God created this world, but he gave mankind dominion over it.
When it comes to harvesting tim-ber and putting this natural resource to use, this is one area those of us in North Florida and South Georgia know a lot about, both good and bad.
When I look at land, the very first thing I do is look at the timber for clues on how this land was cared for in the past. I would love to have seen unbroken stands of virgin cypress, hardwood and pine.
It’s been estimated that at one time there were 90 million acres of long-leaf and wiregrass stretching across the coastal plain. I’ve seen old pictures of Taylor, Madison and Wakulla counties in Florida, and it’s hard to imagine the size of the trees that once grew there – and really not that long ago.
Today, the largest remaining contiguous tract of virgin longleaf left in the world is on Greenwood Plantation, just west of Thomasville, Georgia. We had the honor of brokering its sale and really got to know this 1,200-acre natural cathedral. Thankfully, we sold it to one of America’s leading conservationists who happened to also own the heavily researched Wade Tract, which was the second largest virgin longleaf forest.
Putting aside the conquistadors’ vain search for gold, the most important resource from the “New World” was actually its timber. That’s just not as sexy to talk about in history books.
What few know is early on the live oak was the most desired species! It’s hard to imagine that live oaks, which have zero commercial value today, were viewed as the most valuable tree.
Today, less than one-half of 1% of the virgin hardwood forests east of the Mississippi are left. Some of it is in properties in North Florida we’ve worked on. There, the live oaks grow straight as any saw log and look nothing like the sprawling quintessential backdrop of today’s South.
The live oak is one of nature’s hardest woods, making it ideal for ship-building, which was paramount during colonial times. It was a strategic military asset our forefathers revered. In fact, one of the first acts of conservation performed by our fledging country was to allocate $200,000 to purchase reserves of live oaks along the South Carolina and Georgia coastlines.
In 1799, John Jay, one of our Founding Fathers and first Chief Justice, convinced Congress that ship timbers and masts would become scarce unless measures were taken to prevent waste and preserve existing supplies. Congress then authorized President John Adams, our country’s second president, $200,000 for the project. That’s $4,825,967 in today’s dollars!
To America, its first major export, timber – which was used for ship masts, staves, clapboards and shingles – was hugely valuable. I never realized it had so much strategic importance until learning that Britain, during colonial rule, tried to lay claim to all white pine on American soil for its Royal Navy – an early point of contention between colonists and the crown.
That would be one of Britain’s first mistakes – taking soft northern white pine for its ships. Meanwhile, the Americans used live oak and longleaf pine and built one of the most successful and famous battleships in the history of the world: the U.S.S. Constitution. Nicknamed “Old Ironsides,” cannonballs bounced off her sides. She is the world’s oldest ship still afloat. Essentially, in her heyday during the War of 1812, she was like the first nuclear aircraft carrier, helping to secure American interests worldwide. She’s still floating in Boston Harbor, and as a young boy, I toured it. The secret of “Old Ironsides” came from Southern live oak and longleaf pine – and we in the South had the only source of it.
It’s a growing consciousness of conservation that things of value are worth saving. Conservation organizations, such as The Boone & Crockett Club, began to form. At the heart of this movement is the desire to protect, pre serve and thoughtfully utilize our American forests. What better way to care for and pay homage to the land God has given mankind dominion over?
That wildlife belongs to all citizens is a singularly American concept. In the South, we take that one step further with our great admiration for our own land and our drive to preserve and improve upon its heritage.
While forestry today has the same goals as yesteryear, the profession has a much-updated look. There are many, many more trees now than at our country’s founding.
They just aren’t as large or as old. American ingenuity and technology al-low for an even greater ability to meet those seemingly incongruent goals of utilizing forests for livelihood while keeping them intact for future generations to explore and enjoy.
Our own Cole Schwab is a third-generation forester based out of Taylor County. Cole’s family business, M.A. Rigoni, has provided forestry services to landowners since 1960. In that time, Cole and his family have seen forestry tools change from hand saws and chain saws to whole tree chippers.
“In my grandfather’s early days, they were dragging one to two trees out at a time – on a good day. Now, we’re looking at 15 semi-loads per day to just break even,” said Cole, JKA Sales Associate and timber buyer for M.A. Rigoni.
