Search found 205 matches
- Wed Aug 02, 2023 1:36 pm
- Forum: The Job Market: Seeking Jobs, Planters, or Rides
- Topic: Semi-Retired Forester available for checking
- Replies: 0
- Views: 3789
Semi-Retired Forester available for checking
Any companies on Van Island looking for an experienced forester/checker for their planting projects for the 2024 spring or fall seasons? I have over 30 years silviculture experience and have recently retired from the industry. I do, however, miss the work and thought I would like to go back on a sho...
- Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:43 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Rising Wages?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 8995
Re: Rising Wages?
I think we need to go back a few decades to the root cause of this predicament we currently see the industry. I remember in the early 1970's, my dad was working for a major logging company in northern BC and he told me during planting season, the company would hire tree planters directly and pay the...
- Tue Jun 08, 2021 1:12 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Pesticides applied to trees?
- Replies: 28
- Views: 12011
Re: Pesticides applied to trees?
It's been 7 years since this topic came up for discussion and I just wanted to do a follow-up. I'm curious if proper hygiene (hand washing in particular) on the planting block has improved over the last couple seasons due to Covid? If so, is it because of health concerns, or have companies provided ...
- Wed May 06, 2020 3:50 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Ticks and lyme disease on the block/ at camp
- Replies: 28
- Views: 28109
Re: Ticks and lyme disease on the block/ at camp
Found this informational site posted on the web:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/disease ... ickRemoval
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/disease ... ickRemoval
- Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:33 pm
- Forum: Companies in the Silviculture Industry
- Topic: Wagner Reforestation
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4927
Re: Wagner Reforestation
Are these guys still in business?
- Tue Jan 21, 2020 3:44 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Fall out from the WFP Strike
- Replies: 14
- Views: 6835
Fall out from the WFP Strike
Just curious what, if any, effect the WFP strike on Vancouver Island is having on planting contracts this season?
- Tue Jan 21, 2020 3:41 pm
- Forum: Companies in the Silviculture Industry
- Topic: Nootka Reforestation
- Replies: 5
- Views: 5641
Re: Nootka Reforestation
Best planting company I have had the pleasure to work with. Great owners and better planters!
- Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:48 am
- Forum: Videos, Websites, & Articles Related to Planting & Forestry
- Topic: United Steelworkers Local 2009: Forestry Workers Being Used as Pawns
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3229
Re: United Steelworkers Local 2009: Forestry Workers Being Used as Pawns
The USW article and jdtesluk's response are both bang-on. However, the one thing that no one is saying out loud in public and needs to be considered is simply one word - GREED. Corporate greed to be precise. When appurtenancy was part of the policy, before it was formally done away with by the BC Li...
- Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:50 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Planter shortage: CBC News
- Replies: 6
- Views: 4319
Re: Planter shortage: CBC News
I agree. The article is well written. However, many of the comments are obviously written by people who have absolutely no clue about the forest industry. It seems those trolls (or whatever these types of people are referred to on social media) are s*^* disturbers with nothing better to do with thei...
- Sat May 18, 2019 9:07 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Enlighten Me; Can BC support logging?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 5377
Re: Enlighten Me; Can BC support logging?
Currently, most alder on the market is incidental to conifer harvesting. Unless there is a ready market for the species, it is often left at roadside as "waste". And that's the rub against managing for alder from a logging company perspective. A limited market and a relatively higher cost ...
- Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:34 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Thoughts for a first-time checker
- Replies: 13
- Views: 5774
Re: Thoughts for a first-time checker
As a seasoned Forester/checker (over 30 years experience) I would recommend planting trees for at least a week - just to get a taste of how challenging tree planting can be. Until you immerse yourself in the actual job, it's tough to understand the job fully. It will give you a better appreciation o...
- Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:05 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: $15 wage?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 6767
Re: $15 wage?
The way I see it, bid prices will only go up in order to discourage the lackadaisical attitude that the previous poster is predicting. On a broader scale, in my mind, it's ridiculous to think an increase in the minimum wage will solve the issue of being working poor. All this will do is result in pr...
- Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:45 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Budget BC: BC is the place to be
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1938
Re: Budget BC: BC is the place to be
Hmm, Sounds like an election coming soon
- Fri Dec 09, 2016 1:04 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Sexual harassment
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4722
Re: Sexual harassment
I've been working in the planting industry for over 30 years (several seasons as a tree planter and more recently as a licensee checker). In those 30+ years I have never witnessed or heard of anyone being sexually harassed.
- Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:51 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Drug Testing for Planters
- Replies: 35
- Views: 30800
Re: Drug Testing for Planters
Everyone knows that marijuana use among individuals who plant trees for a living is part of the culture. But it's use is not limited to tree planters. Many loggers, fallers, and other forestry workers, also use the drug on a regular basis. Even the brass at Intefor know this. I think the intent of t...
- Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:24 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: General Forestry Employment Opportunities
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2559
Re: General Forestry Employment Opportunities
dunno where else to post this, but have been thinking on something I heard in the woods this spring, from a recent Forestry graduate: apparently drones will soon be used to carry LIDAR, and this will make it possible to cruise Timber without even putting boots-on-the-ground at all. so I wonder how ...
- Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:58 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Illegal Worker Pay
- Replies: 4
- Views: 4180
Re: Illegal Worker Pay
I have a question regarding illegal labourers and how a company is responsible for renumerating someone they have knowingly employed illegally (who had no work visa). A friend of mine was working for a pretty shady company in Ontario without a visa. At the end of the season, they routed his pay to ...
- Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:52 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Recycling Empty Tree Boxes
- Replies: 13
- Views: 7010
Re: Recycling Empty Tree Boxes
I'm definitely not a fan of leaving boxes on site like that. All that does is encourage others who see this mess that it's ok to dump other forms of "garbage" in the woods.
- Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:37 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Is the BC Government Losing Control?
- Replies: 12
- Views: 9457
Re: Is the BC Government Losing Control?
We could go back to the days when the NDP were in power where they basically paralysed the industry with strict "cookie cutter" approaches to forest management, OR we could collectively appeal to the Association of BC Forest Professionals to more stringently enforce their main code of ethi...
- Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:18 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Recycling Empty Tree Boxes
- Replies: 13
- Views: 7010
Re: Recycling Empty Tree Boxes
They make great fire starter for burning slash piles. If we are going to burn slash piles anyway, why not use these wax covered boxes to help ignite them. I would suggest flattening and storing the boxes where they can be quickly retrieved for burning season. It's much cheaper than using other forms...
- Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:49 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: tailgate of shame
- Replies: 10
- Views: 8302
Re: tailgate of shame
Too bad the photos couldn't come through, but I think we all get the point. I'm curious about the context of this post. Is the original post suggesting that the entire block was planted poorly, or just an individual section? If it was the entire block, I would suggest that there is a serious issue w...
- Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:47 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 6945
Re: To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
Hoorah! After a long wait, the rain has finally come.
It looks like we will start planting trees within a week or two.
It looks like we will start planting trees within a week or two.
- Fri Jul 17, 2015 2:31 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 6945
Re: To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
We could store them until spring, however, if we have a "normal" winter with tons of snow, most of the areas we've scheduled for planting this fall will be snow covered until late May or June. We use to plant well into June many years ago, but we started noticing that many of the late spri...
- Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:39 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 6945
To Plant OR Not to Plant? That's the Question
Considering the unusual and extremely dry conditions this spring/summer (in BC), I'm just wondering what folks think about planting later this summer/fall?
Has anyone planted during similar conditions in the past and how was seedling survival?
Has anyone planted during similar conditions in the past and how was seedling survival?
- Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:49 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Tree # Six Billion has died
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2331
Re: Tree # Six Billion has died
"... Other speculation is that the seedling was considered free-growing and had fallen into that management no-mans land where stewardship practices are sometimes said to be, well, uneven."
Funny, but oh so true! That alone is a whole new thread conversation.
Funny, but oh so true! That alone is a whole new thread conversation.
- Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:45 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Heavy Tree Boxes
- Replies: 13
- Views: 10391
Re: Heavy Tree Boxes
Any idea which nursery that box came from?
PRT last spring was placing a "Heavy" label (in bright red) on boxes that were heavier than normal (>50 lbs if I remember correctly).
