Update

Haven't updated the blog in while. Well, not too much time to post about planting when you are preparing for the upcoming season, but are not planting yet.

According to my stats, there's still a bunch of people looking for a planting job. Reality check: It's too late.

I'm off to Edmonton for pre-season work in a few days. More on that later.

And just before I go, here's another planting video from a fast planter's perspective. The planter is Milo McMahon, a Manitoba planter that was featured in the Ed's Up episode about tree-planting.

The soundtrack has been deactivated...possessive music giants do that.

Alternative Grind

Here's a very interesting short tree-planting documentary by Jason Nardella. Prospective planters, if you have to watch only one video here, well that one might be it.

The images are fantastic, the testimonials are insightful, funny and touching. Ultimately, it shows a lot of what planting is about, as much as you can grasp from sitting in front of a computer. It was filmed around High Level in Northern Alberta and I would bet good money that it was a WildWoods camp.

Since this video can't be embed, here's part one.

And here's part two.

It's apparently part of a longer documentary not available on the web, that I know of.

Enjoy!

Northern Alberta Treeplanting Video

Here's another video giving some idea of the ambiance when you plant trees in Northern Alberta. This video was filmed in a Wildwoods camp in High Level, AB, in 2004.

A Few Vids to Fill the Time...

These videos are interesting. Not only are they somewhat funny, but they'll show a thing or two to potential rookie planters.

Dialing the shit: Building an A-frame tree cache:



My friend and fellow Québécois tree deliverer Jean-Bernard, in a completely unstaged presentation, building an A-Frame somewhere around Grande Prairie, Alberta. The A-frame is necessary to protect tree seedlings during the summer part of the season, by letting the trees breathe while being protected from the sun. During the spring we usually just put a tarp over unopened boxes.

And what a clean truck, dude (Looks like the bed's body is a little concave tough)! The ending is some classic J-B.

Now, a "treeplanting record":



Apart from the first part not really being a record (I've seen better in more difficult land, not to mention a relatively unfair comparison given the land difference, but it's supposed to be a joke), the video shows classic rookie cluelessness. As a rookie, expect to waste a lot of time, at first, to figure out where you should plant, with lots of time in between to wonder what you're doing there...

Looks like they filmed me during my first year!

Scooter's Summer 2008 Planting Memories Video

Here's Scooter's latest season resumed in a video:



At one point during the summer, our camps were operating for the same client, not too far away from each other (just about 100 klicks away, which is not far in planting distances). But his spring season was mostly in British-Columbia, while ours was mostly in Sasktachewan and around Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

Music: "At Least One Song" by Mike Allison

A full-quality version of the video and photo galleries is available as a free download on replant.ca. Also check out www.MikeAllison.ca to learn more about the music used in this video.

Shitty Trucks, Big Trucks, Good Luck!

The first two photos are not mine, but I couldn't resist stealing them, mostly since we see the great times I had dealing with an over-heating truck on Canada Day Eve.



It started the week off on the right step, taking 6 hours to get to a city 3 hours away...



And this is the giant trucks we had to deal when we were replanting land in the middle of a gigantic open-pit coal mine.



But the best truck I had to drive this season was the rollogon. The slowest machine to ever roll over earth, and sometimes, mud. Contrary to my supervisor's original beliefs, it won't go over a crevasse though. I'm doing the classic John-John pose there.

Alright, guess I just wanted to post pictures of shitty and/or big trucks. I'll leave you with this one:

Busy But Alive

Working hard, slept in only two beds in a month and today was the first actual day off I've had (And I've been forgotten in Rocky Mountain House as the cook took my truck to go get the food order and left for camp, so no one picked me up and I'm still sitting in the hotel lobby...Awesome!)

The Saskatchewan contract lasted three weeks and was quite difficult on everybody, but we now moved onto the beautiful Rocky Mountain House area for our spring contract there. We planted about half of the prescribed trees in the shift that ended yesterday. Been working a lot, with not much rest, but it is less demanding physically and emotionally than last year and I have had a few very easy days (including heli slinging duty which mean 10% work and 90% wait). Also, we started with three crews and are now down to two since a crew left to plant oilfields in northern Alberta. We still have two tree deliverers, and delivering one crew is not a difficult job most of the time. Mostly when you're used to deliver three crews alone. We might lose another crew in a week or so, so I'll be delivering one crew plus additional planters from Ontario as their spring season ends. Tehn, towards the end of our summer contracts, all the original crews should be back together for the final stretch.

I've been writing daily entries about the season so far, but I won't post them until the season ends as I have nop time and internet fares are prohibitive.

Until then, keep pounding!

time to go wait...

