Tree Planter Training 14 - Planting a Seedling

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:

www.Replant.ca/training

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 14 - “Planting A Seedling”

In this section, we're finally going to talk about the process of actually planting a seedling.  We'll look at microsite preparation, handling a seedling from bag to hole, the motions of planting the tree, then closing the hole and moving on to your next spot.  For the purposes of this tutorial, we're intentionally going to ignore spacing and density.  Those topics are important, but they'll be covered in a later section.  For now, let's assume that you know roughly where your tree needs to go, within an area of say a couple feet.


Selecting the Best Microsite

The microsite is the spot where you plant a tree.  In order to maximize the survival potential of the seedling, you need to select the best possible microsite.  Each tree has already undergone physiological stresses in the process of transporting it to the moment of planting.  It is your job to minimize future stresses through careful microsite selection.  As long as you're spacing correctly, you can choose from many different microsites, such as on a mound, in a depression, beside a stump, under a bush, or in a rotten log.  Each of these spots provides different growing conditions for the seedling, and you need to understand what the seedling needs in order to choose the best one.  Some of those spots that I just mentioned might not be acceptable as microsites on certain contracts.

Some factors to consider when selecting the best microsite include:
- Utilize any existing preparation, if the area has been site prepped for planting.
- Only plant in an acceptable planting medium.  Some contracts will have very specific criteria for what you're allowed to plant in.
- You may be asked to utilize existing stumps to provide some protection for the planted seedlings, as they're often slightly raised and usually offer protected, undamaged soil pockets right beside the stump.  This is called obstacle planting, because you're planting beside an obstacle.  Even if you aren't asked specifically to do obstacle planting, targeting spots that are six to twelve inches away from existing stumps is generally a good practice on most contracts.
- Learn to recognize which specific vegetation indicates suitable pockets for planting.

Think wisely.  Don't choose a spot where it's hard to plant a tree if there's an easier acceptable microsite just a foot away.  This will come into play when we talk about spacing.


Microsite Preparation

Before planting an area, you'll be briefed on the expectations for microsite preparation.  This often varies from contract to contract, and sometimes even from block to block.

Screefing is the removal of unwanted material from the planting spot, and may or may not be required.  In some instances, the size of the screef is specified in the planting prescription, perhaps something like 10cm x 10cm.  You may use your boot for a minor screef, or you may also need to use your shovel for a larger or deeper one, depending on the ground conditions on the block.  Screefing is extra work, and can create musculoskeletal strain, so you want to be careful in the methods that you use to screef.  Smart planters can often reduce or eliminate some screefing entirely by using careful microsite selection.  Smart foresters have minimal screefing requirements, because it means lower bid prices from contractors.  Don't make the classic first-year planter mistake of spending a full minute screefing through heavy grass mat if there's exposed soil in a spot only a foot away!

The correct techniques for foot screefing and for shovel screefing will be shown to you in the field by your instructor or your foreman.  The technique may vary slightly depending on site conditions.  Shovel screefing will feel very awkward when you first start planting, but after ten or twenty thousand shovel screefs, it starts to feel very normal, comfortable, and efficient.


Opening the Hole, Grabbing the Seedling

Let's assume that you've already picked the best spot for the tree.  The goal here is to have a hole of sufficient depth.  The hole needs to be sufficiently straight and vertical.  The roots of the seedling must be straight up and down, and the plug will be covered with dirt or organics to just over the top of the root collar.  The root collar of the seedling is the space between the top of the plug, and the bottom of the needles or laterals.  The laterals are the small branches on the seedling.

Assuming that you've picked your spot, and depending on the rockiness of the ground, you may want to probe gently with your shovel to make sure you won't be driving your shovel into a rock, root, or other hard ground, which could increase the risk of long-term injuries.  If most of the ground on the block is soft, this may not be necessary.  Taking the time to choose a microsite carefully will usually make planting easier for you, and better for the tree.

Push your shovel in.  There are different techniques depending on the terrain.  If the ground is soft, you should be able to drive it in with one strong thrust of your arm.  You might want to lift the shovel first, and use gravity and the weight of the shovel to help your arm out.  If the ground is rocky, many planters prefer to wiggle the blade of the shovel to help it find a path around the rocks.  Use your kicker when added pressure is required.  Try alternating your feet on the kickers.  If possible, try to always kick on the outside of the shovel, ie. on the right kicker plate if you're holding the shovel in your right hand and kicking with your right foot, or on the left kicker plate if you're holding the shovel in your left hand and kicking with your left foot.  Being ambidextrous when you're planting prevents some stress on your body.  However, kicking on the "inside" kicker plate is usually more awkward for your body, so try not to get into that habit.  Experiment with different ways to handle the shovel as some methods may suit your body type better than others.  Also, it will be to your benefit to have a few different styles that you're comfortable with, so you're more able to adapt to changes in terrain.

Next, you need to open the hole.  There are different techniques for doing this in order to open a hole that's deep and wide enough to fit your hand, and able to accommodate the roots or plug.  The plug is the part of the tree that has the dirt surrounding the roots.  No matter what eventual technique you become familiar with for opening a hole, start off by pushing FORWARD.  Almost all first-year planters put their shovel into the ground and pull back.  I think this must be a natural movement that roughly mimics digging in a pile of dirt with a garden shovel.  Don't do this.  You don't want to pull backwards first.  Make a conscious effort to push forward first.  As you get faster, you'll learn to turn this into a fluid motion where, as you're moving to your next spot, you'll be throwing the shovel forward and into the ground.  As you continue to move closer to the hole, the shovel ends up naturally pushing forward with your body motion.  It wouldn't be possible to be moving towards a new hole and pulling backwards on a shovel simultaneously.

