Forestry Resources: Turning Non-native Trees Into Landscaping Gold

Sunday November 26, 2006

Photos by Andrew West/news-press.com Wendell Powell, an employee of Wherry Truck Lines, smooths out specialty red mulch in the back of his truck after having it poured at Forestry Resources on Michigan Link in Fort Myers. Powell was transporting the mulch to Forestry Resources in Naples. Order Picture PROFILE • This is a profile of a Southwest Florida manufacturer. In Lee County alone, there are 496 manufacturing businesses that employ 7,831 workers. Send suggestions for future profiles to The News-Press business department at business@news-press.com or call the business desk at (239) 335-0393.

For at least one Fort Myers company, money does grow on trees — even on ones that pose risks to Southwest Florida wetlands.

Almost 25 years ago, Fort Myers-based Forestry Resources was founded on the idea of taking stands of non-native, invasive melaleuca, and grinding it into harmless — even helpful — landscape mulch.

The company since has diversified beyond melaleuca to process and package nearly 30 products, including a variety of wood mulches, barks, soil and stone.

Mike Reagan, an employee of Forestry Resources, moves slash pine logs that eventually will be turned into mulch on Tuesday. The logs are dropped off at the site and then transported to mulching machines.

Mulch-making, however, is still the main event.

During its peak season that typically runs from early fall through late spring, Forestry Resources will pack up to 50,000 bags per day at its 25-acre facility off Michigan Link and State Road 82. This time of year, some trunk-grinding or mulch-packaging is going on 24 hours a day, six days a week. About 65 people are on its payroll.

Demand for mulch never has been higher, according to the Mulch & Soil Council national trade group. However, setbacks in weather or key industries keep Florida mulch-makers on their toes.

Hurricane Charley in 2004 "brought us a lot of wood, but played havoc with our season," said Douglas Stewart, Forestry Resources president & COO. The typical patterns of land development and landscaping were disrupted for several weeks after the storm.

Hurricane Wilma late last fall delayed landscaping, with the result that the weeks immediately after Thanksgiving "were a lot busier than we think they will be this year," Stewart said, "but again, we don't know."

The company doesn't mess with backyard tree-grinding. It gets its raw materials from others who clear land for major real estate developments or who do environmental restoration and mitigation projects.

These days, pine is the major raw ingredient for Forestry Resources mulch. Generally, it's dyed into orange, red or gold hues. Melaleuca mulch, however, stays its natural color of a medium to dark brown. The company gradually is migrating to equipment that grinds and dyes wood in one fluid process.

Until it's bagged, the mulch is stored in hills about 35 feet high, giving the east Fort Myers property a look reminiscent of the desert Southwest.

Landscape contractors are the core customers; however, the company also sells mulch to four Lowe's home improvement stores in the region. The latter business will grow as new Lowe's are added to Southwest Florida.

It also makes a custom mulch that major regional developer WCI Communities uses in new landscape installations in its neighborhoods.

Another regular commercial customer is Andy Allen, landscape manager for North Fort Myers-based Juniper Landscaping. Mulch, Allen said, "holds in moisture, and keeps plant material from drying out. Some mulches are chemically treated to help deter rodents and bugs."

Mulch also dresses up a landscape, which is especially important at residential or business property that's for sale, Allen added.

Vertically integrated, Forestry Resources sells its mulch at four retail stores in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero and Bonita Springs.

The mulch industry is very territorial because of shipping costs, Stewart said, noting that some companies get around this by establishing processing plants in multiple states.

For the most part, Forestry Resources works independently. "We think we can be competitive within 150 miles of our facility," Stewart said.

Mulch is sold by volume. A bag with a 2-cubic-foot capacity will cover 12 square feet with a layer of mulch that's about 3 inches deep, said Frances Anderson, Fort Myers store manager.

Retail prices at Forestry Resources stores range from $1.69 for a 2-cubic-foot-capacity bag of Vita-Mulch, a blend of various wood fibers, soil, sand, humus and organic materials, to $7.25 for a 3-cubic-foot bag of cypress bark.

The latter is considered "the Cadillac" of mulches because its color and texture hold up better than the rest, Anderson said.

Public preference for cypress mulch, however, is waning as people become more concerned about preserving what's left of older cypress stands across the state.

"In the next five to 10 years, cypress mulch will be a bygone," Stewart predicted.

Another controversy has involved mulch from recycling pressure-treated wood. Some consumers buying this kind of mulch have unknowingly spread traces of arsenic in their yards. Stewart said his company doesn't make mulch from recycled, pressure-treated wood.

It does, however, mulch pallets made of non-pressure-treated pine, when the pallets no longer can carry heavy loads.

One benefit of selling organic mulch is that it needs to be replaced at least once a year, because it degrades into the soil. "We try to get (consumers) to mulch twice a year," Stewart said. "We have a very strong fall season, which is driven by the master-planned communities. The spring season is driven by the Harry Homeowners."

Although Lee, Collier and Hendry counties have yielded wood supplies, most of the raw material is coming from Collier — where more development is occurring, according to Stewart.

The cool-off in the building industry hasn't affected demand for mulch here, Stewart said.

"Fall has been real good for us. ... If we do see an impact, it will be in the second or third quarter of next year."