Rock Reforestation

[jules]

Anyone heard of it before?

[Tommy10]

I have a friend who used to plant for Rock and he loved it. From what I remember it's a day rate company, I think the day rate you $250 and you have to plant a minimum of 1000 trees a day. I'm not sure of where they work or specs or anything. hope this helps

[Ben Mac]

Anyone got any contact info for Rock these days? used to have a website but can't find them listed anywhere or on the jobs tab.

[kingjames_2nd]

I googled it.
These pages look a little old but there's some info anyway.

http://www.list-company.com/company-inf ... nada.shtml

http://www.strawman.ca/rock/comp_history.html

[somesilviguy]

good thing you used the search feature before asking....

top of the page in "job market" right here on replant
http://www.replant.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=64665

[Scooter]

I really need to highlight the search function. Surprisingly, it actually works quite well, and I use it daily. Sorry to disappoint everyone, but although my mind is like a steel trap, I don't have all the threads memorized here.

[Ben Mac]

Well I did search them first, and did get that forum...which obviously was no help seeing as how they already say they are done hiring...I was just looking for a contact number but thanks for those who could help

[Gingerplanter]

Things have gone rather strange at Rock Reforestation.....check this out

http://thevalleysentinel.com/?p=372

Rocco/ Sappho is the owner of Rock Reforestation. An interesting fellow. The most interesting tidbit is that there are still planters that have yet to be fully paid. Nice Limo though, eh?

[Ben Mac]

Things have gone rather strange at Rock Reforestation.....check this out

Rocco/ Sappho is the owner of Rock Reforestation. An interesting fellow. The most interesting tidbit is that there are still planters that have yet to be fully paid. Nice Limo though, eh?

Hmmm that sounds very interesting considering I had just agreed to work for this guy in the 2011 season. Does anyone have any other info on these workers not receiving full pay?? All the workers I have ever talken to that have worked for Rock loved it, anyways he seems like a cool guy. Any tips to ensure I don't get screwed over next year and receive all my cheques?

[Gingerplanter]

Things have gone rather strange at Rock Reforestation.....check this out

Rocco/ Sappho is the owner of Rock Reforestation. An interesting fellow. The most interesting tidbit is that there are still planters that have yet to be fully paid. Nice Limo though, eh?

Hmmm that sounds very interesting considering I had just agreed to work for this guy in the 2011 season. Does anyone have any other info on these workers not receiving full pay?? All the workers I have ever talken to that have worked for Rock loved it, anyways he seems like a cool guy. Any tips to ensure I don't get screwed over next year and receive all my cheques?

First of all I am not here to bad mouth Rock Reforestation but I want to tell the truth so other planter are not taken advantage of. I was in the same position last year. On the whole, if the non payment of some of the planters didn't happen I would have gone back to Rock Reforestation. The planting was awesome, great land and prices, however, nobody was paid what they were promised at the end of the season. Suddenly at pay time, which is august, we were all docked camp costs which we were promised would not happen. Planters that the owners did not want back were not even paid out. I am still in contact with two of these planter's who are expecting their checks in the new year. (one of them is reduced to squatting because she has no money!!!) I am no saying this will happen to you, but it happened to half the crew last year and the year before that. This company uses it's planters and manipulates them against each other. Never in my life have I experienced so much gossip about other planters by a boss. One planter was even accused of prostitution for trees. (just so happened that she was a lowballer). If they have such a awesome company then where are their returning planters? All in all, planting is a tough job, you want to come home and enjoy a nice meal and relax, things that are hard to obtain at Rock. The food was alright, except for being harassed for eating too much and being yelled at all meals by the owners. I ate most of my meals in the barn. I hope you take what I say seriously. Us planters have to stick together in order to protect our rights as workers. If you don't want to get screwed, plant for another company. The industry is up we don't have to subject ourselves to contractors that aren't willing to treat planter's fair.

Good luck with your season.

[Scooter]

I am also aware of other people who allegedly ran into problems with this company, although I will not divulge the details here because of the specifics of the situation. I couldn't believe the allegations at first, because it was such a ridiculous story, but coupled with the above comments, it leads me to think that this might be a company to steer away from.

