Where once natural resources seemed abundant and infinite, we now know this is not the case. The trend to be more “green” is pervasive and gaining momentum, as more and more individuals and businesses seek ways to adopt environmentally responsible business practices. These business leaders are finding that being green is providing some golden innovation opportunities and has a positive impact on the “triple bottom line”—people, planet and profits.
Many family firms have found that being green is not only a socially responsible practice, but also the key to a sustainable enterprise. Researchers have been studying family businesses in conjunction with corporate responsibility, social responsibility and environmental practices. A 2006 study by Oregon State University College of Business investigators Justin Craig and Clay Dibrell found that family businesses are more likely to embrace environmentally friendly practices than their non-family counterparts (see box on page 47 for references).
As fate would have it, I was fortunate enough to be born into a family enterprise that has been recognized for its environmental stewardship: Babcock Lumber Co., a diversified wholesale distributor of hardwood and softwood lumber, specialty building materials and kitchen and bath products, now into its fourth generation of ownership. My family has always had a strong stewardship principle when it comes to our natural habitat and land. Perhaps that might sound counterintuitive, since our business, historically, was to harvest big, beautiful, old trees, but I hope this family business story will reveal how my family has worked hard to pass on a green legacy for generations yet unborn in hopes of leaving the planet better off. Here is my family’s story.
The Babcock family enterprise story
Babcock Lumber Co. was started by three boot-strapping brothers, Edward Vose (E.V.) Babcock, Fred R. (F.R.) Babcock and Oscar H. (O.H.) Babcock, in 1887 in Pittsburgh. (E.V. Babcock was my great-grandfather on my mother’s side.) The brothers were former lumber inspectors and timber salesmen with greater ambitions to have a lumber business of their own. The early years of Babcock Lumber were as much about “pioneering” unforged tracks of land as they were about establishing a lumber business. Many of the vast tracts of property purchased were dense with virgin timber in the formidable Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Because these remote areas were difficult to navigate, railroads had to be constructed to haul the timber men in and out by train to these desolate locations. As a result, towns sprung up with sawmill and processing plants and numerous jobs were created, as Babcock moved down the East Coast of the U.S. all the way to Florida. With Babcock Lumber Co.’s rapid expansion in the early part of the century, E.V. Babcock founded Babcock Florida Company and purchased 156,000 acres of Florida land in 1914. Babcock gained dominant market share in the hardwood lumber business and was a preferred supplier to the automotive industry for the hardwood used then in the interior and exterior as well as for the spokes (treasured by antique car collectors today).
Following decades of family business growth, abundance and prosperity, Babcock suffered its fair share of family business tragedy during the 1920s and ’30s. First, F.R. passed away (1927), followed by the Great Depression and then the death of O.H., leaving E.V. to carry on the family business. At this point, E.V. brought in his own son, Fred Courtney Babcock, to be involved with management. Fred had worked in the lumber yards his whole childhood and always loved the outdoors, be it fishing or hunting with dogs. In 1948, Fred assumed the role of patriarch of the family business when his father, E.V., passed away, launching the family business into its second generation of leadership.
Fred observed the changes in lumber markets and consumer demand brought on by the introduction of products such as particleboard, veneer and plywood, combined with external factors, such as World War II and the Vietnam War. Under Fred’s leadership, the hardwood timber business was transformed into more of a distribution model. Today, Babcock is active in three professional hardwood industry organizations that are dedicated to sustainable hardwood resource management practices. The company has received recognition from the Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Inc. that verifies it as a sustainable hardwood lumber producer.
Much of Babcock’s green business practices and stewardship principles were born under Fred’s leadership. A respected environmentalist, Fred received a number of awards and honors from associations such as the National Cattlemen’s Association for environmental stewardship. Fred once said, “We are all stewards of the land. The land belongs to us all; therefore we should always put more into the land than we take out.” That principle resonates with my family. We feel a deep sense of pride that the family has been able to donate significant tracts of land in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Florida to create parklands over the decades.