As you're moving toward the hole that you're about to make, take your non-shovel hand and reach into your drawbag to pull out the next tree that you're about to plant.  For efficiency, you need to be doing several things simultaneously whenever possible.  That means getting the tree ready for the hole at the same time that you're making the hole.  This step is an important one in terms of stock-handling too.  You want to grab the entire seedling at once, including the roots.  Don't just grab the top of the tree.  If you grab it by the top, you're going to end up pulling needles or the leader bud off of a lot of your trees.  This is terrible for the seedling, as it basically knocks back a year of growth, or even kills the tree.

Now this is a tricky part that a lot of foresters don't understand.  Some foresters ask you to stand the trees up so they are perfectly vertical in your planting bags, rather than have them all lying on their sides.  The rationale is that they don't want you to be bending the stems and harming the seedlings.  But that doesn't matter if you're pulling the tops off the trees as you're pulling them out of your bags!  The best approach that I've found, and a lot of foresters understand this when you explain it to them, is to lay the trees in your bags at an angle.  If they're angled, it's easy to grab them by both the main stem of the seedling and the plug simultaneously.  Ultimately, that's the best treatment for the seedlings.  For now though, be aware that some foresters may still tell you that they want the trees completely vertical in your bags.


Planting the Tree, Closing the Hole

The best way to put the seedling into the hole is to slide it across the front of your shovel, especially if you have a tight or narrow hole, because the shovel is smooth enough to protect the plug from ripping.  Since the tree is cupped in your fingers, your knuckles also help to protect the plug from getting shredded as it goes into the hole.  Make sure your fingers extend all the way down to the bottom of the plug.  Put the tree in the hole, THEN pull out your shovel.

Some planters prefer to make a larger hole, which is easier to work with.  This is one of those counter-intuitive steps about efficiency.  You'd think that making a larger hole would take more time and slow you down.  Yes, it may take an extra second or two, but sometimes you more than make up for that time if you can get the tree into the hole really quickly.  I often see inexperienced planters spending too much time fiddling with tucking the roots into a tight hole.

Either way, at this point you have to make sure that the roots are straight.  You need to learn to do this by feel, because you won't always be able to look in and visually inspect the roots.  This is probably the most important part of planting, in my opinion.  I can't begin to emphasize how much long-term pain you'll cause for yourself if you don't make sure that your plugs are straight.  Bent roots is a type of quality fault.

You may also have to adjust the seedling's depth at this point, to make sure it isn't too shallow or too deep.  In general, you want just a small amount of dirt above the top of the plug, perhaps a centimeter or two.

Now it's time to close the hole.  No matter how you do this, three objectives must be met.  The plug must be covered.  There should be no air pockets around the roots.  The tree should be snug enough in the ground to reduce moisture loss, but the soil should not be compacted so much that the roots are crushed.

There are three different general methods to close the hole:  using your hand, your boot, or the shovel.  For each of these, there can be multiple techniques, especially with the boot.  Learn to use them all.  You'll sometimes be on blocks where you're constantly using different types of closure methods, depending on each specific microsite.  Sometimes, when I plant a box of trees, I may use as many as eight or ten different methods for closing different holes.

Closing with your hand works best in soft ground, and it's fast, but it's hard on the hands.  Ease into this, because it can cause tendonitis in your knuckles.  However, it's efficient because you're already bent over.  Another advantage of hand closing is more accuracy, plus you can sweep away loose debris from the tree at the same time as closing the hole.

Closing with your shovel is a good method where soils are too compact to close by hand.  Care is required to avoid slashing the roots with a misplaced shovel blade.  This method is slower, but if you're in hard ground or clay, this “double shovel” technique can do a good job.

Some planters have also learned to do a fast “shovel twist” close in soft ground, which can be extremely quick.  It'll take quite a while for a first-year planter to catch on to this technique, so don't expect to be using it much when you're first learning to plant.  Focus on other planting techniques, and save learning this trick until you're comfortable planting a couple thousand trees per day.  At that point, your shovel control should be skilled enough to learn how to shovel-close in certain types of ground.

Closing with your boot is the most common approach.  You can use the toe of your boot, or the heel, or a flat-footed stomp.  You can come down from above, or move your foot at the tree in a sideway motion more like a bulldozer.  By varying your kick, you can also vary the eventual depth of the tree, which is a technique that good planters gradually learn.  Care must be used that you don't kick the tree itself and damage the seedling.  When kicking a hole closed, it's also possible to make a tree lean over, or to compact the soil too much, so pay attention to your specific techniques and the results that they give.

Your instructor or foreman will go over all of these methods, and will hopefully spend a lot of time watching you plant so they can correct mistakes in your techniques.


Planting a tree quickly, with proper quality, is an art and a science.  On your first few days of planting, you'll feel incredibly awkward, and you'll think that you'll never be able to plant several thousand trees in a day.  After a week or so, it'll start to feel less awkward.  By the end of four weeks, you'll be moving confidently across the block.  After a couple years, planting will feel almost effortless to you.  You'll feel almost like a dancer moving across the block, and your planting techniques will have become very refined and elegant.  But first, you have to practice a lot and plant a couple hundred thousand trees.

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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:

www.Replant.ca/training

I encourage you to share this information with anyone else who might be interested.  Thanks for your interest and support!

-          Jonathan “Scooter” Clark

Tree Planter Training 08 - Nature & The Environment

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:

www.Replant.ca/training

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 21^st, 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 21^st, the days grow two hours longer - an extra hour of daylight in the morning, and an extra hour in the evening.  After June 21^st, 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 21^st, 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.

  

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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:

www.Replant.ca/training

I encourage you to share this information with anyone else who might be interested.  Thanks for your interest and support!

-          Jonathan “Scooter” Clark

Tree Planter Training 07 - Map Reading

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:

www.Replant.ca/training

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 07 - “Map Reading”

In this section we'll learn a few basics about Map Reading.  We'll also talk about how to understand map directions, coordinate systems, topography, contour lines, scales, and geo-referenced digital maps.

