At
Montmorenci Tree Farm, controlled burning is part of
Tom and Sallie Newbill's management program.
On bottom, Tom built the five-acre lake that
supports wildlife including bluegill, largemouth,
ducks and geese. |
Tom and Sallie Newbill are bucking the trend and doing
what so many small forest owners dream of doing. While
fragmentation is a big challenge of today's Virginian
forests as farm and timber lands are divided into smaller
parcels, some almost too small for proper management, the
Newbills have been bringing land together into a bigger,
well-managed unit.
The Newbills started to assemble the pieces of land that
became Montmorenci Tree Farms in 1967 and over the next
decades built their inventory to include 1,190 acres in
Franklin County, Va. and Halifax County, N.C. Their home
place unites three adjoining farms in Franklin County, plus
two others that are nearby.
The North Carolina farm comes through Sallie's family and is
also where the name Montmorenci originates. In 1772, the
family of Sallie’s mother received a land grant in North
Carolina from George III, the King of England, and they
called their estate Montmorenci. Sallie and Tom revived this
name for their farms.
Tom Newbill was not always in the forestry business. After
graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in engineering,
he took a job with Westvaco Corp. and later worked for IBM
and as a principal in a computer services company in
Atlanta, Ga., where the family lived between 1966 and 1996.
Sallie taught school and later spent ten years as a State
Senator in the Georgia state legislature. But Tom felt the
pull of the forests of his home.
Tom grew up in Franklin County around forestry operations.
His uncle ran the local saw mill, sparking Tom’s long and
natural connection with forestry which led him to appreciate
the stable value of land and timber.
When the Newbills had opportunities to invest for their
future, timberland seemed a natural choice and the woods of
home a natural location. Tom was returning to his deep roots
in Franklin County. The Newbills bought their first forest
land in 1967 and eventually brought together what had been
five separate farms. Both Sallie and Tom inherited land from
their parents, and later bought out their siblings.
The Newbills use some of the best forestry practices on
their acreage, including planting the latest generation of
trees (Tom even has a few third generation loblolly pines on
his land), controlled burning, proper thinning, and use of
modern chemical treatment; but he does not take the credit
for understanding and employing all these techniques. Tom
says that Jim Ebbert, who recently retired from the Virginia
Department of Forestry, was for most practical purposes, his
land manager. Tom joked that he wondered how Jim could
accomplish the other parts of his job while doing so much
for Montmorenci Tree Farms.
Further help came from Rob Bell, who ran the local
Cooperative Forest Management (CFM) Program and helped with
details of timber sales. Today, Tom gets professional advice
from both MeadWestvaco Corp. and Travis Rivers at the
Virginia Department of Forestry.
Travis nominated Tom Newbill as this year's outstanding Tree
Farmer and says that working with someone like Tom is great
for everybody involved. The Commonwealth of Virginia has a
strong interest in helping responsible Tree Farmers like Tom
and Sallie improve their land and produce timber while
protecting the soils and waters of the Old Dominion.
Partnerships like these make it all possible.
In addition to timber production, about a quarter of
Montmorenci Tree Farm's land is devoted to stream management
zones, wildlife plots, and cropland rented to a local dairy
farmer. Tom actively manages the wildlife plots and turkey,
deer and quail abound on the land.
Water and wildlife resources are further enhanced by a
five-acre lake he built on the home tract. The lake supports
bluegill and largemouth bass, ducks and geese. Tom has seen
one particular pair of geese return to his lake for six
years to raise their goslings. In 2006, six goslings grew to
maturity.
 The
advantages of managing as much acreage as the Newbills' own
is the diversity it allows. Over the years, timber has been
harvested from all Montmorenci tracts, mostly clearcuts from
the oldest plantation established in 1978 to the youngest,
established in 2000. This gives Tom a variety of harvest and
management options, as one or more of the eight unique
stands is always ready for some kind of treatment.
This diversity gives Tom firsthand experience with the
difference between growing pines in the mountains (Franklin
County) as opposed to the tidewater (Halifax County, N.C.).
Tom's observation is that loblolly pines in the mountains
are about five years behind those of the tidewater, which is
a significant difference. Franklin County lies on the edge
of loblolly country. In fact, Tom's farm is outside the
natural range of the tree.
One advantage of growing loblolly pines in the mountains is
that there are very few “volunteer” pines. Tom has not had
to do any pre-commercial thinning and when properly treated
there is little competition from hardwoods or weeds. The
southern pine beetle is also somewhat less of a problem in
this cooler and higher environment.
In the tidewater, well within the natural loblolly range,
volunteer pines fill in much more profusely, as do weeds. On
the other hand, properly managed pines grow significantly
faster. Beyond that, the flatter topography makes thinning
and other operations much easier.
Another difference between Tree Farming in the tidewater and
in the mountains is species composition. The mountains
provide natural regeneration of poplar and there is a good
local market for it.
Whether it is in the mountains or the tidewater, Tom Newbill
and his family are doing an outstanding job as Tree Farmers.
They are well and truly achieving what Tree Farmers strive
to achieve. They are producing timber while at the same time
protecting water and wildlife resources and providing places
for recreation.
Tom has been a VFA member since 1974. The Virginia Tree Farm
Committee and VFA congratulate the Newbill family on a job
well done.
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