M.A. Rigoni was the first to bring whole tree chipping to our area, and this process has revolutionized how land-owners can manage and utilize their property. Essentially, the whole tree chipping allows landowners to open up areas that were previously inaccessible, thereby creating more opportunities for recreation, enjoyment and finding value in the land.
A few years ago, Tall Timbers reported quail hunting as having a $92.5 million economic impact on Thomas County, supporting nearly 800 jobs and $41 million in labor. Tall Timber’s analysis of Albany regional quail hunting properties shows an economic impact of over $145 million.
You see, it’s not just the landowner that benefits from changing technology and modernization in the forestry field. Yes, the landowner can thin his trees and sell them – and then reinvest in his land by burning, creating roads and building infrastructure. All of this impacts the surrounding economy.
“So many local folks are impacted by the timber industry,” Cole said. “It has a large reach that many don’t realize. And, as far as land management goes, properly thinning and harvesting timber provides capital for conservation. It’s really a wonderful conservation tool, too.”
At Jon Kohler & Associates, the quail plantation and landowners we work with recognize the dual-purpose forests play in land investment.
Tim Shirah is a long-time friend and client of Jon Kohler & Associates. He is considered a visionary in the land management field. Tim has been revitalizing plantations in Georgia for over 30 years. He has personally brought back to life 12 properties, including such famed locations as Smoking Gun and Rio Piedra Plantations.
“When fortunate enough to start work on a new place, I look at it like a blank canvas and start sketching the final version in my mind,” Tim said. “Then, right to the end, I’m always touching up that final picture. I’m doing whatever the land gives me.”
Born and raised as a farmer, Tim comes from generations of family that made their income off the land. In a way, he always wanted to give back. Properly managed forestry techniques greatly assist him in achieving his dream.
On many of the 12 properties he has revitalized, he found that proper thinning is the first step in bolstering a piece of land. Doing so provides the right balance of cover, a first step for healthy and abundant wildlife. He then takes funds from the cut timber and uses it to improve the property in other ways, such as building quality roads and solid infrastructure.
“For every $1 spent on a property, I will get $2-3 back in investment,” Tim said. This return on investment is no surprise to us at Jon Kohler & Associates. It makes sense that carefully-cultivated land provides a greater return. We’ve found, with our years of experience, that prescribed fire use alone has a significant impact on land values – as much as a $1,200 per acre difference.
The key is careful, thoughtful cultivation. One area Tim will not cut is hardwoods.
“I did that once as part of a land acquisition deal,” he said. “Afterward, the area looked like a bomb went off. By the following year, I couldn’t even walk through it. Once a hardwood is cut, you’ll never see it come back in your lifetime or the next.”
Our own Walter Hatchett, Jon Kohler & Associates agent and tim-ber specialist with over 30 years of land management experience himself, couldn’t agree more.
“Cutting hardwoods on a recreational property can take it from a plus 10 to a negative 10. Be careful where you get advice. In land management, the long game is always the better bet,” Walter said.
Jon Kohler & Associates specializes in advising landowners of high-quality recreational land. There’s a science and an art to land management. Proper thinning and forestry practices are a large part of that – followed by predator balance and fire.
“On the canvas I create for my properties, timber and hardwoods are the base, the starting point, for the masterpiece I want to create,” Tim said.
As with so many of the great God-given things of this world, tending to our forests starts with individuals who have passion and a desire to make things better. In the case of our Southern forests, it’s the landowner, like Tim Shirah, that lead the way.
They, along with conscientious foresters like Cole and Walter, will help us serve our dual purpose of enjoying our forest and its fruitfulness.