[jules]

I worked for Rock last season (finally, seeing as how I started this thread looking for information about them nearly three years ago), and will not be returning next season. I've worked for eight silviculture companies since 2006, from huge companies to tiny one-crew outfits, and I haven't ever been so dissatisfied with how a company treated its planters.

For instance, after telling us all season that we were not being charged camp cost, the Reimers decided to renege on that. For our 45-day season, I was charged in excess of $1100, an amount that was decided more than a month after the season was over. They didn't even bother to properly notify me of the massive change in my final paycheque.

They talked big to prospective employees last season, and then they didn't deliver. Personally, I won't work for them again and none of the coworkers I've talked to will be either.

Know your rights as a worker, and never let anybody take those rights away.

[vexar69]

Sounds like these actions should be brought to the attention of the proper authorities!! "Bad apple" companies that play with rules and regs (reneging on verbal agreements regarding terms of employment) aren't just involved in exploiting Africans from Eastern Canada. PLEASE don't let companies lie to you and steal your hard earned money!!!
Good Luck!

[Gual]

Sounds like these actions should be brought to the attention of the proper authorities!! "Bad apple" companies that play with rules and regs (reneging on verbal agreements regarding terms of employment) aren't just involved in exploiting Africans from Eastern Canada. PLEASE don't let companies lie to you and steal your hard earned money!!!
Good Luck!

A group compliant has been filed with the Employment Standards Board and is pending. Given that the nature of the compliants vary from planter to planter and nothing was ever written down, it may take a while to sort out.

I would urge everyone to bring a notebook to work (for any company) and very neatly write down the date, location (block number), licensee, checker/ checking contractor, trees/species planted and have a witness sign it EVERY SINGLE DAY. Also document any first aid incidents and whether treatments and records were taken.

This season made me realize that this is very important to cover your ass. Big companies have a paper trail of sorts but a reliable backup never hurt.


Individual notes are required in firefighting, technical work and sometimes logging; so I don't see why not every planter should have a personal record for due diligence.

[Gingerplanter]

"My season at Rock Reforestation.

Nestled in the heart of the Robson Valley and surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains lays home to Rock Reforestation Ltd. The owners invite you into their home to feed you top notch cooking and even house you in an array of their own campers. They offer you Higher than average tree prices and even the promise of no camp cost. If all this sounds too good to be true it probably because it is.
When you come to Rock Reforestation you will be met by a non-stop barrage of what can be only be described as insanity. Rod, a recovering alcoholic is forced to attend anger management. One mistake on this crew plant and everyone is forced to listen to his non-stop screaming while the crew fixes every square inch of planted land. I myself am a fairly easy going guy and have never thought to cross my superior but this event was more than I could take. After half an hour of verbal abuse I found myself screaming back at him. Personally I have never had someone make me more angry.
After a few days of working the Rock system, which entitles the back end, slower planters, dead walk to the front of the line to replenish the front end, was a system designed to benefit the highballer. I decided to abandon the mandatory 400 bags, which at my size is a ridiculous amount, and started to plant the way I knew I could, fast and away from the screaming. Of course this act of individual thinking did not go over so well with the boss but none the less I was gaining the respect of my fellow planters and we eventually reduced the bag size to a manageable amount.
Now Rod being a bit bi-polar can change in an instant and if he sees things going well things are good for us. I being an experienced planter did my best to teach everyone how to work the land more efficiently and courteously and we had few problems through out the course of the season.

After a long days work, Deb always had a fantastic meal prepared for us. ( I would know, for before I was a planter I was a cook, and a picky one at that. In fact the only complaint I had about diner was when after we finished a long days work we were required to unload 300+) but there was hardly what you could call an enjoyable meal as Rods incessant preaching endured the length of the meal and sometimesy all the way back to your camper as he rambled about everything from the Christian and Greek Idealism to Lesbian Vampire priests or being abducted by aliens. Not to mention the marital spats or the self written songs that your forced to endure day in and day out.