PRT last spring was placing a "Heavy" label (in bright red) on boxes that were heavier than normal (>50 lbs if I remember correctly).
- Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:42 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Planting in the USA
- Replies: 205
- Views: 146820
Re: Planting in the USA
Hmm, Sounds similar to BCTS. (Khairia anyone?) And don't think for a minute that stuff like this is still not happening in BC and other places in Canada. The difference now is that government is getting better at "hiding" this information from the general public. http://www.straight.com/ne...
- Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:54 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Tree planting sure isn’t what it once was
- Replies: 17
- Views: 9163
Re: Tree planting sure isn’t what it once was
I am confident that the numbers are wrong. I am unsure if this is a matter of bad data collection or faulty interpretation of the data. However, it is incorrect beyond a shadow of a doubt. Production this low would bring the industry to a screeching halt pretty damned fast. Companies simply could n...
- Mon Jun 15, 2015 11:54 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Tree planting sure isn’t what it once was
- Replies: 17
- Views: 9163
Re: Tree planting sure isn’t what it once was
I just read the article online and found a couple of interesting quotes: "During a typical pay period, 68 per cent of fieldworkers reported earnings that translate to less than minimum wage. About 10 per cent said they earned between $20 and $26 an hour." "Even during their best pay p...
- Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:27 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: 2015 Planter's Ball in Merritt, Saturday June 6th
- Replies: 7
- Views: 4424
Re: 2015 Planter's Ball in Merritt, Saturday June 6th
How was this event?
- Thu May 21, 2015 8:58 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Getting British Columbia or Canada the Guiness Record for most trees in a day?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2934
Re: Getting British Columbia or Canada the Guiness Record for most trees in a day?
Listening to CBC Radio's early news from Victoria this morning they announced that between 10 and 11 am yesterday (May 20 - during the Guiness Record one hour contest period) that 28 planters put in 7,125 trees with a few individuals pounding in 400+ in that hour. Sorry I don't recall the company's ...
- Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:31 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Your Dream Dinner
- Replies: 8
- Views: 4032
Re: Your Dream Dinner
Anything, as long as desert is fresh rhubarb pie.
- Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:55 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: .
- Replies: 32
- Views: 19857
Re: Why Aren't Stashers Being Dealt With?
I will be holding auditions next month for a new primetime Crime Drama called "Stashbusters". Follow our impeccably dressed team as they travel to exotic locations, and use the power of statistics combined with poorly represented physical and social sciences to solve crimes on the clearcu...
- Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:11 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: .
- Replies: 32
- Views: 19857
Re: Why Aren't Stashers Being Dealt With?
In my experience it's quite common for stashers to carry on... Only one of four stashers I've known personally were fired. I've never heard of anyone being charged for their criminal conduct. If you, or anyone else is really concerned about stashers getting away with this practice, perhaps you shou...
- Thu Feb 05, 2015 4:21 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Tree Planter Union?
- Replies: 26
- Views: 14796
Re: Tree Planter Union?
Does the steelworkers union actually plant any trees? In strong union camps, yes they will. They will either "force" contractors to join the union, or force the licencee to hire laid off loggers if that's the only job available when guys are not working their regular jobs. It's not common...
- Wed Feb 04, 2015 10:42 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Tree Planter Union?
- Replies: 26
- Views: 14796
Re: Tree Planter Union?
Just a few corrections to Scooters last post: As of June 15, 2013 the Steelworkers union rate for tree planters was $26.71/hr. They had a 2% wage increase in 2014 making that rate about $27.41/hr (plus benefits). The spacing and pruning rates were based on a BC government program through Forest Rene...
- Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:01 pm
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Forestry Tech Diploma
- Replies: 26
- Views: 10634
Re: Forestry Tech Diploma
Nice to see an RPF in here! Did you learn a lot of on the job field skills at UBC or were was it your prior experience that got you that engineering job? Definitely going to consider RPF a long term goal. And what's your opinion on the long term outlook of the industry in Western Canada? Also do yo...