All planters should have a basic understanding of maps and cartography.  One of the benefits of becoming a tree planter is that you'll learn a lot about the world around you, including things like being able to tell directions without a compass.

Let's start with the very basics.  On most maps, all the writing is oriented the same way, so you can determine a "top" and a "bottom" to the map.  If the map doesn't indicate otherwise, the top of the map is always north.  This is the case in probably 99% of maps.  Occasionally, for some odd reason, north will face a different direction, but if it does, there should be a little compass rose symbol or arrow on the map that points to north.

GPS System

Most maps that planters use in British Columbia will also have coordinates on them.  There are literally thousands of different coordinate systems in place throughout the world.  Some of them were created centuries ago by early explorers and surveyors, and it's safe to say that most are extremely confusing.  Within BC, you'll normally just encounter one of the most well-known systems used today, a traditional Latitude and Longitude system.  The Latitude and Longitude coordinates will be in "northings" and "westings" when you refer to coordinates within British Columbia.

Northings, or the distance north of the equator, range from about 49 degrees at the bottom of BC to about 60 degrees at the top of the province.  These are also known as the latitude.  Westings range from approximately 114 to 140 degrees, with the lower numbers on the east side bordering Alberta.  These are known as the longitude.  If you have problems with respect to latitude and longitude in terms of remembering which is which, think of the word "flatitude" instead of latitude.  Latitude lines are flat lines, rather than vertical, when you look at a map.  If you're ever using software or a GIS system that doesn't allow you to type in the letters N or W to represent northing and westing, use positive numbers for the northings, and use a negative sign for the westings.  The number representing the latitude always comes first, before the number for the longitude.

If you get a block map, sometimes it will display the coordinates on the sides of the map, in a scale.  As mentioned, the latitude is the distance above or below the equator, hence the reason why latitudes are always "north" in British Columbia.  That's why the latitudes run up and down the sides of a map, even though a line of latitude is flat, running from left to right on a normal map.  The longitude is the distance to the east or west of the Prime Meridian that runs north/south down through England, hence why longitudes are always "west" in British Columbia.  That's why lines of longitude are vertical, and the longitude numbers always run along the bottom or top of a map.

In addition to the possibility of seeing latitudes and longitudes listed on the sides of your map, there may be a single point coordinate (latitude and longitude) listed somewhere in the map's key.  That is probably for a point in the very center of the map, although occasionally, it will refer to a random point somewhere on the map where a surveyor decided to pick what's known as a "tie point" to start plots or something similar.

The Global Positioning Satellite system, also known as GPS, is a network of approximately thirty satellites that are operated by the US government.  If you're at any point on Earth with a GPS device that can "see" three satellites, you'll be able to determine your exact position in terms of latitude and longitude.  Add a fourth satellite, and you should also be able to get your elevation above sea level.  That's a simplification, but good enough for our purposes.

The GPS system (also known as NAVSTAR) is the American variety of GNSS, or Global Navigation Satellite System.  Russia has a GNSS called GLONASS.  Other political entities (Japan, China, India, and the EU) are also in the process of deploying their own GNSS systems.

GPS coordinates are typically listed in degrees, minutes, and seconds.  These refer to units of arc, or distance on the surface of the Earth.  An arc-degree covers a very large amount of distance.  The exact distance depends on where you're located on Earth, but an arc-degree can sometimes be as large as 65 kilometers or more.  An arc-minute is smaller, maybe around a kilometer wide depending on your location.  An arc-second is a pretty narrow range, only maybe around twenty to thirty meters wide, although again, this distance depends on your exact location.  There are sixty arc-seconds in an arc-minute, and sixty arc-minutes in an arc-degree, just like in time-keeping.  There are 360 arc-degrees to cover the entire surface of the Earth, just like there are 360 degrees in a circle.  A lot of the time, people drop the "arc" prefix when they're talking about GPS coordinates, and just use the terms degrees, minutes, and seconds.

Sometimes, the written format of a GPS coordinate is written using specific symbols for degrees, minutes, and seconds.  Degrees are symbolized by a small superscripted circle.  Minutes are symbolized by an apostrophe.  Seconds are symbolized by a quotation mark symbol.  So for example, 54 degrees, 36 minutes, and 30 seconds would be listed as 54^o 36' 30".  At other times, decimal points will be used for either just the seconds, or sometimes for the minutes and seconds.  In this example, if just the seconds were converted to decimal, the reading would be 54^o 36.5'.  That's because thirty seconds is 0.5 (or 30/60) of a minute.  If the minutes were also converted to decimal, the reading would be 54.65^o.  That's because 36 minutes is 0.6 (or 36/60) of a degree.  If you have a GPS device, you can go into the settings and pick the display format that you want to use.

Other Map Features

Your map may have a lot of curvy lines drawn all over it.  These are called Contour lines.  This means that the map is a topographic map, or one that identifies the topography of the area being mapped.  The best part about a contour map or topo map is that it lets you understand the hills and valleys on a block, because the contour lines indicate the elevations throughout the block.  Each contour line represents a specific elevation, say perhaps 1380m.  Contour lines are usually spaced 10m or 20m apart on a block map, or perhaps 20m to 100m apart on a larger regional map.  The closer the lines are together, the steeper the slope.

If your map doesn't have contour lines, but it has streams or creeks identified, there's a good chance that you can figure out a rough idea of the hills and valleys on your own.  Streams and creeks are usually identified in blue.  Look for a blue line, and follow that line to where it ends.  If the line just stops suddenly, that's the highest part of the stream.  Water flows downhill, so follow the creek away from the starting point where the stream officially begins, and you'll see where the block gets lower and lower in elevation.  Perhaps the stream or creek will end in a blue pond, or join another larger stream.

