Keeping forest productive

Published in Mid-Canada Forestry & Mining:
It starts in May, when hundreds of hardy individuals head into Canadian forests to plant trees. In crews of 10 to 15, they’re out bright and early every morning for physically demanding labour. They withstand bug bites and blisters and sometimes-uncomfortable weather, not to mention the lingering possibility that a grouchy bear is nearby.
"Tree planting is probably one of the toughest jobs available in Canada,” George Graham of Thunderhouse Forest Services says from Hearst, Ont. It requires endurance, focus and effort throughout the day.
A typical Thunderhouse camp has four or five crews of 12 planters. Each crew has a supervisor, and each camp has a camp boss. Within each camp is one or two tree runners, assigned to replenishing the supply of trees to the crews during the day, and one or two cooks.
Graham says planters, who work on a schedule of five days on and then one day off, tend to be in their teens and 20s but he’s seen considerably older. “When I first started (in the late 1970s), in this neck of the woods, it was largely First Nations workers,” he adds. “Now it’s mainly students.”
An experienced planter puts about 2,000 trees into the ground on a typical day. Newbies start at about 1,000 per day but improve as the season progresses. “There’s this thing that happens with rookies,” says Graham. “It takes them about six weeks for it all to come together for them. Up until that point, it’s a real struggle.” A good crew boss can help with that by acting as a coach, he adds. ...

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