Although this blog is predominantly focused on my music
and DJ’ing career, I also want to share some information about my other
career: Canadian Reforestation.
The information in this post is part of a training series
from the Replant.ca website. More
information can be found at this link:
I’ll put the text and audio download link from this
training module below, but let’s start with the YouTube video for the module:
Section 08 - “Nature & the
Environment”
One of the best parts of
tree planting is getting to spend time outdoors, enjoying the benefits of
health and of some amazing scenery.
You’ll become more aware of plants, flowers, animals, and birds. Of course, working outdoors is not always good. You’ll have to deal with weather and
temperature extremes, insects, and other challenges. In this section, we’ll take a very quick look
at some things you might see or experience on your blocks.
Weather
We’ve covered weather
already in the section about hazards and safety, so we won’t get into too much
detail here. However, weather and
temperature are definitely related to the environment. You’ve already heard the warnings about being
prepared for weather extremes, and how to minimize the chances of hypothermia
or heat stroke. We can’t reiterate this
enough: make sure you’re always
prepared. If you’re smart, you’ll always
have good rain gear and extra dry clothing packed in a waterproof bag, and
you’ll always have lots of water on hot days.
Also, it’s important to
recognize that inhospitable weather is part of the job. We work in rain. We sometimes work in light snow, if the
ground isn’t covered. We work in winds,
unless there’s a danger of trees toppling onto planters. Probably at least a quarter of your work days
will be spent in miserable weather. You
can’t afford to sit down and sulk, and wait it out. You need to realize that you can make money
in the rain, and you’re going to have to get used to working in it, even though
it’s harder on morale.
Rain unfortunately also
slows planting down for other reasons than just the fact that it can be
depressing. Access issues can be a
problem in heavy rains, as muddier roads become dangerous or impassible. Drivers need to slow down on wet roads. Trucks may get stuck if drivers try to push
too far into blocks without a solid road foundation. Sometimes, it’s better to park the truck
close to the block and walk the last few hundred meters. You don’t want to get the truck stuck in bad
puddles at the entrance to the block because you were too lazy to walk the last
few hundred meters, and then have some sort of emergency and not be able to
evacuate to medical aid.
Most planters don’t pay a
lot of attention to the weather, other than to try to guess if it’s going to
rain. But the weather is an amazingly
complex topic, far more complex than we’ll go into here. However, I’ll leave you with a few
interesting facts:
Low pressure systems
usually result when warm air rises, lowering the atmospheric pressure on the
rest of the air. Low pressure systems
usually feature precipitation, unlike high pressure systems which are usually
nice weather.
Wind always circles
counter-clockwise and inwards around a low pressure system in BC, when viewed
from above. Wind around a high pressure
system always blows clockwise and outward.
If you’re standing with a
steady wind at your back in BC, the low pressure system (and the area most
likely to have rain) is therefore always on your left side.
There are ten major
categories of clouds, and many variations on these ten basic groups, but only
three of the cloud groups commonly produce precipitation.
Thunderstorms commonly
occur because as the day progresses, the sun heats up the ground, causing air
to rise and causing a low pressure system to form. That’s why in some places, thunderstorms tend
to happen at roughly the same time every afternoon.
Helicopters can fly better
when the air pressure is more dense.
Therefore, helicopters fly better at lower altitudes. Helicopters have a harder time when the
temperature increases, because air rises and becomes less dense. And finally, air saturated with water is
surprisingly less dense than unsaturated air (this relates to molecular
weights), so it’s harder for a helicopter to create lift on a muggy day than on
a dry day. In other words, four things
that are challenges for helicopters all start with H: heavy loads, high altitudes, hot
temperatures, and humid air.
Between the start of your
spring season and June 21st, sunrise happens about ten minutes
earlier each week, and sunset happens about ten minutes later per week. So in the six weeks leading up to June 21st,
the days grow two hours longer - an extra hour of daylight in the morning, and
an extra hour in the evening. After June
21st, the days start growing shorter and the opposite is true.