From murky farm ponds to pristine glacier-cut lakes and everything in between, Knox Daniels’ expertise stems from a lifelong fascination of water and the creatures that live in and around it. He recognizes and helps clients appreciate the value water features bring to a property. “My goal is to help buyers realize and sellers maximize the value different water bodies bring to a property, not only in a recreational sense, but also for social storm reasons.” After extensively traveling the country for collegiate BASS fishing tournaments, Knox graduated and worked for the Southeast’s finest fisheries and wildlife biologist, Greg Grimes. With Grimes’ company, AES, Knox managed many of the southeast’s finest private lake estate/impoundment properties, and learned the intricacies of upscale property management. Learning from Greg and other biologists, Knox honed in on the specific conditions and habitat needed for optimal gamefish growth in private lakes. He has also worked as a property manager on several thousand acres and for a commercial developer, facilitating the dirt work and builds of several apartment complexes, but his true passion has always been in the outdoors. “I’ve always had an insatiable fascination with ponds/lakes and am grateful to be able to help to place clients on the properties of their dreams and make their personal fisheries/wildlife goals reality with JKA.” – Knox Daniels
Jason has been assisting landowners for the last 28 years in Georgia and South Carolina obtain achievements the owners did not realize were possible. His degree in Biology from Georgia Southern stemmed from the desire to know how things in nature work. His plantation roots began at just 16 years old outside of Albany, GA and the last 20 years were spent in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. His entire career has been spent developing a global approach to plantation management. That plan included sales. Sales is in Jason’s blood- his mom had a 45-year career as a real estate broker. After college, he chose to pursue his passion of making properties great. In 2011, Jason sold his first plantation. Since then, he has assisted buyers and sellers with over $20 million in sales while most of that time working as a full-time General Manager of a large Lowcountry plantation. Today, he is committed to using his unique skill set and experience to guide landowners through the many challenges of plantation ownership.
Bruce Ratliff is a retired elected official (Property Appraiser Taylor County). Bruce brings years of experience in ad valorem tax knowledge. His property tax background gives JKA Associates & clients a unique insight into the complicated tax process. Bruce held several positions in the Florida Association of Property Appraisers, including member of the Board of Directors, President, Vice-President and Secretary, and served on the Agricultural & Legislative Committees for the Association. The real estate business has been part of Bruce’s life since childhood. His mother, Shirley Ratliff owned Professional Realty of Perry, Florida and his father, Buster owned Ratliff Land Surveying which Bruce was General Manager of before his political career.
Hailing from a long line of outdoorsmen, Tim learned a great deal from his father and grandfather. He saw first-hand what it means to be a good land steward. He believes land is so much more than a place to hunt, fish, and grow timber or crops. “It’s an identity, a resting place, a safe haven and a way of life, said Tim.” Tim’s family ties to Alabama run deep. During his grandfather’s first term, Governor James was responsible for signing into law Alabama’s first state duck stamp which helped to ensure funding for the procurement, development, and preservation of wetlands for migratory waterfowl habitat. He also established Alabama’s lifetime hunting license, so it is no surprise that Tim is an avid outdoorsman with a keen eye as to how best to improve habitat for the greater good of its wildlife.
With Madison County roots, Lori grew up on her family farm at Pettis Springs along the historic Aucilla River. A love of the land was instilled in Lori very early on by her father who was a local farmer. Lori understands the importance of good land stewardship and has witnessed first-hand how her own father, a former 2-term member of the Florida House of Representatives whose district encompassed many rural counties of the Red Hills Plantation Region, with a little bit of sweat equity, so lovingly worked their own family land. These are core values she carries with her today, and nothing gives her more personal satisfaction than to represent some of the south’s best land stewards.
Cole’s dedication to land management lies in his family roots. As a fourth-generation timber expert, Cole’s earliest memories were spent with his father managing timber investments. With a degree in Food Resource Economics from the University of Florida, Cole is the epitome of an up-and-coming leader. He grew up with a hands-on approach to learning land management and conservation and has spent the last 15 years learning every angle of the real estate and forest industry. Cole is a member of the Florida Forestry Association, Red Hills Quail Forever, Southeastern Wood Producers Association and he uses this platform as an advocate for landowners and their land investments. His family has dedicated the past 60 years to providing landowners in North Florida and South Georgia with professional land management services focused on improving and protecting one’s forestland and wildlife investment. In fact, their family business, M.A. Rigoni, Inc., was one of the first to introduce whole tree chipping to the Red Hills Region.
As a landowner of his own family farm, Lick Skillet, along with family land that has been passed down and enjoyed together at Keaton Beach for 40 years, Jon knows what it means to be a steward of the last best places. As a third-generation land broker with more than 30 years of experience in advising landowners in this niche, Jon is known for his innate ability to harvest a land’s unique intrinsic value. Touting several notable sales under his belt, Jon personally closed Rock Creek/Molpus – 124,000 acres of premium timberland at $142,000,000 – which was known as the largest timberland land sale in the Southeast for eight years running. He is a co-founding member of LandLeader and achieved the real estate industry’s highest honor, “2022 National Broker of the Year – Recreational Land Sales,” by the Realtors® Land Institute.