Investing in Timber

[jschwarzbart]

Hi David,

Thank you for sharing your own experience and for providing a very level-headed assessment of the situation. Like most folks here, I have never received any kind of thinning report. I have inquired a few times and have always been told politely (via email) that reports would be forthcoming. Like you, I believe TATF is a legitimate business, with honest intentions behind it, but that there have been some management snafus. I think it terribly unfortunate that the Brunners did not address the problems with Beto(?) earlier. It seems rather poor judgement on the Brunner's part that they let the thinning and the reports get so far behind. Perhaps Steve was so convinced of his own integrity that he could not imagine that tree owners would ever think otherwise. But someone clearly overlooked the impact on remote investors of having no tangible evidence of anything happening in their accounts. I own a small number of trees (400) and it isn't worth it for me to travel to Costa Rica to check on them. I understand the invitation is open, and I would really like to go, but I can't justify the overhead. I waited patiently for reports - I'm too busy to think about it for months at a time - but none came. After a few years and no reports I became concerned, perhaps even suspicious, and that led me to this forum.

What really got me to read all of the posts here was my interest buying more trees. I really like what the Brunners are doing. I love the idea of growing trees for profit, of setting aside land for reforestation and rehabilitation, of experimenting with clones and using oxen to avoid damaging roots. I love the beautiful furniture coming out of Raleo and the intelligence and inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit the Brunners seem to exhibit. But I just can't get past the fact that they allowed their field work to get so far behind, and then compounded their PR problem by failing to communicate the situation in any meaningful way. To use the vernacular for rating equities, at this point this stock is a hold, not a buy. I am really disappointed. There is so much to like here.

For what it's worth: I agree with you that lawsuits will only make the situation worse for TATF and might even jeopardize our investments.