Determining Direction
from the Sun
If you don't have a map or
compass or GPS to help you, and it's a reasonably sunny day, and you know the
approximate time of day, you can quickly point out approximately where north,
south, east, and west are. This may seem
like magic, but it's not!
We all know that the sun
always rises in the east. If you're in
the northern hemisphere, which includes all of British Columbia, then the sun
is always approximately due south at noon.
There will be a slight error, especially closest to June 21st,
which is related to seasonal precession and the tilting of the Earth’s
axis. However, your estimate will be
quite close, within about twenty degrees at worst. So let's assume that you're on a block, and
you can see where the sun is. If you
know that it's approximately noon, then you can point at the sun and say that
that direction is due south. Knowing
that, you can figure out north (behind you), east (to your left), and west (to
your right).
Let's say that it's not
noon. Let's assume that it's
mid-morning. In the northern hemisphere,
the sun always moves from left to right throughout the day. So if it's not noon yet, you can look a bit
to the right of where the sun is right now to make a guess of where it'll be at
noon. You can call that direction south.
If it's after lunch, then
the sun will have already passed the mid-point of the sky. Look to the left of the sun, and make an
estimate of where it was a few hours ago, at noon. You'll be able to point that direction out as
due south.
Figuring out approximate
directions is pretty easy if you can see the sun and if you know approximately
what time of day it is, and you'll usually be within ten or twenty degrees of
being correct once you practice a bit.
Plants
You’ll quickly learn that
there are hundreds of types of grass, brush, and other vegetation that you’ll
encounter. Most vegetation is fairly
benign, and you won’t need to be able to identify very many types of plants,
but a few are good to know. After a few
years of experience, you’ll come to understand the seasonal progression, from
relatively brown and barren blocks in early May, to thick green blocks covered
in grass and other vegetation in July.
Grasses are usually
annoying to planters. Grass roots are
fairly strong, so if you’re planting in areas with thick grass, the sod is
going to be a problem if you need to screef down through the root mat. If this is the case, consider using your
shovel to screef, instead of your boot.
If you turn the shovel sideways as you’re screefing, you might be able
to slice up the sod and remove it with less effort.
Devil’s Club is a thorny
plant that you won’t want to run into.
This plant is found more commonly near the end of the season, and it
usually grows in moist, shaded areas on blocks, where it can root in black
organics. The stalks are very easy to
identify from a distance, as they’re one to two centimeters thick, and can
occasionally grow to be as tall as a planter.
When they’re still alive, they’ll have huge broad green leaves, but even
after the plant dies, the dry stalk retains its thorns for a while. You’ll mostly run into devil’s club in
gullies and along block edges. Luckily,
it’s so visible that it’s usually fairly easy to avoid.
Stingy Nettles are a lot
worse than Devil’s Club. The thorns on
stingy nettles are very small and soft, almost like hair. However, they release a chemical when you
brush up against them, and this chemical causes a really intense itch in most
people, which can last for a day or two.
You might not even notice immediately when you brush up against nettles,
but within a few minutes, you’ll start getting itchy wherever your bare skin
came into contact with the plant. As
hard as it is, try not to scratch or rub the itch, because that drives the
chemicals deeper into your skin and makes the reaction worse. Not everyone is affected by stingy nettles,
but most people are, and being wet or sweaty often seems to make the reaction
worse. If you take anti-histamines, that
might help reduce your urge to scratch.
There’s no real antidote or cure, except to wait a few hours or days for
the itching to go away. Unfortunately,
stingy nettles are very hard to see.
They’re usually less than waist height, and look like very thin bare
stalks, and several other types of vegetation look very similar. You won’t run into them frequently in the
spring, but they start to become more common in July in some areas. Stingy nettles usually grow on black organics
or soft, rich mineral soil.
