Timber Resource Management is a forest and timber resource management company that is involved with certified, sustainable, salvaged timber resource, with a current focus on teak and timber resources from Panama. We provide a complete range of natural unfinished timber from the most highly-valued Central and South American Tropical Hardwood species. We are affiliated with Panama Teak Forestry, an efficiently managed company that produces finished teak products and Wooderra, our finished products brand and distribution branch whose customer stewardship is prioritized and which has a comprehensive database of knowledge related to forestry. Our timber plantations, investment, and management exclusively come from sustainable sources and salvaged timber concessions, most of which we own or control.
Long term commitment to ecologically sustainable timber sources
We focus on the temperate forests of Central and South America, where we obtain timber assets, develop them into raw and unfinished wood supplies, and bring them to the world. Our philosophy is to run a business that results in financial, social, and ecological returns. This is why we commit to maintain and increase the health and productivity of the forest by strategically planting additional trees and growing plantations under our management. We believe this is a way Timber Resource Management can give back to the local community, in addition to the employment opportunities that come from our operations, while increasing the world's sustainable timber supplies.
Another way we execute our responsibility to environmental protection is the concession logging of salvaged submerged tropical hardwoodsfrom Lake Bayano, Panama, to which our distributor brand Wooderra refers to as "sunken treasures". Lake Bayano has a remarkable and interesting history.
In 1976, the damming of Bayano River created Lake Bayano, which is also home to 350 square kilometers of outstanding tropical woods. Because they are completely submerged underwater, the trees have very exposure to oxygen. Consequently, the chances of them being decomposed are extremely low, allowing the woods to remain well-preserved, while at the same time the growth stresses are relieved over time providing an unbeatable quality of wood.
The controversial creation of Bayano Dam, which is the second biggest power source in Panama, dislocated Guna and Emberá indigenous communities. The managers of Timber Resource Management acknowledge the tribes' loss of their semiautonomous reservations, which cover the majority of the lake and extends northward to the Caribbean. As a socially responsible company, we made a decision to work in a setting of strong collaboration between the Emberá people and our team in Lake Bayano. The Embera have a comprehensive knowledge and reverential respect for the essence of the land and how to treat it. Plus, their exceptional diving and working skills underwater are admirable.
Underwater logging is the method employed to reclaim these precious salvaged woods. Divers are sent to the waterbed to approach the giant trees. There are times when diving a hundred feet down may be required.
Bringing with them hydraulic chain saws, the divers use them to cut the trees, after pumping tanks with air, which send the trees floating to the surface. After being delivered to the lakeside, the trunks are laid in a row so that our wood experts can identify, grade, and categorize them.
The salvaged woods of Lake Bayano are scientifically proven by the Federal Research Institute for Forest Products to perform well outdoors. Having a very low water content, the trees have lost their tension and will have significantly less shrinkage and swelling in climatic changes, as compared to standard timbers harvested on land. This is positive news to our log customers who are seeking for raw timber to produce exterior decking, solid wood flooring or boating planks.
We like to call ourselves the sunken timber rescuer, which is why we also want to work with reclaim salvaged hardwoods in Lake Gatun. Over a century ago, when the Panama Canal was created under President Roosevelt' administration, the damming formed Lake Gatun, which consequently sinking millions of boards of old-grown exotic hardwoods. The harvesting techniques are similar to that done in Lake Bayano. The soil remains unaffected at Lake Gatun's waterbed and interesting, the removal of the trees helps with the water capacity of the Canal. The timber which has aged over 100 years has spectacular and one-of-a-kind qualities.
Indeed, using the raw logs we extract from Lake Bayano to produce finished wood products such as decking, fencing, furniture, shipbuilding, cabinetry, specialty items, or pergolas will bring noticeable effect on your production, complementing the quality and reputation of your business.
Company profile overview
Timber Resources Management was formed as a collective of diverse lumber and forestry companies to manage forest lands and recover salvaged wood in 2013. The company started from the desire to obtain, develop, and bring ecologically friendly timber resources to the world. It is our dream to promote and value the forestry essence of Panama specifically and Central and South America in general, and we believe we have found an exclusive way to do so.
Our maxim revolves around ecological, financial, and social outcomes. At Timber Resources Management, ecological forestry is practiced with the chief focus on the improvement of forest vitality and productivity. Furthermore, the production of high-quality, cut-to-spec logs and blocks using our own mill and skillful craftspeople is combined with benefiting the ecosystem by cultivating more plantations, carbon offsets, watershed control, and creating employment opportunities to rural communities.