Sometimes you can also guess approximate elevations on a map just by looking at the roads.  The reason for this is because in hilly country, the odds are slightly higher that the roads on the block will generally be going uphill rather than downhill.  Of course, it is possible that roads can go downhill upon entering a block, but that probably happens less than one third of the time, whereas more than two thirds of the time the roads are either flat or go uphill.  The reason for this is simple.  Logging companies like to harvest the easiest wood first, closest to the towns and mills.  The easier wood near the valley bottoms was probably harvested years ago, and the logging companies are now making their way further and further up into the steeper ground.  Also, it's easiest to build main roads along the valley bottoms and have then branches going up into the blocks in the hills.  This method certainly isn't foolproof, but if you have to guess, you can sometimes increase your odds of guessing correctly to be slightly better than just 50/50.

Understanding Scales

Most maps have a small "scale" on them.  This will be a number expressed as a ratio.  On a map showing a small area such as a single block, the ratio is often 1:5,000 or 1:10,000 or, for a very large block, maybe 1:20,000.  On a larger "area map" which shows a larger region of many blocks, the scale might be 1:30,000 or even 1:100,000 or larger.

This scale is a multiplier to indicate how much real distance is covered by each part of the map.  You multiply the distance on the map by the large number in the ratio, to find the real-world distance.  Usually, we think in terms of centimeters on the map.  Therefore, if you were to have a map with a ratio of 1:5,000 then one centimeter on the map represents 5,000 centimeters in the real world.  Ten centimeters on the map would be ten times that amount, or 50,000 centimeters in the bush.  Now obviously, trying to measure real-world distances in centimeters is an exercise in futility.  So you can convert those numbers to meters simply by dividing by 100, since there are 100cm in a meter.  In other words, in the example where 1cm gave us 5,000 centimeters, that's equivalent to 50 meters.  In the second example of 10 centimeters on the map, that becomes 50,000 centimeters or 500 meters in the bush.

These scales are really useful because they can help a planter or a foreman plan for how many trees need to go into an area.  Let's say that you're looking at a map with your foreman, and you've identified exactly where your cache is located on the road on the map.  Let's also say that you're looking at filling a big pocket.  You can get a ruler out and measure from your cache to the back of the pocket.  Let's assume in this case that it's 4 centimeters on the map from your cache to the back of your pocket, and let's assume that the scale on the map is 1:10,000.  This means that the 4 centimeters on the map represents 400m in real-world distance.  Let's also assume that your average spacing on this block needs to be 2.5m between trees.  To go 400m to the back of your pocket, you need to bag up with 160 trees.  You get this number by taking the distance (400m) and dividing your average spacing between trees (2.5m).  But you'll also want to be able to plant back to your cache, instead of dead-walking, so you should take a minimum of about 320 trees in order to plant into the back, and then work back to your cache.  If you can carry even more than 320 trees in your bags, that's even better, because you can plant the extras at the back before you turn around and plant back to your cache.

Geo-Referenced Digital Maps

One of the biggest revolutions in the planting industry since the introduction of LFH planting in the mid-1990's has been the introduction of digital maps, and in particular, geo-referencing.

When a digital map is geo-referenced, this means that it has actual GPS location metadata embedded within the file.  Certain apps can load these maps into your mobile device and correlate the map with the actual current location of your mobile device, based on the GPS receiver in the device.  If the app determines that you're actually "on" the map, it will display your exact location on the map with a little marker indicating where you're located, perhaps a blue dot or something similar.  As you move around the block with your mobile device, your location indicator moves around on the map.  It's just like using Google Maps or other similar services, except that these geo-referenced PDF's are generated by your silviculture forester and can show your planting blocks in great detail.  Naturally, Google Maps focuses on towns and cities and government-maintained roads, so it usually isn't any good on remote planting blocks.  At the moment, an app called Avenza PDF Maps seems to be the most popular way to work with geo-referenced maps.

Another bonus of apps that use geo-referenced maps is that you can do the same sort of distance calculations as what I explained in the example with the ruler a few minutes ago.  You just tap two spots on the map (presumably your cache and the back of your piece) and the app tells you the exact distance between the two points.  You can also outline an area, such as your entire piece, and the app will do an area calculation for you.  Let's say that your area calculation shows that your piece is approximately 1.2Ha in size.  If you're aiming for 2000 stems/Ha and you do a good job with your density, you can assume that your 1.2Ha piece should hold approximately 2400 trees.  Being able to make calculations like this really helps with planning.

Always Know Where You Are

Understanding maps and coordinate systems can be far more confusing than what I've explained here, because the topic can be incredibly complex.  However, if you master the basics that I've explained here, you'll understand all that you need to know to be comfortable with looking at a map and trying to figure out where you are.  It's important that your foreman should always leave a map on the dashboard of the truck, so if there's an emergency and the foreman is incapacitated, the crew will be able to figure out exactly where they are and relay that information to outside help.  If there isn’t such a map on the dash, ask your foreman to leave one there for emergencies, with appropriate contact information to reach outside help.  If the foreman is the person who’s seriously hurt, he or she will be really glad that they left this information for the planters.  Most companies require that each crew have a written Emergency Response Plan with all of this information, and with instructions on what to do in an emergency.

As a planter, you should always know the number of the block that you're working on.  A great idea is for the foreman to use a dry-erase marker to write the block number on the rear-view mirror of each truck every morning.  You should also be able to find the block number on the map on the dashboard.

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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:

www.Replant.ca/training

I encourage you to share this information with anyone else who might be interested.  Thanks for your interest and support!

-          Jonathan “Scooter” Clark

Tree Planter Training 06 - Camp Life

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:

www.Replant.ca/training

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 06 - “Camp Life”

Many first-year planters, perhaps as many as eighty percent, will be working for companies that run tree planting bush camps in BC.  I'm not sure if anyone knows how many separate planting camps operate in British Columbia every summer, but my estimate is approximately seventy.  Camp sizes vary considerably, and sometimes two camps will merge during the season, or a camp will split into two, so it would be difficult to get accurate numbers.  Regardless, if you're a first-time tree planter, there's a good chance that you need to be mentally prepared to spend your summer in a tent.  In this section, we'll talk about the equipment and facilities that you might expect to find in a typical bush camp, and we'll also touch briefly on alternative lodging arrangements for jobs where a bush camp isn't practical.