- Thu Jan 22, 2015 11:14 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Forestry Tech Diploma
- Replies: 26
- Views: 10634
Re: Forestry Tech Diploma
I just wanted to echo Salbrecher's comments. It depends on what you eventually want to do. My dad was a logger and I knew at an early age that I wanted a career in the industry. I was setting chokers and fighting forest fires during the summers while I was in highschool, then decided to go straight ...
- Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:27 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
Here is a link to the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of the BC Forest Professional magazine. The focus of this issue is safety and includes an interesting article by John Betts (WSCA) regarding silviculture worker safety.
http://www.abcfp.ca/publications_forms/ ... l2Post.pdf
http://www.abcfp.ca/publications_forms/ ... l2Post.pdf
- Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:20 am
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
I've been thinking about this subject today. I wonder how helpful it would be if BCTS (and maybe some mills) put clauses into their contracts saying that, just as a random hypothetical example: "The successful bidder must provide proof of training certification for a number of personnel assign...
- Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:15 am
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
… The effort of licensees to grind contractors down and down and down, leaves less and less to pay for other key priorities, such as proper supervision, H&S administration and training, and funds to support the collective will to make safety a number one priority instead of a number one catchph...
- Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:07 am
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
I can provide some numbers for my own camp at Folklore. I went back five years and found the pre-season course organizer spreadsheet. I then blanked out all the names and replaced with their positions within the camp. Also deleted a lot of other stuff from the spreadsheet, like course locations, ti...
- Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:31 am
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
... I think tree prices paid to planters can influence safety in both a negative and a positive way... On the contractor end of things, higher prices allow for more time and effort to be put in to safety. More money would allow for more and better safety training for foremen and supervisors, who co...
- Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:59 pm
- Forum: Health, Safety & Training Information
- Topic: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21564
Re: Discuss Safety in the Planting Industry
... This is because the industry as a whole continues to fail to address the prices paid to workers, and collectively stampedes forward on the clearly mistaken belief that they can continue to squeeze the life out of young planters for a profit. ... I don't necessarily agree with this statement. I ...
- Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:30 am
- Forum: Public Bid Results
- Topic: 2015 Public Bid Results
- Replies: 118
- Views: 164262
Re: 2015 Public Bid Results
BCTS Port McNeill PL15THD115 778,200 spring trees all with T-Bag fertilizer This contract is possibly the most complicated one I've ever seen. There are a few trees on Vancouver Island but all of the rest are spread all over the mid coast on various islands and up inlets. Access is terrible with lo...
- Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:25 am
- Forum: Around The Campfire
- Topic: Hunters on the block
- Replies: 4
- Views: 2670
Re: Hunters on the block
I got a phone call from a hunter yesterday. He was planning on heading up Jervis Inlet as he has an elk tag. He'd heard that there is a planting crew up there who had put out the word that hunters are not welcome. He wondered if it was our crew and if there might be a problem if he showed up there....
- Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:41 pm
- Forum: Public Bid Results
- Topic: 2014 Public Bid Results
- Replies: 157
- Views: 195049
Re: 2014 Public Bid Results
Does Osprey still have their finger in the "Pay Parking Lot" enterprises? If so, perhaps they use those very easily earned $$ to subsidize their planting bids...fluffer wrote:So how do they survive? ...
- Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:45 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Mobile Applications for Planters?
- Replies: 18
- Views: 13046
Re: Mobile Applications for Planters?
I wish there was an app that would emulate the BCTS FS 704 form, for checkers to punch in data in the field on a phone or tablet, and then it could just send the data through email in a spreadsheet format to any email address(es) that you specified. There is something develop by JRP Solutions calle...
- Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:34 pm
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: I want to be a forest fire fighter
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2910
Re: I want to be a forest fire fighter
...a ministry crew ... These are the guys who do the "real" work and deal with the front line fires and actually exciting situations. You're kidding me right... Don't get me started. Have you ever watch those ministry crews "work"? (notice the quotes around work). They may show ...
- Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:26 am
- Forum: Questions & Answers about Tree Planting
- Topic: Experiences applying to "real" jobs?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 7339
Re: Experiences applying to "real" jobs?
Nothing wrong with saying you planted trees for several summers while attending university. It's a good way to earn money to support your education, and it shows potential employers that you are not afraid of hard work. Be proud of your planting experience. I was when I put tree planting on my resum...