The Tree Planter's Survival Guide
Tree planting is notorious as one of the most difficult summer jobs you can do, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. For some people, it’s the chance to control how much money they make—or don’t make—rather than be hemmed in by a set wage (the more trees you plant, the more money you make). For others, it’s the prospect of seeing some truly remote spaces in the great Canadian wilderness. For still others, it’s akin to embarking on a marathon or triathlon, an opportunity to put yourself to the test, to see if you have what it takes to last a season. To these reasons I would add the opportunity to forge potentially lifelong friendships, similar to those formed between soldiers in combat zones. Because, let’s be honest, if you take away the guns, the bullets, and the bombs from any war zone, what’s left is a situation akin to a typical day of tree planting—dazed individuals wandering across a desolate landscape poking holes in the ground, all the while praying an injury will finally allow them to escape their misery and beat a hasty retreat to the rear.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little—tree planters usually give on prayer after the first week—but before encouraging anyone to embark on this journey, I think it’s important that they have a clear idea of what they’re getting into, including the risks and the rewards. Hence my latest book, The Tree Planter’s Survival Guide: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know to Become a Tree Planter and Survive the Season. This book isn’t the last word on tree planting, but it’s definitely a great place to start in terms of understanding what the job entails, the equipment you’ll need to do it, who to contact to get a job, and how to keep yourself warm, safe, and dry (ha, just kidding) while pounding thousands of seedlings into the ground day after day after day after day after . . . Sorry, lapsed into PTPSD there (Post Tree Planting Stress Disorder), another hazard of the job.
Anyway, if you are considering hitting the bush this or any other year, pick up a copy of my book first (available in Kindle or hard copy). If you still want to go tree planting after reading it, who knows? You just may have what it takes.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little—tree planters usually give on prayer after the first week—but before encouraging anyone to embark on this journey, I think it’s important that they have a clear idea of what they’re getting into, including the risks and the rewards. Hence my latest book, The Tree Planter’s Survival Guide: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know to Become a Tree Planter and Survive the Season. This book isn’t the last word on tree planting, but it’s definitely a great place to start in terms of understanding what the job entails, the equipment you’ll need to do it, who to contact to get a job, and how to keep yourself warm, safe, and dry (ha, just kidding) while pounding thousands of seedlings into the ground day after day after day after day after . . . Sorry, lapsed into PTPSD there (Post Tree Planting Stress Disorder), another hazard of the job.
Anyway, if you are considering hitting the bush this or any other year, pick up a copy of my book first (available in Kindle or hard copy). If you still want to go tree planting after reading it, who knows? You just may have what it takes.
"The book is so great! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it . . . you did a really good job condensing so much information and making it funny and oh so relatable!"
-- Marcelle Chisholm, co-founder of www.tree-planter.com
AVAILABLE IN KINDLE OR HARD COPY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1 – What Is Tree Planting?
2 – How Much Money Do Tree Planters Make?
3 – How to Get a Job as a Tree Planter
4 – What It Costs to Tree Plant and What You’ll Need to Do It
5 – Health and Safety
Conclusion
Glossary of Tree Planting Terms
Other Tree Planting Resources
Tree Planting Log Book
About the Author
Enjoyed This Book?
1 – What Is Tree Planting?
- Who Pays for It All?
- A Day in the Life
- Where Does Tree Planting Take Place?
- When Does Tree Planting Happen?
2 – How Much Money Do Tree Planters Make?
- The Secret Ingredient to a Successful Season
- Calibrate Your Expectations
3 – How to Get a Job as a Tree Planter
- When Should You Apply?
- Special Information for Foreign Workers
- Directory of Tree Planting Companies
4 – What It Costs to Tree Plant and What You’ll Need to Do It
- Transportation
- Tree Planting Gear
- Personal Gear
- The Bottom Line
- Where to Buy Your Gear
5 – Health and Safety
- General Tips
- Physical Preparation for Tree Planting
- A Word About Wildlife
Conclusion
Glossary of Tree Planting Terms
Other Tree Planting Resources
Tree Planting Log Book
About the Author
Enjoyed This Book?
SAMPLE CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
Every year, a whopping 3.5–7 billion trees are harvested from Canada’s forests, with the bounty used for everything from construction materials to chopsticks to toilet paper. Each summer, approximately 500 million of those trees are replaced by hand by a mighty band of misfits known as tree planters. These hardy individuals spend a few months enduring some of the harshest working conditions imaginable in pursuit of adventure, excitement, carbon offsets, and cold, hard cash. Bugs, bears, blisters, hailstorms, freezing nights, bad food, diarrhea, grumpy foremen, repetitive-stress injuries, intense short-term romances, and loneliness are just some of the hazards you will face as a tree planter. In fact, back in 2010, tree planting was featured on the TV show World’s Toughest Jobs, and the three guys who tried it didn’t even last a week!
For most of those who manage to survive the season, the rewards far outweigh the toll that tree planting takes on their mind, body, and spirit. In addition to earning a good living—veteran planters can make $15,000 or more in a two-month season—tree planting is a great way to meet all sorts of interesting people from across the country and around the world. It also allows you to access remote wilderness areas that most people never get to see. And like running a triathlon, surviving a season of tree planting gives you bragging rights, putting you in an elite class of men and women who have pushed themselves to the limit and survived to tell the tale—which they are prone to do at parties with only a minimal amount of alcohol and prompting.
If you think you have what it takes to join this privileged few, but you don’t know where to begin, then this book is for you. Not only will it show you how to get a job as a tree planter, it will explain how to make the most of your season and how to endure the heat, cold, rain, mud, black flies, mosquitoes, cuts, scrapes, chafing, back strain, and beaver fever, and possibly make you rich in the process—or at least wealthy enough to give you a jump start on that student loan or your savings account for that backpacking trip to Europe you’ve always dreamed about.
For most of those who manage to survive the season, the rewards far outweigh the toll that tree planting takes on their mind, body, and spirit. In addition to earning a good living—veteran planters can make $15,000 or more in a two-month season—tree planting is a great way to meet all sorts of interesting people from across the country and around the world. It also allows you to access remote wilderness areas that most people never get to see. And like running a triathlon, surviving a season of tree planting gives you bragging rights, putting you in an elite class of men and women who have pushed themselves to the limit and survived to tell the tale—which they are prone to do at parties with only a minimal amount of alcohol and prompting.
If you think you have what it takes to join this privileged few, but you don’t know where to begin, then this book is for you. Not only will it show you how to get a job as a tree planter, it will explain how to make the most of your season and how to endure the heat, cold, rain, mud, black flies, mosquitoes, cuts, scrapes, chafing, back strain, and beaver fever, and possibly make you rich in the process—or at least wealthy enough to give you a jump start on that student loan or your savings account for that backpacking trip to Europe you’ve always dreamed about.