Overview of Basic Structure

Most camps are organized as tent camps, although in a few camps, ATCO trailers are used on a slightly more permanent basis to house camp facilities or even to act as housing units for planters.  However, ATCO Trailer camps are quite rare in the tree planting industry, and not really that mobile.  Most planters will experience mobile bush camps where all facilities are either contained in tents, or in mobile trailers with wheels that can be moved to a new location by a relatively small truck.

The kitchen is often the heart of the camp.  This is the domain of the cooks.  Sometimes, the kitchen will be in a large mobile trailer, and at other times, a large tent will be set up.  Either way, the kitchen will probably contain two or even three stoves and ovens.  These items are usually commercial units powered by propane rather than being household ranges powered by electricity.  There will be counters used for food preparation.  There will be some storage space for basic cooking supplies, such as pots, pans, trays, and utensils.  There will be some shelving for food prep items, things like spices and baking supplies.  There will be a fridge and a deep freeze, although those items might alternatively be located outside the kitchen.  And there needs to be a three-compartment sink for dishwashing, plus a hand-washing sink.  The water supplied to the kitchen will be potable, and there will probably be a propane heater to ensure that both hot and cold water are available.

The mess tent is the main social area of the camp.  The mess tent will contain tables and chairs for dozens of people.  There will probably be a couple tables used for setting out lunch supplies each morning, so the planters can make their own lunches for the block.  There may be another table with a charging station so people can charge phones and laptops.  A generator outside the mess tent will supply power for the charging station and for lights hung within the tent.  And finally there will be a bulletin board which has dozens of publications that various government agencies mandate to be made available to all employees.

There will be some sort of shower facilities.  They may not be very fancy!  Usually, water is drawn from a non-potable source, such as a nearby stream or pond, and a gasoline-powered pump sends water into the showers through a series of garden hoses.  The water will be heated by a propane-powered water heater.  In many camps, a professional shower trailer may be in place, with anywhere from two to four shower stalls.  In other camps, a mid-sized tent may be used, again with two to four separate shower sections, and the shower heads may be as simple as common gardening spray nozzles hanging from the roof.

There will be a dry tent of some sort.  This tent may be heated by any number of means.  In the old days, planters would have air-tight wood stoves, and would need to gather kindling and firewood at each camp site, and various people would be responsible for keeping a fire hot.  Nowadays, thankfully, it's more common to see propane blast heaters or large kerosene heaters.  After a rainy day, if you enter the dry tent, you'll see dozens of jackets and other items of clothing hanging from a series of clotheslines within the tent, and hopefully, by morning, they'll all be dried out.

There will also be a first aid tent or trailer.  This facility will have a full set of supplies to meet basic emergency needs and treatment needs for any number of minor ailments.  The provincial WorkSafe regulations dictate the contents of each first aid room.  Planters who are not designated trained first-aid attendants should not be using supplies.  Always find a designated first aid attendant.  These persons will treat you, notify the company about supplies that need to be replaced, and ensure that the proper paperwork and first aid records are filled out and submitted to their head office and WorkSafe BC.

Finally, there will be several outhouses.  Each outhouse should always have a large bottle of liquid anti-septic hand wash solution or gel.  The outhouses are generally dug at each location in high and dry ground, where water can't collect during a rainstorm, then filled in after camp is broken and ready to move to the next spot.  In some locations, port-a-potties are rented by the licensees responsible for the reforestation contracts, in which case a septic vacuum truck may visit the site once every several days to maintain the outhouses until the contract is over.

The Daily Routine

A tree planting season starts for most people in late April or early May.  May is all about cold mornings, freezing rain, and lots of enthusiasm.  By mid-June, however, things are heating up, light misty rains are welcome, and after thirty days of planting, most people are starting to talk about time off. Most planting camps work for three or four days, then have one day off, in a cycle called "three and one's" or "four and one's."  You'll probably also have four or five days off each month due to unexpected downtime from vehicle hassles, frozen trees, fog days while using helicopters, or snowstorms, or from planned downtime between contracts when moving camp.  When this happens, don't complain.  Take advantage of the downtime to get some rest.  At other times during the busy parts of the season, you'll wish you had more free time.  The trick is to bite the bullet and take advantage of planting when it's available.  Incidentally, it's often traditional to have a forced week or so off around mid-June, due to the gap between some spring and summer contracts.

On a typical day, you'll wake up between 5am and 6am, get dressed, and stumble into the mess tent.  A huge breakfast awaits you, which you'll have difficulty forcing down.  Breakfast is a critical meal! Although some planters will want to skip this meal, the energy you get from a strong breakfast will be critical in ensuring a productive day.  After you've finished eating, you'll make your lunch from materials provided by the cook:  sandwiches, granola, cookies, juice, fruit, vegetables, trail mix, and other items.  Smart planters get up early to get the best selection for their lunches.  After breakfast, you'll go to your crew truck, make sure your planting gear is loaded, and head off to the block.

Once you get to the block, you'll grab your planting gear and day-bag, and be directed to your piece.  Mornings are usually cold.  On the block, you'll have to get out of a warm vehicle, and bag up with wet trees that you've packed into a heavy set of planting bags.  On a nice day, the sun will soon come out, and the temperature will start to warm up.  Keep your head down, and keep planting.  If the planting goes well, you'll be happy.  If your land is bad, you'll become frustrated or unhappy, but you should realize that a certain amount of bad land is inevitable.  The foreman will hopefully try to distribute the good and bad land evenly, or at least, if someone gets obvious preferential treatment for a day or so, there will be an obvious reason for it, and the advantage will shift to other members of the crew a day or so later.

