Replant.ca - Tree Planting Canada

TripleS

One of my clients tried some experimental drone planting on his burnt woodlot last Spring in a rocky section with shallow soils. It was funded by the drone company since they're trying to get some data to be able to provide their customers. He's not overly optimistic about it being successful given ...

TripleS

Those Coast Range bids for Summer trees...planters beware! Overall, the public bids seem tighter this year which doesn't bode well for planters. Maybe inflation will have cooled off enough by the start of the season to mitigate things somewhat, but the lower volume seems to have led to lower bids. H...

TripleS

I would certainly hope next years bids for Spring work go up, given that the number of seedlings to be planted is going up. I did notice that a few bids for work in Northern BC seemed lower this year with the reduced volume. That's going to be a tough sell for contractors if they're dropping prices ...

TripleS

When was the last time Zbar's South Island work was any good? Certainly wasn't good 15 years ago when I planted for them. Unfortunately shit prices are the norm for the Island these days, doesn't really matter who you plant for. Simply too few trees for the amount of planters who want Coastal work. ...

TripleS

I remember when the northern companies were low-balling the southern contracts 10-15 years ago, I guess it didn't work out too well for them since they didn't hang around. It looks like the opposite is happening now with Nature's Treasures going hard after so much work up north. Interesting times...

TripleS

Rainforest has had lots of work in the inlets around Bella Coola for the last decade or so, if that's what you're looking for.

TripleS

Some sad news out of Alberta.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton ... -1.6127181

TripleS

That's a shame, they sounded like a decent company. Not exactly respectful of your workforce to leave them in the dark...

TripleS

Still lots of logs coming out of the bush down south. Perhaps the lost timber supply due to fires has reduced the cut of the mills up there? Too bad with the current price of lumber.

TripleS

For spacing on steep slopes try to go diagonally (cross slope a bit) between trees when going uphill or downhill, because it is a lot further than you think if you are going straight up or down. If you use a shorter d-handle, which is nice in steep ground, plots will be a challenge due to the massiv...

TripleS

Too bad about Hawkeye, always liked Steve, although he is probably stoked to have more time for his music. I worked for Mountain back in the day and they were solid too.

TripleS

5. Fieldstone since Hawkeye is no longer in the game.
4. A&G
3. Leader
2. Zanzibar (East)
1. Rainforest

TripleS

Thanks for taking the time to crunch the numbers Scooter. It was especially nice to see the difference between Spring and Summer trees. Cheers!

TripleS

Apart from a few contracts, it's been terrible over there for a decade.

TripleS

^^^Bringing that Island mentality to the interior. Amazingly clueless!

TripleS

Considering this is my backyard and where the bulk of my work is, I was surprised at how high the bids were too, so I asked around. Approximately 42% of the trees are fill plants, there are several heli access blocks too, and a bunch of quad access/walk in as well . The work is also quite spread out...

TripleS

I guess they are unaware of better equipment and technique down there. Looks like a back injury waiting to happen.

TripleS

I think driver pay is chronically underappreciated. Most companies pay planter-drivers a certain daily amount if they're driving a truck. For members of management, it's usually assumed to be part of the job description and overall compensation package. So I'll focus on planters here. If you're a p...

TripleS

Is $500 dollars/day really that crazy at a decent company, particularly in light of the rise we've seen in prices? I know of several companies where that is what I'd expect to make and I'm far from superhuman. I reserve that description for the folks planting several hundred more trees/day than I do...

TripleS

That's a great question. I think a 10% raise may be more realistic given that the majority of trees are on the private market where price increases were more moderate, and overhead costs are going up significantly with medical payroll taxes, the cpp increase, fuel, and the increase in payroll taxes ...

TripleS

There really is only one pool of money, Cyper, which is decided by the market. As we've seen this year, the market has shot up allowing for raises and/or the elimination of camp costs. I've decided to do both, because I value professional workers more than the typical contractor and I want my crew t...

TripleS

It's not worth cheaping out on fuel for your body, when keeping your body in tip top shape is crucial to having a consistent and successful season. It's like coastal planters who are too cheap or lazy to change their caulks regularly, and just cost themselves money while risking injury. You will lik...

TripleS

Just unnecessary weight, so ditch the steel toes. Don't boot screef either, unless you want to wreck your knees.

TripleS

EI has actually gone down slightly to 1.62% x 1.4 from 1.66% x 1.4 last year, but not enough to cancel out the CPP increase. Looking around, it doesn't seem like prices are going up more than a couple cents at most companies. Some companies are dropping camp costs without increasing prices, while ot...

TripleS

AAC is supposed too be based on the cumulative annual growth of the fibre in BC's harvestable forests and therefore sustainable. MPB #&*%ed everything leading to huge increases in AAC through salvage logging to at least get some economic value out of all the dead forests. This resulted in superm...

TripleS

Making $355 for 55 hours of work after 5 years in the industry, definitely not worth it. I wonder who that was for? It's hard to believe how bad some contracts are, and that people actually plant trees for so little return. Hopefully planters are a little more selective about who they work for this ...