In fact, in the 1940s, Fred transferred 65,000 acres of the 156,000 acres purchased by his father to the state of Florida, which today is called Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area. The remainder of the property, more than 90,000 acres, made up the family’s Crescent B Ranch, and operated a multitude of Babcock family businesses—organic farming, matt-logging of cypress, a calving operation, a mulching operation, eco-tourism and hunting leases, among other ventures.
The notion of stewardship—the concept of taking care of something for the benefit of future generations—has always been a core family value. This value has been transmitted from one generation to the next through good old-fashioned hard work, education and exposure to the family business. In 2004 the family convened a “Next Generation Family Meeting” to educate more than 20 members of the fourth generation about Babcock Ranch. The younger generation learned about the matt-logging process (a green method to harvest cypress trees without damaging the cypress head), visited the organic vegetable and sod farmers, and met with the head cowboys to discuss the calving operation. The Babcock family is passionate about engaging its future generations and teaching them the importance of sustainable farming and agri-businesses on the ranch.
Another core value in the Babcock family is the love and appreciation for nature and being in the great outdoors. “Youth today are captivated by their cell phones, video games, tweeting and texting… for so many they have lost the connection with the simple beauty and magnificence of the natural world that surrounds us,” notes my mother, Jean Babcock Harbeck, the second oldest of Fred’s four daughters. This appreciation for nature has been transmitted to succeeding generations in a variety of ways, such as through work experiences on the ranch.
“I have fond memories of one of my first jobs on the ranch,” one of my cousins says. “I was harvesting alligator eggs from the nests in the swamp on Babcock Ranch. It was an exhilarating rush, as my other cousins and ranch hands would be trying to keep the momma gator and water moccasins away while I snatched one or two from each nest.” Eventually, they would be sold to local Florida alligator farms. The ranch was a wonderful place for family to work hard and experience the wonder of the great outdoors as well to get hands-on, practical experience.
With such a powerful heritage, it is no surprise that my family was adamant about keeping the more than 145 square miles of land pristine and routinely did controlled-burns to clear underbrush and reduce the risk of wildfires. Being highly vigilant about avoiding the introduction onto the property of exotic animals or plants that would threaten the habitat, the family appreciated the importance of taking care of the land; the Crescent B Ranch was one of the last remaining expansive areas for the Florida panther, among other endangered species. In 2009 Charles Lee, advocacy director at Audubon of Florida, was quoted by the New York Times as saying, “The best thing you can say about Babcock Ranch is ‘diversity.’ It represents virtually every inland freshwater and upland habitat you have in the state.” This natural diversity was celebrated and truly appreciated by the family. Making sure it was protected was a critical component of the family’s green legacy for the ranch.
Leaving a green legacy
After conducting a land survey of the Crescent B Ranch in the late 1980s, the Babcock family discovered that the property had a very unusual water feature—a wholly self-contained freshwater aquifer. With approximately 17,000 acres of swamp that fills annually with freshwater during the rainy season, the land’s most valuable aspect was not what was on it, but what was under it. The location of the ranch in proximity to the Everglades made it that much more attractive to environmentalists because of the prospects of replenishing the dwindling freshwater supply to the wetlands habitat of the Florida Everglades.
In 1997 Fred C. Babcock passed away, and in subsequent years, the family decided that it was time to sell the Crescent B Ranch; however, the stewardship principle prevailed, and the family was opposed to parceling up the property for mass development. Under the leadership of Fred’s son-in-law, Dick Cuda, with the counsel of Drayton Farr of Farr, Farr & Associates, the family sold the 92,000-acre ranch to Syd Kitson, Chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, a private residential and commercial real estate investment and development company.
