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A Business Lunch


amazondk

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On Monday I was in Rorainopolis with my customer from Holland and we went with one of our suppliers to have a lunch business meeting.  This supplier has about 48,000 hectares of land spread amoung 5 ranches in the area.  This ranch, his main one is about 18,000 hectares in area.  We went with him to see some of his logs from his project there and discuss future business.  Unfortunately we could not stay longer and even spend the night.  The Jauaperi river eventually flows into the Branco River which in turn flows into the Negro River.  Hopefully next time I can stay longer and do a little palm hunting and fishing.  The river through his property has good fishing and there is a lot of great forest.

The road into the ranch house has some logs that he will be moving to the sawmill and will to a large degree end up in the canals of Holland as lining for the dikes, canal locks, etc.

070420081792.jpg

The road up to the ranch house with some logs from last years harvest scattered around.  It is not to good to leave logs laying around even though they will not rot as the species there are all very resistant wood.

070420081793.jpg

The ranch house.

070420081796.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

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The view of the river is great from the house.  Moacir, the owner wants to put in a bunch of palms.  So, I guess I will help him out.  The fishing is good in the river.  But, unfortunately we did not have time.  I will make sure that next trip I do.  

070420081806.jpg

Looking up river there is a nice group of Attalea maripas.

070420081801.jpg

Across the river are some Astrocaryum janauari.

070420081802.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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This small tree had just leafed out and was a pretty red color.

070420081803.jpg

Looking up at the ranch house from the river.

070420081800.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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This was the scene for our business meeting.  Moacir had a few cold Venezuelan Polar beers on hand to for refreshments.  My collegue from Holland and I discussed the possiblity of doing a Certified Forest Management project on this property.  Although this costs more than a regular Forest Management Plan the increase value of the wood and the sale of a greater varieity of species makes it more profitable today. My customers company is one of the largest FSC certified lumber companies in Europe.

070420081809.jpg

Since Moacir is a cattle man we have beef for lunch of course.

070420081811.jpg

Lunch was pretty simple, but good. Moacir is the guy on the right.  He is of Italian decent and comes from Rio Grande do Sul in souther Brazil.  He is one of the largest ranchers in Roraima today.

070420081812.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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The road to the ranch house goes through a nice patch of primary forest as well as natural dwarf forest called Campina.

070420081818.jpg

There are some nice Oenocarpus batuau and plenty of Mauritiella aramatas a long the way.

070420081817.jpg

A little Mauritiella.

070420081814.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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One last palm shot before we left the ranch.  Life in the Tropics is tough.

070420081816.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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wow Don, and what palms are going in around the ranch ?

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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Wal,

He wants a grove of Euterpe precatoria.  And, I imagine I can get him to let me plant what ever I see like.  In fact that sounds like a good project.  Plus I can have a place to go fishing.

As to the natural forest composition it is roughly the same as around Manaus.  We have about 50 species of palms native to the area and I believe that southern Roraima is probably about the same.  The species are mostly of Bactris, Astrocaryum, Attalea, Oenocarpus, Euterpe, Mauritia, Mauritella, Socretea, and others.  The habitat ranges from high ground forest (Terra Firme) to low swampy areas, to river banks, and dwarf forest (campina), and real sandy areas which only have small palms which I believe are Bactris growing.  The understory of the forest has a large palm presence and some of them are emergent composing part of the canopy.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

As always, your photos and commentary are wonderful!! I'd like to have this type of 'business meetings'....LOL

Thanks Don!!

Wendi

"I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees!"-Dr. Seuss :P

north central east coast of Florida

halfway between Daytona and St. Augustine

15 mi inland

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Don, great pictures.......this may have been asked before.......but do they normally "Re-forest" areas after logging? Do they cut all the trees in a particular area? or do they only cut certain trees? I imagine to be certified there are alot of environmental concerns involved. Sustainable management issues. BTW.......you use your cell phone to take pictures....what kind and what are the specs on it? Thanks.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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Wendi,

Yes business lunches like that are tough.