During the season I kept telling myself to take the good with the bad. That was before waiting nearly two months and several non returned calls, I receive my cheque to find I was charged a camp cost for 59 days in camp when I only worked for 41. I also was told I'd be paid for the the 8x8 foot mural I painted which I was not, nor was I reimbursed for the supplies I bought to do the painting. I eventually got through to them on the phone using *67, they basically told me I was full of shit and that they figured i had been paid well enough.

So when considering Rock Reforestation consider everything. They did pay well per tree but don't believe them when they try to lure you in with the free camp and watch where you leave your bag of weed too cause that's likely to go missing as well."

-Anonymous Planter

[Screefhead]

Have any of the people in this thread even bothered trying to contact the forester responsible responsible for awarding this contract to Rock Reforestation .

It sounds like Rock needs to be put out of business and the work given to an honest company.

[Scooter]

I just deleted a couple posts here based on viewer complaints. Please keep it professional everyone. Thanks!

[bush]

probably a great company. maybe your opinion is biased. as for recovering alcoholics, give him some slack. maybe we can all just get along and become treehugging hippies with no spines and the industry will flourish. PAZ

[RPF]

Have any of the people in this thread even bothered trying to contact the forester responsible responsible for awarding this contract to Rock Reforestation .

It sounds like Rock needs to be put out of business and the work given to an honest company.

This is exactly correct, and something I've mentioned in other posts. Let the forester know what's going on. Although I can't speak for all foresters on this issue, it's definately something I would take seriously and deal with as best I could.

I can't believe that stuff like this is still happening within the planting community. When I was planting trees for a couple seasons for different firms, I ended up working for companies that cheated it's workers, so I am in totally sympathy with planters who find themselves in the same situation.

[Gual]

Have any of the people in this thread even bothered trying to contact the forester responsible responsible for awarding this contract to Rock Reforestation .

It sounds like Rock needs to be put out of business and the work given to an honest company.

This is exactly correct, and something I've mentioned in other posts. Let the forester know what's going on. Although I can't speak for all foresters on this issue, it's definately something I would take seriously and deal with as best I could.

I can't believe that stuff like this is still happening within the planting community. When I was planting trees for a couple seasons for different firms, I ended up working for companies that cheated it's workers, so I am in totally sympathy with planters who find themselves in the same situation.

The foresters have been made aware of the situation but its not perfect world and as such there are several other factors/complications going on. For now I will just say- its complicated...

[zilla]

Its sad The Rock homestead has fallen on hard times because their dream was in the right place. Local trees for a small local company, everyone planting together, living together on their beautiful property, and I was day rated at 400, which is rare to say the least (and i got paid fully).

However, from what ive heard from people close to the situation in recent years it's got complicated, I wouldnt go back. But if someone is looking for something different, its a pretty unique oppurtunity id say.

[Scooter]

I believe that Gainer Resources is now doing the work that Rock Reforestation used to do. I'm going to lock this thread, so please go to the Gainer Resources thread for more information.

Also, be careful not to confuse the two companies. Although some of the staff at each company overlapped, this was apparently not just a name chance. Gainer was formed by different people, with a different management style.

Here is the link to the Gainer Resources thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65495

[silvia15]