You’ll see a lot of types
of moss, especially any time that the ground becomes more moist or shaded. If you ignore taxonomic classification and go
with slang terms, there are two broad groups of moss in BC: feather moss, and sphagnum. Feather mosses are types of boreal forest
moss that usually have features that look like small tree branches or
feathers. Sphagnum mosses are types of
peat mosses, and often have star-like patterns.
The difference is that feather moss can survive in fairly dry
conditions, whereas sphagnum needs constant moisture to survive. Foresters will often allow you to plant trees
in sphagnum moss, knowing that the ground will retain moisture even in dry
months. You’ll usually be allowed to
plant the plug right into the moss rather than having to screef it away. Feather moss, however, usually isn’t an
acceptable planting medium, and you sometimes have to remove it and get down to
dirt or organics below.
As the spring turns into
July, you may start seeing several types of berries. You might see small strawberries hidden on
the ground. Don’t eat berries unless
you’re sure of what they are, since several types of berries are mildly toxic,
and can cause stomach aches or even vomiting.
In late July, you may start running into raspberries on a lot of blocks. Raspberries are quite safe to eat, although
they’re a bit thorny to work through. In
mid-August, you may start seeing a lot of blueberries low to the ground, and
Saskatoons (juneberries) on taller plants.
Both of these are safe to eat.
You may also occasionally see blackberries, huckleberries, and
salmonberries. Pay attention to your
surroundings, because bears are often attracted to areas with large amounts of
berries.
Fireweed is a common
plant, which appears in July. It grows
quite quickly, covering blocks with stems that are three to four feet high,
covered in pinkish or purplish flowers.
The only real drawback to fireweed, aside from it getting to be fairly
thick at times, is that later in the summer the flowers die and turn to a
cottony dander which floats around in the wind and gets into your eyes, nose,
and mouth.
There are several benign
types of plants that don’t really affect planters, but which you’ll see and
learn to recognize, such as cow parsnip, licorice ferns, fiddleheads, and wild ginger. You can google each of them to learn more.
You’ll also eventually
learn to recognize a number of different types of common flowers, such as: dandelions, wild roses, daisies, black-eyed
susans, arnica, thimbleberry, trillium, camas, larkspur, buttercup, clover,
violets, yarrow, skunk cabbage, tiger lily, and devil’s paintbrush.
Salal is a plant that most
first-year planters won’t encounter, but which is important to coastal
planters. Salal has thick, waxy leaves,
and cedar is about the only conifer that thrives in salal patches. You’ve probably seen salal leaves before,
because they’re commonly used around the world in floral arrangements. Salal berries are quite edible, although you
probably won’t see them until the fall.
Labrador tea is an annoying
flower, because it has very tough roots that are hard to plant into.
There are dozens of types
of mushrooms that you might find on the blocks.
Many are edible, such as black morels, but there are a few types that
will make you moderately or severely sick.
If you’re interested in mushrooms, it’s a good idea to buy a guide book,
just because there are so many unique varieties. A great book to check out is “All That Rain
Promises And More,” by David Arora.
Poison oak and poison ivy
are less recognizable. Luckily, they’re
also not common on planting blocks. You
might very occasionally see them along the edges of blocks, in shaded
areas. If you brush up against them, the
chemical toxins on these plants can give you some very bad rashes. Luckily, it’s quite rare for planters to come
into contact with either of these plants.
Giant hogweed is another
plant to avoid, because it is completely covered in a sap that is fairly toxic
and causes significant rashes, blisters, or other longer-term problems. WorkSafe BC has even issued alerts about
giant hogweed. However, giant hogweed
can be easily confused with cow parsnip, which doesn’t have toxic sap.
Don’t eat plants unless
you’re absolutely positive about their identification. Several common plants in BC are quite
poisonous, such as false hellebore.
Animals
Many of the larger animals
were covered in the section about hazards and safety, so we’ll try not to
repeat anything.
You may see both grizzly
bears and black bears on your blocks.
Black bears are far more common.
Each type of bear has some specific identifying characteristics, such as
the shape of their face, or the shape of their back. However, you shouldn’t use their size or the
color of their fur as a reliable means to differentiate between the species. Grizzlies and black bears sometimes react
different to the presence of humans.