Summer Plant

Usually, summer planting is a little more casual, chill. I signed up for a summer plant contract in Alberta in order to be a regular tree planter, not have any responsibilities and be done my day by 7PM max.

I showed up in Edson a week ago, not knowing anyone in my new camp. After planting roughly 100 trees and making an awesome 10 bucks, Byron, the camp supervisor came to me to ask me to help with tree delivery, as his tree runner needed some time off.

So I took on the delivery duties for the week, accepting many repsonsibilities, stress and very long days. Their work area is gigantic, and it's been normal for me to drive for 45 minutes to get to a few planters, then drive another half hour to get to the tree cache, then another 30 minutes to get to another crew. I logged at least 400 kilometers a day this week!

The other interesting part about the forest between Hinton and Edson is that it's heavily industrialized, with pipelines and oil rigs everywhere (Alberta having the second largest reserves of oil in the world after Saudi Arabia, mostly in the oilsands of the north of the province) and I've never seen so much heavy traffic on bush roads! So we basically have to radio our position every 5 kilometers or so, to make sure not to be hit by a wideload in a turn!

I got some pictures, but I didn't take the time to load them unto my computer. As I should have more time this week, going back to regular planting duties, I'll try to upload them so I can post some next week. Interestingly enough, Steve, a crewboss who just arrived from another Alberta camp in Fort McMurray and visited this blog before noted how blogging while planting finally ends up being apologetic for not blogging and not having time to post pics.

Well sorry guys, that's about all the time I've got, more next week!!!

Time to go lie to someone else...

Treeplanting, as seen by your shovel...

This is a nice little video made by a treeplanter in Alberta, simply using a camera attached to a shovel. Makes for great images of the planting technique and rythm. Not much screefing involved though! Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt as quality standards vary from a contract to the other.

Also, if you're a rookie, please remember that there's much to learn, quality and technically-speaking before getting such a steady rythm. You can't and must not focus on speed at first!



Leaner!

Looking for a Tree-Planting Job?

*** UPDATED FOR THE 2009 SEASON ***

You are looking for a treeplanting job this season? Are you experienced?

Sadly, if you're not, it's not the best time to get in, as the future of the industry is looking grim.

If you're looking for a Coastal job, be sure to check this post.

It's still possible to get a job, but due to the forestry industry's problems, many reforestation companies are diminishing their operations due to less contracts, bidding lower on the contracts they won or they'll simply plainly fold for the upcoming season. Therefore, there's more experienced planters to be hired for less interesting jobs and potential first time planters have to look more and accept less interesting offers in order to secure a job.

If they'll hire rookies at all, most companies will accept references from their current planters, so contacts are the key. This is especially valid on the Coast in British-Columbia, but it spreads elsewhere. Ontario might be your best chance.

It's doesn't mean you have to abandon if you're really motivated to get in, just that you'll have to knock at a lot of doors, and very often at the same ones!

If you apply on a website or by email, your application form might be queued while they are sorting and filling their last positions, so it will be important to remind them often that you're interested..

I'd suggest hitting replant.ca's job-market message board, as there is many foremen/crewbosses looking to fill some spots in their crews, as well as some companies hiring (by posting their job offerings there, they have better chances to hire veterans). Most are looking for experienced planters, but I've seen many messages open to rookies or not specifying. You could also try the featured companies section on tree-planter.com, but the chances of securing a job are less likely as most company info refers to their websites and/or their normal hiring process.

There is chances that any currently available positions will go to returning vets who didn't yet decide whether to go back to the bush or not. Your only chance would be as a replacement for any last-minute withdrawal, and in order to secure such a job, you will need to get on the waiting lists and show your determination by constantly reminding any potential employers and hirers that:

1) You exist.
2) You would be the best choice for the job.
3) You need money and it is your sole motivation, but you can deal with the lifestyle and the hard work.

Also, accept that nothing you have ever done will prepare for a treeplanting job, even what seems to be a similar experience (sports, landscaping, outdoors activities and jobs, the military), but don't let it stop you from stating such experiences.

As for the companies' reputation, I'd suggest doing a little investigation. Canadiantreeplanting.com used to be the best site for this kind of info, but it's been down for quite a while and it seems doubtful it will ever be back in full force. You might try the company forum on replant.ca and ask around (cross your fingers).

For additional info about getting hired, you might need to look at this tip page and/or this McGill University handout. Websites such as Hardcore Treeplanters and Treeplanting Online are also very good resources for general information about the job.

As said before, take your chance if you're a rookie, but expect to be on a waiting list and don't stop there, knock on every door!

Hurry up, get your shit together and good luck!

Some Camp Fun...

Here's two funny jousting videos done by a treeplanter in Alberta. The second one is a gem, I'd say.