I have worked for Rock for many seasons. It makes me sick to read this BS about them. Rock is one of the best small companies I have worked for. They actually care about you, they treat you more like a friend than an employee. To me it is important that people know my name and that I'm not just some douche out there planting trees. I guess that is why I keep coming back. I have always been paid in full, sometimes more than I expected. Rock set up a day rate system based on .20 per tree, but since, has had to change that to just by the tree because planters were taking advange of the system and claiming more than they planted. Rock works as a team and the atmosphere is fun. Rod, Rock's owner is out there working with us, he does what it takes to get the job done. He may yell a little if the quality goes down but who likes to replant. Rock's motto is, quality first. A couple of seasons ago was the first time in Rock's history that they had to charge a campcost. The productions was down because everyday one or two planters stayed in camp, so the daily tree production was getting behind and expenses were going up. One or two people doesn't sound like much but on a small crew it is huge. Some of these comments about not getting paid in full are from a group of these planters that didn't want to pay campcost, even after it was explained to them that the food costs were huge and there just wasn't enough money in the budget to cover it. This was all discussed openly, I know, I was there, I had told the Reimers that they should have been charging campcost for years but they always used free camp as a bonus and felt bad that they couldn't this season. One guy even moved his wife and 2 kids into Rock's camp for over 2 weeks, what other company would allow this? So this group of planters took the Reimers (Rock Reforestation) to the labour board to get their campcost back. This put the Reimers and Rock under a lot of stress and they almost went under. They had to pay back half of the campcost that they charged these planters and the issue with the labour board was closed. These planters then joined forces with Trent Gainer who had been working for Rock Reforestation for a few seasons, and because of the rumours these people had spread about Rock, Gainer was able to secure some of Rock's trees the following season. These people continue to spread lies about Rock in an atempt to put them out of business and get all of the trees. These people took a piece of Rock Reforestation and turned it into Gainer Resources. There are 2 sides to every story and I think it's time to stand up for the company we love, Rock Reforestation. For this 2012 season we have 8 great planters we are all having fun and making a lot of money. Our rookie consistantly makes $400 a day. I love Rock's camp, on the menu tonight is fresh baked sockeye salmon, even with the rain, I'm warm and dry in my little camper and by the way there are no bugs here at the Reimers Ranch. Oh ya, the Sapho thing was just a spoof, about 8 seasons ago on the last day of planting we all dressed up like that and planted, we wanted to give the checkers a good laugh. It was just Rod having some fun. We can all use some comic relief now and again. Happy Planting!

[jules]

I have worked for Rock for many seasons. It makes me sick to read this BS about them. Rock is one of the best small companies I have worked for. They actually care about you, they treat you more like a friend than an employee. To me it is important that people know my name and that I'm not just some douche out there planting trees. I guess that is why I keep coming back. I have always been paid in full, sometimes more than I expected. Rock set up a day rate system based on .20 per tree, but since, has had to change that to just by the tree because planters were taking advange of the system and claiming more than they planted. Rock works as a team and the atmosphere is fun. Rod, Rock's owner is out there working with us, he does what it takes to get the job done. He may yell a little if the quality goes down but who likes to replant. Rock's motto is, quality first. A couple of seasons ago was the first time in Rock's history that they had to charge a campcost. The productions was down because everyday one or two planters stayed in camp, so the daily tree production was getting behind and expenses were going up. One or two people doesn't sound like much but on a small crew it is huge. Some of these comments about not getting paid in full are from a group of these planters that didn't want to pay campcost, even after it was explained to them that the food costs were huge and there just wasn't enough money in the budget to cover it. This was all discussed openly, I know, I was there, I had told the Reimers that they should have been charging campcost for years but they always used free camp as a bonus and felt bad that they couldn't this season. One guy even moved his wife and 2 kids into Rock's camp for over 2 weeks, what other company would allow this? So this group of planters took the Reimers (Rock Reforestation) to the labour board to get their campcost back. This put the Reimers and Rock under a lot of stress and they almost went under. They had to pay back half of the campcost that they charged these planters and the issue with the labour board was closed. These planters then joined forces with Trent Gainer who had been working for Rock Reforestation for a few seasons, and because of the rumours these people had spread about Rock, Gainer was able to secure some of Rock's trees the following season. These people continue to spread lies about Rock in an atempt to put them out of business and get all of the trees. These people took a piece of Rock Reforestation and turned it into Gainer Resources. There are 2 sides to every story and I think it's time to stand up for the company we love, Rock Reforestation. For this 2012 season we have 8 great planters we are all having fun and making a lot of money. Our rookie consistantly makes $400 a day. I love Rock's camp, on the menu tonight is fresh baked sockeye salmon, even with the rain, I'm warm and dry in my little camper and by the way there are no bugs here at the Reimers Ranch. Oh ya, the Sapho thing was just a spoof, about 8 seasons ago on the last day of planting we all dressed up like that and planted, we wanted to give the checkers a good laugh. It was just Rod having some fun. We can all use some comic relief now and again. Happy Planting!

Hi, Deb! How do you like your 100,000 tree season?