Finca Esperanza

In addition to selecting the ideal location and genetic materials, the plantation has been designed, planted, and managed to FSC-certified, industry-leading standards. Plantings were made in a 3.5m by 3.5m grid, to ensure canopy closure (thus suppressing epicormic branching), sufficient area for root development, and ample clearance for mechanized maintenance. This spacing resulted in average initial stocking levels of 816 trees per hectare. Two thinnings are planned, in order to cull inferior trees and thus facilitate the rapid growth of the superior trees that remain, and a stocking level at final harvest of 200 to 250 trees per hectare is projected. Pruning will initiate once trees have reached approximately 3 meters in height, and continue until no branches remain below the minimum merchantable height.   Finally, a network of access road facilitates the monitoring and maintenance of forest stands throughout the property, and insures that the extraction of logs from commercial thinnings and final harvest will be safe, simple, and cost-efficient.