At the time the family closed the sale, Kitson & Partners simultaneously sold 73,000 acres of the ranch to the state of Florida for the Florida Forever Program—the state’s premier conservation and recreation lands acquisition program—to help replenish freshwater to the Everglades. This land also completes a wildlife corridor from Lake Okeechobee to the western edge of Fort Myers, providing an expansive habitat for numerous endangered species. Kitson & Partners retained the remaining 19,000 acres with plans to develop the first completely green city northeast of Fort Myers. Dick Cuda commented, “Knowing that my grandchildren and my grandchildren’s children will be able to experience this beautiful land in the same pristine condition as it was 100 years ago gives me great peace of mind.”
Despite the crippling effects of the weakened housing and construction markets, Kitson has persevered in his ambitious, futuristic plans. The sustainable, environmentally sensitive green community will be named Babcock Ranch, in honor of the family, and will be the first city in America to have a majority of its energy needs powered by solar photovoltaic energy—a clean, renewable power source. Employing the newest green building standards and green technologies, the city will be one of the most livable, fully integrated places to live in Charlotte and Lee counties with more than 19,000 homes and 6 million square feet of commercial, retail and office space.
Kitson says his firm has moved past the permitting, easements and approvals phase and has a number of strategic partnerships in place to build cutting-edge technologies, such as smart grid technology, for this city of tomorrow. Kitson, a former offensive guard for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, has faced a lot of adversity in his career and is up to the challenge of carrying on the family’s legacy to build a green community that is in balance with nature. “I am most proud of the fact that over 80% of the Babcock ranch is preserved so that the endangered species such as Florida panther, red-cockaded woodpecker, bald eagle and Key deer will continue to have a home,” Kitson says.
The prospect of building the first completely green city in proximity to land that will be habitat for wildlife in perpetuity is a tremendous legacy for the Babcock family.
Green takeaways
The Babcock story provides some key takeaways regarding green business:
1. Leading with green values. Babcock family members exhibit core values that relate to the environment, stewardship and green practices that extended to the family enterprise and are at the heart of the family’s legacy. What green measures can your family enterprise take, and who in your family is leading by example?
2. Transcending the stewardship principle. Learning through stories, examples and practical, hands-on experience have been critical in transmitting the stewardship principle to the next generation. My ancestors, through their generosity and foresight, have set clear expectations of how to be good stewards. How have you cultivated a stewardship ethos in your family enterprise?
3. Green business and innovation. The Babcock story reveals how a family’s legacy can also have ties to innovation and environmental advocacy as exemplified by the city of Babcock, the green community of tomorrow, which will have virtually a carbonless footprint. The development of new green technologies at Babcock will likely generate new business opportunities and create jobs. What green business and innovation opportunities exist in your family enterprise that you may have overlooked?
4. Waste not, want not. Green business is all about sustainability, a central theme of many multigenerational family enterprises. Being green certainly contributes to this family business ethos and may enhance the family’s ability to be stewards of the business for successive generations. Where might your family enterprise eliminate waste or -inefficiencies?
Kirby Rosplock, Ph.D., is a fourth-generation owner of Babcock Lumber Co. and director of research and development at GenSpring.
To learn more about Babcock Lumber Co. and Babcock Ranch, visit www.BabcockLumber.com or www.BabcockRanchFlorida.com.
For further reading
Michael Burnham, “Developer shrugs off recession, plots all-solar Florida city,” New York Times, April 9, 2009.
C.E. Ciocirlan, “Analyzing the social responsibility of small, family-owned businesses: A research agenda,” Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 13(4):86-100, 2008.
J. Craig and C. Dibrell, “The natural environment, innovation, and performance: A comparative study,” Family Business Review, 19(4):275-88, 2006.
Y. Huang, H. Ding, M. Kao, “Salient stakeholder voices: Family business and green innovation and adoption,” Journal of Management & Organization, 15(3):309-26, 2009.
M.C. Dénzin, and M.K. Suárez, M. K., “Corporate social responsibility, and family business in Spain,” Journal of Business Ethics, 56:27-41, 2005.
Copyright 2012 by Family Business Magazine. This article may not be posted online or reproduced in any form, including photocopy, without permssion from the publisher. For reprint information, contact bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com.