Not only that, we're also committed to the ethical reclaiming of salvaged woods from Lake Bayano.
Both of the manmade lakes hold a massive store of millions of boards of exquisite and resilient tropical woods at their waterbed, which we have been making tremendous efforts to bring back to the living land. This, in turn, reduces the amount of logs harvested on land and provides the world with outstanding salvaged, submerged tropical hardwood, documented with age and history. Indeed, to debunk the myth that lumber production equals deforestation, we set ourselves as a leading example.
The reservoir offers a diversity of species of renowned beauty and high value, including:
- Amarillo Guayaquil - Canary wood
- Grand Cashew – Espave
- Cedro Espino - Cedro espinoso
- Cedro Amargo - Cedro real
- Cuajao – Aceituno
- Nispero – Ausubo
- Nazareno - Purple heart
- Peronil – Alcornoque
- Sigua – Canelo, and many more.
Essentially, sustainable and ecologically sound forest management is the art and science we want to practice and promote.
Our Directors have a collective of decades of experience in the forestry and milling industry, which is reflected in our solid, sustainably sourced, and high-quality raw materials. We have affiliations and presence in Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, India, the United States, and several countries in Africa.
The cultivation of high-end raw products of different grades
Timber Resources Management's managers and foresters deal with hundreds of customers who purchase our raw logs and blocks to make lumber, flooring, decking, boat building, lumber, and a range of other products.
We ensure that our workers comply with the standardized local regulations in timber harvesting, plantation, and road building. Protecting the surrounding wildlife habitat, threatened and endangered species, the quality of water, riverbank areas and wetlands is a primary concern.
Timber Resources Management's priority is to be the force behind the ecological regeneration of Central and South America forests. These forests are a combination of hardwood and softwood trees found in an incredible array of indigenous species; not to mention, these forests are home to many other plant and animal species.
Teak, Almendro, Amarillo, Amargo Amargo, Balsamo, Zorro, Espave, Quira/ Kira, Zapatero, and multiple other commercially valuable species thrive under Timber Resources Management's land management.
They are suitable for production of high-end as well as more economical finished products. As experienced producers, our clients are well aware that such raw materials will benefit their manufacturing of solid wood flooring, hardwood pergolas, wood countertops, or wood paneling. By using our raw materials, they are guaranteed to receive reliability, cost control, and superior quality for their products.
Excellent teamwork and disciplined application of sustainable forest management practices is necessary in order to fulfill our responsibility to the environment and our investors. Back in the office, Timber Resources Management's administrative and technical staff make sure that we pass on all the pertinent information our filed staff requires. This includes informing them the aerial imagery of the management location, coordinating maps and navigation tools of every kind, among others. The process of log production of our exotic hardwood and softwood, from seedling to our customers' door, involves a substantial load of capital, arduous efforts and a lot of patience.
Our philosophy
Stewards of the forests the people
At Timber Resources Management, we go beyond timber production and we acknowledge that a forest is more than a mere collective of its trees. Based on a holistic approach to timber management, we develop forest products and offer them to the world, while balancing between financial returns of forestry investors, landowners, and workers, and the long-term vitality of the forest and the lakes themselves.
Stewards of the people
Under our specialized forestry management and best practices, lifelong benefits are not only reflected in the flourishing health of the natural wooded eco systems, but also the local working people's life.
As we provide employment opportunities to the surrounding community, we also collaborate with the local people to manage the timber and livestock in the Timber Resources Management's land. Our talented employees put tremendous effort and interest behind each and every log delivered to your door.
Education is essential in any segment under our management. Thus, as problems related to local traditional practices arise, our experts are continually identifying, educating, and demonstrating to our staff the best practices and ecologically responsible methods of agriculture and forestry.
Our staff is also encouraged to share what they have learned at work with their families, friends, and neighbors so that techniques for sustainable and profitable land management are promoted and proliferated on a larger scale. This is the work and social culture we embrace.
Supporting customers' needs
We aspire to be recognized as a leading trustworthy provider of indigenous and high-value woods delivered directly from our plantations and sustainably recovered and recycled from Lake Bayano.
We provide raw logs and blocks of different grades. Depending on the size and dimension you want, we are happy to produce raw materials according to your customization.
In addition to our green timber management plan, we work with our clients to come up with thorough forest management plans, which are available upon requests and tailored to their desired financial outcomes, profitability and protection of forest and animal habitat.