Let's Go Treeplanting!

[KEVIlgeNius]

May 9th I will be boarding the bus in Toronto for the long drive to Longlac Ontario (about 45 mins north of Thunder Bay). I have been packing up everything I am taking, some new some old. Thought it would be a good opportunity to show how luxurious treeplanting is in comparison to squating. (remember I don't have to carry this stuff, its set up and then it stays for 2 months before I move again).

THE LIST

1 tent (4 man, seperate vestabule for wet/muddy clothing)
3 tarps (2 x 9by12, 1 x 12by14)
1 sleeping bag + sleeping liner
1 sleeping pillow
1 single air matress + pump
1 treeplanting shovel
1 three section sapling bag
2 pairs of work boots
5 pairs wool socks
1 colapsable lawn chair
1 hard hat
1 high-vis vest
2 mosquito netting suits
1 raincoat
1 pair rain pants (from my sailing days)
1 anarack
1 camelbak
3 sweaters
2 hoodies
3 long sleeves (2 with turtle neck)
2 pairs long johns
2 deet sprays
1 biodegradable soap/shampoo
1 roll duct tape
1 first aid kit
1 1,000,000 candle power light
2 ukuleles
2 large hockey size bags
1 container of moist toweletts (quick shower)
1 roll of aluminum foil
1 80gb iPod
2 containers
1 towel
1 bathing suit
1 toothbrush and toothpaste
Notebook and writing supplies
lunch containers and utensils
random books
+ what we call "weekend clothes"

 

[finn]

Two ukuleles? Is one a backup? Or for another musician?

 

[KEVIlgeNius]

one is a tenor and the other a baritone... different stringing and tuning

 

[wartomods]

damn son thats a lot of shit

 

[RebeccaSoup]

What is going on here.

Splain, Lucy.

 

[wartomods]

What is going on here.

Splain, Lucy.

Kevi is going to plant trees

 

[KEVIlgeNius]

Yup you get paid a lot, per tree... but the average rookie made over 500 a day last year. I packed it all into the bags and i have more room. maybe i will add some more stuff

 

[wartomods]

500 ?? how long

 

[gangleri]

How do you get into this kind of work? Its not only pays good, but its a practice I want more experience with.

 

[KEVIlgeNius]

Apply online, deadline for apps. are in March... but you can try for next year, I applied last year but didn't get in. Turns out its rare they take anyone from application. mostly just the friends of past employees, this year I had an in... 3 more days

I am planning on starting a thread for a weekly log if anyone will be interested.

 

[kai]

if you have no experience it's not so easy to get a job doing this, it used to be a piece of cake in canada, but with the trying economic times not so much. The best thing you can do is befriend a crew leader and hope they'll hire you, otherwise you are pretty much shit outta luck for 2009.


500 a day for a rookie!!?? that sounds like an exaggeration to me as I know of people who have been planting multiple years and aren't making that much a day and the most I heard was 600 a day for a dude who had 10 years experience and was planting in the rockies near cranbrook bc where the terrain is gnarly.

 

[KEVIlgeNius]

hmmm okay, well i guess its my first year so i have yet to find out first hand. The company i am working for has posted an "awards" section and it shows the average money a day for males was $534 and the record was $850... still have yet to find out. Either way I have the potential to make 10-20 thousand depending on how much i plant and in which soil they are planted. Some areas you can make 25 cents a tree and even the rookies are planting 4-5 thousand trees a day if you are dedicated.

 

[kai]

that's more reasonable to say for sure, most of my friends on their first year were making 140 average a day. Its hard work and ya gotta learn the rhythms for sure to start making thick coin, but still I know people who did 12 grand in their first season so it's not a shabby decision for a summer job

 

[syphilust]

yeah, the cash is sweet if you dont mind planting horrible monocultures for insane timber corporations on stolen lands, adding to the need for park service to build more roads into protected parks, for resource exploitation, creating isolated wilderness with no alleyways for animals to travel and connect to the rest of the forest blahblahblah.

but then i guess that's a given in any job these days.
.or.even.living.
sigh


make sure ya get a good camp! ive heard of people losing money (as some camps yer paying for food/park space/rides into town and whatever), stories of shit cooks that serve plain rice everyday, and stories of spending days planting just to have it all ripped up for not being the right distances.
but then there are stories of sweet spots where you just push the tree in and its perfect everytime, sleeping under an owl perch, having rad camps and cooks with great campfires and mad cash. Plus, E.I. for the rest of the year aint bad!

 

[RnJ]

I'm looking to go planting this year, in BC. What company were you with in Ontario? Also, what other companies are available. Me and my buddy was both looking towards the West, and we've applied with a random company we found called Coast Range Contracting. Not even sure what the per-tree rate is. We're newbies, and we're both pretty driven people. Who knows if we'll survive though.