TripleS

.."slut pounders" being what makes thing less black or white, especially when their numbers can overshadow the quality issues.. My crew isn't big enough to hide poor quality planters. However, there are lots of places where certain planters get away with shitty work because of their numbe...

TripleS

"I’m sure we’ve all seen slower more meticulous planters bringing up the quality and bringing down the excess. How do you reflect that service in the tree price?" Yup yup! Too much emphasis on uber ballers or very high producers in the camp cost elimination narrative in my opinion.. Prett...

TripleS

The most important question is how much of these higher bids will end up in planters' pockets. As Scooter pointed out above, planters are long overdue for a raise, but do contractors agree? If they do, how much of a raise do they want to give their planters?

TripleS

A couple of my clients are using drones for silviculture surveys, not official surveys, but drought kill monitoring on blocks not scheduled for a real survey yet. They also made a video with a drone as we were wrapping up a block last Spring. It was a little more interesting than a solo planter by t...

TripleS

To me it sounds like prices have been going up this year in northern BC but in Merritt we saw price CUTS. The last thing we need is more planters moving south because of promises of big prices that are getting worse not better. Sorry to hear about your experience in Merritt Jonas, I'm guessing you ...

TripleS

Certainly seems shady, although I'm not convinced the open process gives the taxpayer the best bang for their buck either. By simply going with the lowest bid, they are focusing on year to year budgets and not the best value long term. I'm not saying All-Stars are a bunch of treeplanting All-Stars a...

TripleS

I first noticed prices dropping 10 years ago too, but on a Summer plant with Zbar. They dropped prices by 15% and the mantra became you should all be happy to have work given how competitive Summer trees have become. I just moved to their work in the East Koots since it was still good. Who wants to ...

TripleS

I wonder how this will affect the planting side of things. It would be interesting to hear from folks who work there this year after having worked there last year. I couldn't agree more with the OP more about solid experienced planters leaving rookie mills ASAP. Without solid vets, the rookie mills ...

TripleS

I've worked with people who have good things to say about Northern, haven't heard anything good about Summit or Blue Collar.

TripleS

The problem is that if camp costs were to go the way of the dodo, owners would have to make up for the loss of revenue by dropping tree prices, so pick your poison. This could be a good thing as crappy companies' prices would drop even further making it even more difficult for them to find workers.

TripleS

Yeah it's crazy that planters pay a decent amount of money to live in tents while other resource workers get a living out allowance to stay in sweet camps. As a faster planter I never had a problem with camp costs since they allow for higher prices. If contractors forego charging camp costs how do y...

TripleS

Anyone have any more info about this? Who is the american company? Are they in the silviculture industry down there? If so, I find this to be very concerning given the state of the industry in the States.

TripleS

I think planting quality is for the most part a minor factor in the overall survival of plantations across the province. The much bigger factors are weather, stock quality and handling and foresters delusions about what constitutes a well planted tree. I have seen foresters ask us to plant fir in s...

TripleS

^^^It looked like poor planting to me, (trees too high on the trench, duff sandwhiches, backwalls... ) but I suppose it could be a forester who is out to lunch. You're correct in that experience doesn't always mean better quality. I've had a coastal planter with 25 years experience make a mess of bu...

TripleS

If more extreme conditions (i.e. drought/floods) become the norm, it could give smaller companies with more experienced planters a leg up with licensees who realize the importance of quality planting. Site prep helps, but I saw some pretty brutal survival out there this summer in prepped blocks, so ...

TripleS

When a licensee fails to meet their free growing due dates, I believe they can be subject to fines and have their cuts reduced, although they can also apply for extensions. Where it gets really interesting is when MOF blocks or BCTS blocks fail to meet their free growing due dates, is the government...

TripleS

Nice to see some of the folks I've had the pleasure of working for and with in their younger days! It does make me feel old though

. Thanks for posting! I liked how everyone was wearing helmets in the quad trailer, super unsafe but it could have been worse.

TripleS

^^^ Is that for BCTS blocks that were logged and then burnt, so the trees had been sewn already or were they able to get a hold of some surplus trees? I imagine government put in a massive request for seedlings after the fires this Summer, but the reforestation efforts will likely take quite a few y...

TripleS

I would expect the MOF and FFT component to rise significantly next year as they begin planting some of the land burnt in the Summer.

TripleS

The increased planting density is intriguing. Anyone know more about this, and will MITD go down too?

TripleS

^^That has to be good for the trees.

TripleS

Fishing license is pretty straight forward, but hunting license requires you to be a resident of BC for previous 6 months I believe. You must also obtain a fish and wildlife ID, by passing a course (CORE), and have a non-restricted PAL if you plan on hunting with a firearm. Although having a firearm...

TripleS

^^ It's just a feeling that most Coastal contractors are probably at least a week behind schedule and things are still iffy as it doesn't appear to be warming up much. Anyway, when it does warm up and things finally get going, there could be some spots available as contractors try to meet deadlines ...

TripleS

Planting around Princeton probably won't help too much with landing a spot on a coastal contract, but if you can work a contract in the Koots or Blue River, that would probably help. With the delays occuring on the Coast this season, there might not be a better time than now for getting on to a coas...

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