Bad weather, bugs, steep blocks, slash, and other challenges may affect you, but remember, there's always beauty everywhere, even though you may not have much time to look around.  At the end of the day, everyone puts their equipment away, and you grab your day-bag and head back to the trucks.  Everybody stinks of sweat, and the truck is generally filthy, yet people are happy.  Even if you've had a bad day, at least it's over.  You give your foreman your numbers for the day, and you probably fall asleep on the way back to camp.  Once you've started to drive home, put planting out of your head.  If you can try not to think about it again until you arrive back on the block the next morning, you'll enjoy your summer more.  When you get back to camp, you'll wash up, and then eat a huge meal.  For many planters, this is the best part of each day.

After dinner, it's all up to you.  Some people head straight to the showers.  Guitars may appear in the mess tent, emails may get written, and there's lots of conversation.  The smart planters will head to bed well before nine o'clock, to get a good rest for a productive day starting the next morning.

On the night off, which refers to the night before the full day off rather than the actual evening of the day off, you'll quit planting anywhere between noon and 5pm.  This usually depends on the state of the block you're on, the distance from camp to town, and crew dynamics.  I've always told planters in my own camp that on the last day of a shift, we always work a full day.  That extra half day of production on every fourth day of work leads to a 14.3% increase in productivity and earnings.  Quitting at noon on the last day of the shift made more sense years ago when the shifts were always six or seven days long, but with much shorter shifts right now, you need to maximize your planting hours for each day that you're on the blocks.  Anyway, when you're done work, you'll go back to camp and have dinner.  If you're going to town right away, you'll need to grab your laundry and clean clothes.  Your crew might have to load up empty fuel barrels or propane tanks that need to get filled in town, or maybe hook up the garbage trailer, then you can head into civilization.  Town has a laundromat, restaurant, liquor store, bar, and hotel.  A large number of crews will stay in camp on the night before the day off, and wait until the next morning to make the trip into town.

It used to be that the stereotypical routine for many planters was to drink as much alcohol as quickly as possible, then to act like a fool, including vomiting, getting kicked out of bars, getting beaten up by local red-necks, or getting arrested.  However, times are changing, and this is not the norm anymore.  Nowadays, many Interior planters realize that they only work for about fifty to sixty days per year, and they need to make the most of this time, so they get as much rest as possible on days off.  A lot of planters go to bed early on the night off, because the focus for their summer is on working, rather than partying.  No matter what your preference is, you'll spend the day off doing your laundry and running around town, picking up supplies.

Planting feels like different things to different people.  I personally find that I completely zone out, except for paying some attention to the process of planting.  Once I've bagged up and planted the first bundle or so, it usually feels like I'm bagging out about two minutes later.  Some people find planting to be an exciting, competitive kind of racing activity.  Others find planting to be frustrating, boring, or physically exhausting.

Your Cooks and Meals

Obviously, with several dozen people needing to eat large breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, it wouldn't make sense to have an open kitchen where everybody prepares their own food.  That would be chaos, and would also cause all kinds of food safety problems.  It's much more cost-efficient and time-efficient to have staff devoted specifically to food preparation and service, and it also helps to do a better job of ensuring that planters have access to a balanced, nutritious diet.

Some camps have a single cook, although I've rarely seen this situation if there are more than 25-30 people working out of the camp.  More frequently, there are a pair of cooks.  Sometimes, they're equivalent in seniority, but more often, one is designated as a head cook and the other is designated as an assistant.  In some of the largest camps, it's even possible to have a head cook with two assistants, although this isn't common.

What you eat depends mostly on your cook.  I've seen camps where one quarter to a third of the planters were vegetarians.  Because of this, most planting companies now offer vegetarian food, and cooks are able to provide tasty vegetarian meals that still contain lots of protein.  If your diet is more restricted, you should talk to your potential employer before accepting a job.  A cook making dinner for forty other people might not have the energy to devote to a top-of-the-line vegan or gluten-free dish for only one or two people.  If you have allergies to anything, tell the cook up-front, right at the start of the season.  If you only have certain preferences, such as not preferring mushrooms or onions, it would be selfish to force a cook to make meals without such ingredients, as the rest of the camp would also suffer.  But don't worry, there are usually lots of choices at each meal, so you should be able to work around your preferences without limiting the diet for others in the camp.

Planters are the key component in the generation of revenue for a planting company, and planters need to eat unbelievable amounts of food to remain productive.  Most companies are very aware of this.  No matter what else happens, you should get lots of food.  If you don't, there's a serious problem with the cook or the company, and you should let your supervisor or the company owner know immediately.

If the food lacks variety, or if you'd enjoy something that hasn't been on the menu, ask the cook about it.  Usually there are very valid reasons why an experienced cook will stay away from certain dishes, but occasionally it's just a lack of awareness that there would be an interest.  Remember that most cooks take enormous pride in what they do.  If you have specific suggestions for more variety, talk to the cooks directly rather than just complaining to other planters on the block.  Of course, some types of meals are just impossible from a logistical point of view.  Think about what it would be like to have to have fifty friends over and try to cook them dinner, in a kitchen that isn't much larger than you'd find in a typical house.

You're charged for camp costs, which are generally $25 plus GST per day.  This money covers part of the expenses for your meals, the cooks' wages, the use of facilities such as showers, and transportation to the work site and to town.  In BC, legislation prohibits the employer from charging more than $25 plus GST per day for camp costs, in a bush camp situation.  No such legislation exists in Alberta, so camp costs are generally higher in that province.  For a crew working out of motels, if the employer has arranged for your room and pays for it up front, the $25 per day limit is not applicable, and the company is allowed to charge you any amount up to the actual cost of the room.

