Data collected over the past three decades is finally "growing" into reality.

Plant by plant, eucalyptus seedlings are going into the ground; and what grows up will potentially be more than just trees.

Buckeye Paper Mill in Perry and the University of Florida are planting Eucalyptus amplifolia plants to produce green energy in the forms of electricity and liquid fuels.

Buckeye's Wood Supply Manager Michele Curtis said, "Eucalyptus trees are very fast-growing biomass crop that can be harvested in about five years versus 20 years for normal trees."

About 80,000 trees are being planted on 87 acres near the Buckeye plant east of Perry near the intersection of U.S. 27 and County Road 30.

UF officials say they've been researching the possibility of this renewable energy over the past 30 years.

When the plants are ready to harvest, they will be cut down and made into chips. At that point, the hope is for that to be used to produce ethanol, as well as in a conventional boiler to make steam and electricity.

UF Research Coordinator Paul Proctor said, "It'd be interesting to see if some of the local farmers and landowners take up the baton and forward this even further."

At 1,200 plants per acre, Curtis says this is the largest crop of this species of eucalyptus trees in the country.

The crop is expected to be ready in about six years.

Buckeye and the university plan to plant more cottonwood eucalyptus plants in the winter.

Buckeye is providing 100 percent of the funding for this project.

Curtis said, "It's very exciting to be a part of a project like this because as I think about where the state of Florida wants to go in making green energy, this is breaking new ground."

The trees will be evaluated over the next six years to determine growth rates and cold hardiness.

A test 12-acre crop that was planted last year at Buckeye has proven to be freeze tolerant.