It’s important for planters to watch a Bear Aware video to get a better
understanding of the differences between these two species.
Ungulates is a term that
is used to encompass most of Canada’s larger four-legged animals. Some of these animals may look cute, but they
can be dangerous if they become aggressive, especially in the presence of young
animals or during rutting season. Almost
everyone knows what a moose looks like.
There are generally two types of deer in Canada: mule deer, and white-tails. The mule deer has almost no obvious tail, and
usually hops when it runs. The
black-tail deer is a subspecies of mule deer.
The white-tail deer, on the other hand, has a more conventional
four-legged way of running, and when they are nervous, their white tail stands
up like a warning flag. Elk are very
large animals that are close to the size of a moose, and are most frequently
seen near Jasper, or in a few other locations throughout BC. Caribou look similar to elk, but they’re
usually only about half the size, or slightly larger than a mature deer. Caribou, like elk, are not seen as frequently
as moose or deer. Finally, you may run
into feral horses in many parts of BC.
There are three main types
of wild cats in BC. Cougars, also known
as mountain lions, are the largest. The
largest cougars can weigh 200 pounds or more, and could potentially be fairly
dangerous. However, they’re also very
reclusive, and most planters will never see a cougar in their career. Bobcats and lynx are much more common, and
they’re also much smaller and haven’t been noted as being dangerous to
planters. These two cats are also easy
to confuse. Bobcats look fairly similar to a large house cat, and have striped
bands on their tails. Lynx have
crazy-looking faces, with big tufts of fur that you don’t see on household
cats, and they don’t have stripes on their tails. The bobcat is more commonly found in
southeastern BC, whereas the lynx is common in most parts of the province
except for coastal areas.
There are very few smaller
animals that could theoretically pose a danger to planters. You might get sprayed by a skunk, or get
poked by quills if you run into a porcupine, but we rarely see either of these
animals, and I’ve never heard of a planter being harmed by either. Wolverines are another exceptionally fierce
animal, but few planters will ever see a wolverine, and I’ve certainly never
heard of a planter being attacked by one.
Of course, there are also
many benign small animals. You’ll
probably see many rabbits, hares, mice, moles, voles, squirrels, rats, gophers,
beavers, and other small animals during your career. None of them should be immediately dangerous
to planters, although several of these animals can carry various diseases, and
mice are especially dirty little animals.
Birds
A lot of birds nest on the
ground in the blocks that you’ll be planting, so don’t be surprised to
frequently discover small nests with eggs.
Looking above you, you’ll often see various types of larger predatory
birds, including bald eagles, golden eagles, goshawks, falcons, and a dozen
different types of hawks. Sometimes,
you’ll even see owls.
Probably the only birds
that planters need to be wary of are crows and ravens. This is because these birds can be mischievous
and troublesome, and will tear apart garbage boxes and steal lunches from
caches. These birds are incredibly
intelligent. I’ve seen them open zippers
and undo clasps that planters even have problems unfastening, and they’ll often
open up day-bags to pull out food. It’s
sometimes a bit tricky to distinguish between the two species. Ravens are usually larger. If you see them flying overhead, ravens have
four “fingers” of feather at the tip of each wing, whereas crows have five
fingers. However, the most obvious
difference is their voice. American
crows make a higher-pitched sharp “caw” sound, whereas ravens have a deeper,
hoarse croak. Finally, crows have a
fairly smooth fan-shaped tail, while ravens have more of pointed V-shaped tail.
-----
Here’s an Audio version of this material, in case you
want to listen while you’re driving, running, at work, or otherwise unable to
read or watch video:
Click on the down-arrow icon in the upper right corner of
the SoundCloud widget to download the mp3.
Once again, for further information about this series of
tree planter training information, visit:
I encourage you to share this information with anyone
else who might be interested. Thanks for
your interest and support!
-
Jonathan “Scooter” Clark