Some planters wonder why the company charges you to work for them.  It's a complex situation.  It would certainly be possible for companies not to charge camp costs, and just pay the planters a slightly lower price per tree.  If they did things that way, the net result to the company could be exactly the same.  They could theoretically just figure out the reduction in tree prices that would be needed to exactly offset the loss of revenue from collecting camp costs.  However, if they did that, the most experienced planters would end up shouldering a greater portion of the costs of operating the camp.  Let me use a detailed example so this makes more sense.

Let's assume that the average planter at a specific company plants 2500 trees per day, and the camp costs are $25.  The company would therefore need to reduce the price per tree by one cent across the board if they wanted to eliminate camp costs.  On average, each planter would make $25.00 less from their planting each day, because they're getting a cent less on each of their trees.  But if they didn't have to pay $25.00 in camp costs, then there wouldn't be any difference in the end, right?  Well, the problem is that this is based on average production.  The fastest planters would be losing a cent per tree on larger tree numbers.  So a good planter who planted 4000 trees in a day would effectively be losing $40.00 from their paycheque in return for not paying the $25.00 in camp costs, whereas a slow planter who plants 1500 in a day would only lose $15.00 from their paycheque.  This doesn't seem fair, since the two planters probably eat roughly the same amount of food.  The fastest planters are the most valuable employees, so a company wouldn't want to penalize them more than a slow planter would be penalized.  With the current system of charging camp costs, each employee pays exactly the same amount per day.

Other Equipment

I've already mentioned the basic structures that you'll find in a planting camp, things like the kitchen, the mess tent, the dry tent, the first aid tent, the showers, and the outhouses.  But there will be many other pieces of equipment that you might also run into.  I'll try to describe each of them briefly, so you'll get a better mental picture of how complex a mobile tent camp can be.

Earlier I mentioned that there would probably be a refrigerator, or a couple fridges, either inside the kitchen or just outside the kitchen.  A much better alternative that I use is a complete walk-in cooler structure.  This small insulated structure will probably be about eight feet per side, and will have a cooling unit installed, plus lots of shelving.  A walk-in cooler can handle the volumes of food required for a mid-sized planting camp much more easily than a couple of fridges can.

For a water supply, it was common in the old days to have half a dozen 40-gallon water drums in each camp to supply safe potable water, and empty barrels would get re-filled in town from a garden hose at a gas station.  Thankfully, most professional planting contractors now use a couple of large water reservoirs, perhaps of around a thousand gallons each, and have potable water trucked in.  This is more time-efficient and cost-efficient, and let's be honest – the water that came from garden hoses at random gas stations probably wasn't always safe.

In some remote locations, where it's difficult to have water trucked in, a company will use a professional water filtration system.  Water will be pumped out of a stream and run through the filtration system into a reservoir for the kitchen.  The filtration system will ensure that the water passes through a series of perhaps three filters of decreasing size, to filter out large debris and then smaller debris and then really fine sediments, although these filters don’t necessarily make the water look clear.  The water then goes through some sort of chemical or ultraviolet filtration stage which eliminates all biological contaminants and ensures that the water, even if discolored, is safe to drink.  The only problem with these systems is that they're difficult to keep running, and if they're not set up and maintained correctly, there's a risk that the water doesn’t get filtered properly and people could become sick.

There's usually a fuel depot in camp, also called a fuel cache.  This will probably be built in an area where sheets of plastic or containment flooring can keep any spilled fuel from leaking into the soil, and they'll be surrounded by a protective ditch and berm.  The ditch is another protective measure to contain any potential spill.  The berm helps protect the fuel cache from getting run into by a truck.  If the cache is in an area where a vehicle could conceivably back into it, a crew might also place logs around it to serve as another barrier.  There will probably be poles erected around the cache with bright orange snow fencing or flagging tape, to help visually identify the danger.  The cache will probably contain barrels of diesel and gasoline, plus jerry cans, smaller containers of things like kerosene, and items like motor oil.  Many camps also have one or two large fuel containers called tidy tanks mounted in the back of pickups.  These are easier to fill and more efficient to use to dispense fuel to other vehicles.  Don't allow people to smoke around the fuel cache, or around trucks with tidy-tanks.  Make sure that the tidy tanks are properly grounded before use.

A dish pit will need to be dug behind the kitchen.  This is where the gray water goes.  Gray water is the run-off after washing dishes, so it's basically a mix of liquid wastes with no human waste.  This pit will be dug several feet deep and several feet wide.  It gets covered up with a few sheets of plywood, and then gets fenced off with high-visibility flagging tape, as a safety precaution.  You wouldn't want to fall into this pit!  Unfortunately, the dish pit is sometimes an attractant for bears, so I usually put a generator pretty close to it as a possible deterrent.  Many camps will also require a gray-water pit for shower run-off.  The terms black water and night soil refer to human waste, and are handled separately from any gray water pits.

Your camp will need garbage cans.  Often, a camp will have several traditional garbage cans scattered throughout the mess tent and nearby, and these will be emptied out by the cooks each morning after breakfast, and again in the evening after dinner.  The camp may have some temporary bear-proof garbage containers, which are used on an interim basis until the garbage bags can be moved to a garbage trailer.  The garbage trailer should be enclosed, rodent-proof, and bear-proof, and needs to be taken to a landfill to be emptied at the end of every shift, before the garbage really starts to rot and crawl with maggots.

Your camp will probably have a number of VHF mobile radios.  Every truck should have one.  The kitchen should have one.  And finally, most foremen and checkers and supervisors will carry handheld VHF radios that communicate on the same system.  I've also seen some crews where a foreman will buy several small two-way radios from The Source and always have one of these radios in a waterproof container at each cache, besides carrying another on their radio harness beside their VHF handheld.  This way, if a planter comes back to a cache and needs anything, they can always contact the foreman quite quickly.  These radios are also great if there's a first aid problem and the foreman needs to be alerted very quickly.  It wouldn't completely surprise me if there came a day eventually when every planter was required to carry such a small radio with them on the block.  This would also be an improvement to current communications between crew members.  The only headache would be to keep them all charged every day.

