By Carolyn Gleeson
Wanted: Adventurous and outdoorsy students, to earn up to $5,000 this summer for two months work. This may sound like every student’s dream of a summer job, but then there’s the fine print. Must be willing to work 12-13 hours every day, often in freezing rain or snow, sleep in a cold tent, get eaten alive by bugs and get up at 5:30 every morning.
Every year, hundreds of students travel to remote locations in northern Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta to spend at least two months wishing they weren’t there.
Tree planting is in 25-year-old Jay Field’s blood. He’s worked seven summers for the New Forest tree planting company, and was a crew boss for four of those. He was only 18 years old when he packed his duffle bag and headed north for his first summer of planting. He quickly discovered why tree planters have a love/hate relationship with their jobs.
“Every day is anxiety attack when you get in the bus,” Field says. “It’s hard to keep up the energy level when you’re working, but then you finish a row or a field and you think, “Hey, maybe I can make it through one more day.”
Field says he didn’t enjoy his job as a crew boss either. “The crew boss has the most boring job—telling people what to do and trying to motivate them,” he says. “You don’t have any enemies, but you don’t have any allies either. It’s really a thankless job.”
Thankless or not, Field continues to go north every summer. This May, he’ll be returning to the wilds—but this time not as a planter or a crew boss. Instead, he’s going to film a documentary about tree planting and the intrepid thrill seekers who spend half their summers in bug-infested forests.
The job has several physical and psychological drawbacks. Stephanie Garrow, who worked as a planter and crew foreperson for Outland Reforestation, tells of the disfiguring toll that tree planting can take on a student’s body.
“There’s this thing called ‘the claw,’ which is the term for what your hand becomes after spending 12-13 hours per day holding a shovel,” she says. “I’ve known some people who would tape a spoon to the palm of their hand at night so it wouldn’t curl up in their sleep.”
There is no room for whiners in the tree planting business. Being chased by bears, getting a “soaker” wading through swamps and flooded land, the bugs, the cold and the gruelling physical labour are all part and parcel of the position.
If the workers hate it so much, why do they return with their shovels and duct-taped pants to plant trees summer after summer?
“You hate it when you’re there, every day, the bugs, the cold. But when you come back to the city, you’re ready to hop on a bus and go back,” says Krista Teague, a four-year veteran planter and cook.
Garrow says, “It’s a work-hard, play-hard environment.”
“It seems outrageous, but there are lots of rewards. You get in fantastic physical shape, you meet lots of great friends and you’re doing something that pushes you to your mental and physical limits.”
The money can also be rewarding. Garrow was a hard working rookie who earned $4,500 her first year. In her second, she earned $6,000 and she made $8,000 the next summer when she was promoted to crew foreperson.
For some, roughing it in the bush is one of the appealing parts of the job.
“There’s a real sort of mythology to it,” says Field. “It’s like a heroic thing, if you can tough it out against nature and survive.”
“I don’t know if it’s the quick money, but it’s an addictive job,” says Field. “You can work for two months, travel for two and still have money for school. You meet such an eclectic crowd, and the money and the social life perpetuate an independent lifestyle, where you can’t imagine yourself working a nine to five in the city.”
Some of the planters say that while dealing with environmental and physical adversary is difficult, it also builds character.
“You have these really intense introspective moments when you’re out on your own in the field with your bag of trees,” says Teague. “You also have really intense friendships with your crew, and all the things you take for granted really become treats—like company, a shower or a can of Diet Coke.”
What else do tree planters think about when they’re out on their own for 12 to 13 hours a day?
“I would pretend I’m on a talk show and like, Arsenio is asking me all these questions and I’d give a funny response that got the audience laughing,” Field says. “But I’d also think about the future a lot and kind of plan out my year.”
Some planters try to continue their involvement with the business even after their personal planting days are over. Neil Stelrem decided to start up his own tree planting business after spending seven years as a planter and a crew boss in British Columbia. He and his brother manage Intrepid Forestry Contractors, and are in the process of looking over 300 applications for their company’s first season.
“There are things I wanted to improve in the tree planting business, after working as a planter and a crew boss,” Stelrem says. “Often times there is no respect for what the planters are doing from the management. They sometimes forget that these are university educated people with ideas and feelings.”
Stelrem also wants to improve the wage potential of experienced planters. “You have to realize that this business is production oriented. Those who need the money are always motivated,” he says. “But just because university students aren’t experienced planters, they shouldn’t be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to wages.”
In B.C., the average rate of pay is between 13 and 25 cents a tree, because the ground is tough and is harder to plant. The going rate in Ontario is much lower.
“Depending on the level of productivity, rookie planters can expect to make about $1,500 to $2,000 in their first year, after expenses,” says Jaqueline Hobay, the office manager of Apex Reforestation Ltd. “But we do have some people who are able to take in about $4,000 to $5,000,” she says. Apex differs from other tree planting companies in that they try to interview all the people that apply for work.
“When you’re hiring, it’s a hit and miss situation,” says Hobay. “There are people who have all the qualities you want—they’re athletic, motivated and mentally tough—but when they get in the field, they can’t hack it. Sometimes the one’s who seem least likely to survive are the ones who make it.”
There are a few each year who just find the going too rough.
“I’ve seen people break down, I’ve seen them coming out of the woods like they’ve been living in the streets for a month,” says Field. “I also met this guy…who would run through the fields screaming in the bugs got too bad.”
Most people are psychologically unscathed by tree planting, but they do experience a bit of culture shock when they return home.”
“There is a transition time required to come back into civilization,” says Field. “Being with a small group of people for such a long time makes you starved for human contact and real food,” he says.
“The first thing I want to do (when I get back) is go out with people,” he says. “I like to eat out, go to movies, basically get as much stimulation as possible.”
Field, Garrow and Teague are moving on to new jobs this summer, but Garrow feels her tree planting experiences have prepared her well for the working world.
“With everything that happens in tree planting, I don’t think there is anything worse that can happen in any job you have,” she says.
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