Farmton Today
Farmton’s 59,000 acres continue to be intensively managed for silviculture. Nearly 30,000 acres are in uplands tree farms. Approximately 20,000 acres of wetlands contain wet hammocks where cypress is harvested. Where harvesting cypress is not viable, there is an abundance of open ponds, saw grass ponds and hardwood areas.

The Director of Tree Farm Operations has been with the company for nearly thirty years and is only the third operations manager since Miami Corporation ownership of the property began in the 1920's.  The Operations Director provides day to day management of the timber and the property with a small crew of equipment operators. The crew is involved full time with timber operations including site preparation and planting, road and fire line maintenance, and fire fighting and prevention.  Timber removal is done by independent loggers who contract with the company to purchase and remove the trees and truck them to sawmills.

Forest management means dealing with constant cycles of rainfall, fire, and insect infestations, which often follow fires. Minor fires occur every year during the “fire season”. Major fires in 1981 and 1998 destroyed tens of thousands of acres of standing trees. The burned areas were salvaged where possible, then replanted to begin the cycle again.

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