If the camp is located on a logging road, signs should be posted a few hundred meters away from the entrance to camp, in both directions.  These signs can warn road users to slow down in case there are vehicles entering or exiting the camp.

The camp will probably have three or four gasoline-powered generators, each capable of generating perhaps three thousand watts.  Sometimes, a camp will have a much larger diesel-powered generator instead, that can generate in excess of six or seven thousand watts.  We use the generators to power the kitchen, electric pressure pumps (for water), the supervisor's office, lights in the mess tent and other structures, and to charge the batteries for the handheld radios.  Some companies even use propane powered generators.  No matter whether you're using gasoline or diesel generators, only a limited number of people should be allowed to refuel this equipment, and they should be thoroughly trained in fuel-handling procedures to ensure that the wrong type of fuel is never added to any pump or generator.  If you put diesel into a gasoline powered engine, or vice versa, you will usually ruin the engine.

Most modern camps have a satellite internet system, used for an internet connection in camp.  Just don't make the mistake of setting the camp up in the trees in such a position that you can't pick up the satellite signal!  Most camps will run the internet into a wireless router that gets set up in the kitchen or mess tent or some central area, so everyone can access the internet from their laptops if they're in the immediate area of the router.  Satellite internet systems are typically quite a bit slower than the broadband that you're used to from a residential connection.  Couple this with the fact that there may be a dozen or more people trying to use it at any given time, and you'll quickly get really frustrated with the internet speed.  It's a wise idea for the entire camp to have a rule that people aren't allowed to run torrents or watch video on the shared internet, because it really makes the internet connection quite useless for all other users.  In other words, assume that the connection will be suitable for reading emails or viewing sites with mostly text content, but not much else.  In areas where there's decent mobile network coverage, the internet problems are often alleviated because a lot of planters will just use their phone to go online, or to create a private hotspot for their own laptop.  But don't count on this either, as a lot of camps are set up well outside the range of typical mobile coverage areas.

Propane tanks are used to power a lot of different heating sources in camp.  A large propane tank, which is about four feet high, is often called a "hundred-pounder."  A large camp may have as many as a dozen or more of these, or it may have a single large propane tank capable of carrying several hundred litres, mounted on a mobile trailer.  The propane is used mostly by the kitchen, to power the stoves and hot water heaters.  Propane may be used for a smaller residential-type stove & range-top that allows planters to make tea and coffee without imposing on the cooking facilities.  Propane is also used for things like heaters for the shower facilities, and heaters in the dry tent.  Propane tanks need to be labeled carefully as dangerous goods, and shouldn't ever be stored in such a manner that a vehicle could back over one.  It's also wise to dig them into the ground and to tie them off to something solid, so there's no risk that they could tip over and hit the ground.  Don't allow people to smoke around propane tanks.

Some camps have more than one reefer.  A reefer, or refrigerated trailer, is often used to store as many as a thousand boxes of trees.   Some camps also have smaller refrigerated trucks that can carry several hundred boxes.  A full-sized reefer trailer can be forty, forty-eight, or fifty-three feet long, and gets pulled by a standard large truck like a Freightliner tractor.   This tractor has what's called a fifth wheel to use for attaching the tractor to the trailer.  When a reefer trailer doesn't have a refrigeration unit, it's called a dry trailer, but these aren't used as commonly by planting companies, because if they're ever used for tree storage, they need to be refrigerated.  A tractor with a reefer or dry trailer attached is known as a tractor-trailer, or an eighteen wheeler.

The reason why a camp may have more than one reefer, or possibly a dry trailer, is because it's an efficient way to move a full camp around.  Once the camp structures and equipment are disassembled, they take up a very large amount of space, and a reefer is sometimes barely large enough to store and move the entire camp.  The driver of a tractor-trailer unit needs to have a special license known as a Class 1, so it's very rare that you'd see a planter or foreman driving one around.

When You're Not in a Tent Camp

Sometimes you may find yourself working in a logging camp. You stay in logging trailers, which usually come complete with one bed per room, hot showers and running water, laundry facilities, a heated mess hall, and television and/or internet access. The advantages are comfort, but sometimes at the expense of higher camp costs.  Although BC has regulated camp costs, rates for staying in logging camps are very expensive.  If a licensee is covering the costs of providing logging camp accommodations, then the tree planting contractor doesn't have to pass these costs along to planters.  If the planting contractor is required to pay the logging camp operator for the room-nights, you'd better hope that your planting company bid high enough on the work to absorb that significant expense.

You may also be working out of motel accommodations, or staying in guest cabins in wilderness resorts.  Usually, you buy and cook your own food, or sometimes eat in a nearby restaurant, depending on what arrangements the contractor has been able to work out.  Depending on the size of the room, your roommates, and their habits and cooking skills, this can either be a great or a horrible experience. 

If your planting company is arranging for the rooms and pays for them up-front, the maximum that they can charge to the planter is your share of the actual cost of the room.  For example, if there are two people staying in the room, then the maximum you can be charged for camp costs is 50% of the cost of the room, plus the GST and provincial sales tax associated with that amount.

There's also a hidden component to camp costs for people working out of motels.  You're almost always responsible for providing for your own food, so there's a cost of perhaps around $20 or more per day to eat.  So if you're also paying $30 for motel costs, your effective total living costs would be around fifty dollars per day (motel plus food).  That's one of several important things to compare when debating the pros and cons of living and working out of motels versus a bush camp, if you have a choice in the matter, since your food is included in the daily camp costs when working out of a tent camp.  Also, when working out of motels, remember that you have to pay the camp costs for the room even on days off, whereas in a bush camp, you aren't charged camp costs on days off.  Working out of motels is significantly more expensive than working out of bush camps.

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Once again, for further information about this series of tree planter training information, visit:

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I encourage you to share this information with anyone else who might be interested.  Thanks for your interest and support!

-          Jonathan “Scooter” Clark