David,

My phone is a Nokia N73. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeis lens. It is really a camera with a phone. It is a real handy gadget to travel with. Even when the phone is not in cell range. As to logging there are several kinds of legal logging. One is conversion of forest to other uses such as pasture. In the case of my supplier Moacir this is what he has been doing so far. A landowner can convert a maximum of 20 percent of his land to non forest uses. In order to do this he has to get a license from the State for this use. What I am discussing with him is to use a part of the remainder for Forest Management. In this case a maximum of 25 m3 of trees can be harvested per hectare every 25 years. This about 10 trees per 10,000 m3 on average. If the project is FSC certified it is auditied by and external certification agency. This is simlar to ISO 9002 for example. The only reason an area would be clear cut is to convert it to pasture or farm land. It would be too expensive to cut down the forest for a few trees just for lumber. What is done is selective harvesting of trees above 60 cms in diameter. The authorities in the area I work are constantly monitoring and auditing the business. In the area I work there is not really a problem with predatory logging and for the most part much less than 20 percent of a property has been touched.

Here is a link about FSC forestry FSC. One of the most important parts about FSC certification is that it quarantees legal origin of the lumber and following sustainable management guidelines.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Great photo tour once again Don. I would take your business lunches over mine any day of the week.

I do have a question though. Are any palm species "pioneer" species in the logged areas? I know trees like the cecropia (best place to look for a sloth) and balsa are some of the first trees to establish themselves on logged land, but just curious if any palms are quick to establish themselves on logged land too.

Cincinnati, Ohio USA & Mindo, Ecuador

 

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Jake,

It is not so much logged land. Logged land remains in forest cover with only certain large trees harvested. The clearance of land for agriculture and ranching is where the land is converted to other uses. In these cases when the land is no regularly burned to keep the secondary growth down the Attalea maripa is the dominate species that takes over. Sometimes storms can knock down sizeable tracts of forest as well. The Attaleas pop right up. If the land is burned they come up in mass. The Astrocaryum aculeatum grows primarily in disturbed areas. They are rarely found in any quantity in primary forest. The answer to your question is yes, palms have an important role in forest regeneration. And, they are an important part of the overall forest composition. You can notice the Attaleas in the post above by the river bank.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Fascinating!

Truly!

I've learned something important and interesting, and a bit about palms, too. . . . .

I guess the lawyer in me cares about all the legalities . .

So, who really cares about the FSC guidelines? Why do you care? (Aside from loving the forest . . .?)

dave

Let's keep our forum fun and friendly.

Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or lost profits or revenue, claims by third parties or for other similar costs, or any special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of my opinion or the use of this data. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and I disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use my data. Other terms may apply.

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Dave,

This has become a rather big issue for public works in many cities in the USA. California in particular is very specific about purchasing tropical hardwoods from legal origin. And, being FSC is about the only way that the origin is guaranteed to be known. With FSC certification you can literally go back and find the stump of the tree where the lumber came from. In addition to following sustainable harvesting guidelines to the letter an FSC project has a social focus of improving infrastructure and living standards for the people in the area where the lumber comes from. Today there is a premium of about 20 percent on the price of the wood if it is certified. This has made things more interesting economically for the producer as well. In addition to a higher price the producer can sell a large variety of species as well. In a lumber project you can expect to have around 15 to 20 species of wood from an area. The more of these you can sell the better.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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We should really go to South America one day. We always planned to go there to work for a few years, but then... kids came along and it is rather complicated now that the older one is at school. How is engineering infrastructure/mining there?

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Ari,

Brazil has the largest and richest iron ore mine in the world. And, I believe that the mining company Vale is now the largest mining company in the world after they bought a large Canadian company. Brazil is a very rich, but not to well managed country. That is the complex issue for the country to figure out. Now they have found what appears to be one of the largest oil fields in the world off the coast of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil will in a few years become a major oil exporting nation ranking up there with Russia and others. But, there are a lot of issues to overcome. Especially distribution of income and violence. In the end though I think the country will find its way through many of it's problems. Like anything there are many sides to things. There are few places outside of the USA that I would live. And, where I am is one of them.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Thanks for the info Don. Scott has his experience in mineral/mining sector. We will keep our eye open... one day... Although, after all this work to the garden, I doubt that Scott ever leave again, especially at the moment with Australian mining is still booming.

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Ari,

I can understand completely. I think you live in what looks like a great place and why would want to move. Any move has it's traumas and problems as well. I don't feel like moving. My objective is get what I want here and I will be just fine. But, a visit would always be nice. I am sure you would enjoy this part of the world.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Don,

That is my kind of business lunch! Thanks for the great pictures and commentary.

Brazil sounds like a place I could live. I did live in Costa Rica amny years ago. I am afraid that now there are too many Americans living there. Brazil, New Zealand, or Australia sound nice.

Palmmermaid

Kitty Philips

West Palm Beach, FL

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