most Direct Link to Knowledge Workers in the Southeast Forest Economy

ALTHOUGH YOU ACTUALLY OWN THEM, WE THINK OF THEM AS OURS

Anyone who has planted a seed, a seedling, a garden, or a forest understands how these planted things fascinate the planter. Although the human may have started things, the plants will always bring him back month after month and year after year to watch the magic of growth unfold. In no time at all and in spite of the economic ownership of the plants, they weave a spell that binds the planter to them and soon makes him look upon them as "his."

This is especially true if he studied the planting carefully, executed it with great skill, and believes that he has achieved something significant. This is exactly how we at JMV&CO feel about plantations that we establish with the concepts of the Vardaman Revolutions in forest management. We believe that they are the most profitable plantations in the world, indeed, that for most parts of the south, they are the only forests that will equal or exceed returns from other investments. Consequently, we regard them as "ours" from the moment that we start work on them, so we carry out each step as if we were building a monument rather than executing a contract.

Lest you think that we are engaging in hyperbole about a forestry operation that many think of as unimportant or routine, we want to list the essential characteristics of a Vardaman Revolution Plantation (VRP). To qualify as a VRP, a pine plantation must satisfy the following requirements:

1. Site must be rendered free of woody and herbaceous competition before planting, not after.

2. Seedlings must be genetically-improved and grown in nursery bed at no more than 15 per square foot.

3. From lifting at the nursery until planting on the site, seedlings must be handled only by JMV&CO employees.

4. Seedlings must be planted with a planting shovel.

5. Spacing must be determined by growth-and-yield study and economic analysis to produce maximum financial return.

Every seedling lifted from a nursery and planted elsewhere comes under stress during the process. If the weather is reasonably good, the pine seedlings commonly planted today will survive some stress and eventually overcome competition on the site. But VRP seedlings must survive most adverse weather, begin thriving immediately, and quickly seize control of the site.

Our specifications make this possible. #1 eliminates competition for moisture from herbaceous and other woody vegetation from the outset; release at the end of the first growing season or later merely allows early competition, increases stress, and reduces growth. #2 produces a vigorous seedling about twice the size of those ordinarily planted; with a root system that makes up at lease 30% of total plant weight, it can take up moisture and begin growth quickly. #3 assures expert care of the seedlings at all times and fixes responsibility for results. #4 allows seedling roots to be spread out at the correct depth and loosens the soil in the zone that they will soon occupy. #5 eliminates competition between the seedlings themselves in early years.

All of these requirements must be fully satisfied; trying to cut corners anywhere will only increase risk and decrease growth and future income. The key to high returns lies in a strategy like the one that beat the Iraqis in the 100-hour War: getting the plantation off to a roaring start, reaching a total height of 15 feet in four or five years, and seizing control of the site quickly. You have to do it right from the word go; you cannot greatly increase growth of a natural stand, nor can you "fix" a plantation with the wrong characteristics. Consequently, if you want to try a VRP but don't want to go wholehog, let us do all of our thing on part of your land. Don't ask us to do part of our thing on all of your land.

Those who have planted forests realize that VRP plantations cost significantly more per tree than ordinary plantations. But because the number of trees is smaller, the per-acre cost is about the same, and the extra income produced by them more than offsets the extra cost. At any rate, the main purpose of #5 above is to assure that all invested capital earns the proper return. We will be happy to show these calculations to you.