Appendix 1 – Dictionary of
Planting Terms
Last Updated: October 28th, 2004
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Introduction
Are you puzzled by all the strange
words you come across while reading about planting? Don’t be surprised – there is some pretty
arcane terminology in the silviculture field, and a lot of it isn’t scientific. Planters have come up with all sorts of words
and expressions to communicate planting-related concepts, which have become
engrained within the industry over the past few decades. This dictionary should solve some of your
questions about terminology, although it is by no means complete.
Air Pocket – When planting a tree, the soil should completely
surround the roots, and be touching the roots so that nutrients found within
the soil can flow into the roots. If the
hole that the seedling was planted in appears to be closed from the surface,
there is still a chance that the roots are not completely encased in dirt. If that is the case, then the seedling has an
“air pocket” where the dirt is not touching the roots.
Amphetamines – A type of drug that is a stimulant. Some planters take amphetamines regularly to
give them a boost of energy while planting, so they can work harder and make
more money. Common types include
“ephies” (effedrine) and “bennies” (benezedrine), or “dexies” (Dexedrine). All three have the tendency to “wake up” and
energize the planter. Effedrine is a
mild stimulant, while Benzedrine is somewhat stronger, like a concentrated form
of caffeine. Both are also called “diet
pills” because some physicians prescribe them for weight loss. Effedrine is available over the counter in
some forms in
Area Planting – When a planter works in their assigned piece, they
usually try to follow some sort of defined pattern to cover the ground most
efficiently. Some planters follow the
edge of the ground that is already planted, which means they are following
lines of trees already planted (line planting).
These lines do not necessarily have to be straight, as they may curve
around quite a bit to follow topography, obstacles, or existing planted
seedlings. Anyway, the planter is
working and following a line of trees, he or she might eventually come to a
group of obstacles that are difficult to work around. In that case, the planter may make a slight
diversion and fill a small section all at once, rather than passing several
consecutive lines through it, to improve efficiency. For instance, if a number of large (two foot
thick) cottonwood trees have fallen all over a block, and are all laying across
the ground, a couple feet in the air, it will be very hard to keep crawling
over the fallen aspen. Seen from above,
the ground may be exposed in a number of odd-shaped squares and triangles,
depending on where the aspen trees have fallen across the block. Therefore, a planter may choose, after
crawling over a log and into a small triangle that holds a couple bundles of
trees, to plant that entire small area,
so that after they leave, they don’t have to climb back into it a second time
on the next pass through. If the planter
is jumping from “triangle” to “triangle” or some sort of similar pattern, then
the planter is “area planting,” rather than doing just one straight line of
trees to the back. The obstacles or
boundaries do not need to be as blatant as in the above example. Some planters will just do a form of line
planting in which they plant a swath of trees that is several seedlings
wide. The width of that swath may
increase when the ground is good, and decrease when the going gets tough, if
the planter is being lazy or “creaming out” their piece. Technically, this type of approach should
still be called line planting, whether it is a “double line” or “triple line”
or greater (depending on width). However,
many planters often mistakenly call this area planting, or call it area planting
on purpose just to sound good, when trying to justify to other planters why
they aren’t following a line straight to the back of the piece.
Back-Cut (aka. double-shovel) – The back-cut is a move designed
to eliminate air pockets. Once a
seedling has been planted, you can put the shovel in the ground about six
inches away from the tree, straight up and down. Then, if you pull the handle of the shovel
toward you with your foot resting on the kicker of the shovel to hold it in
place, the tip of the blade (which is underground) will pivot away from you
toward the roots of the tree, hopefully closing any air pockets. Double shoveling is probably a waste of time
in any decent crumbly mineral soil, especially sandy soils, but can be useful
in areas with heavy clay, because kicking the top of the hole shut doesn’t
necessarily eliminate air pockets in this kind of ground. Most BC Ministry contracts specify that every
single tree must be back-cut, although this rarely happens in the field.
Bags – Short for planting bags. The
planting bags are a set of three large vinyl pouches, sewn together on a belt
or waist strap. Each pouch is large
enough to hold about a five-gallon water jug, or a third to a half a box of
trees (on average). Shoulder straps are
attached to the belt, to help distribute the weight you are carrying, so that
all the weight is not resting on your hips (although many females forego using
the shoulder straps which can be uncomfortable when clasped across the chest
area). Most people will keep one side
pouch known as the “drawbag” open all the time with loose trees (the left side
for right handed people, and vice versa), and will keep the other side pouch
closed with full bundles. The back bag
can be used for carrying trees too, although many people try to avoid that
because the weight is harder on the planter’s back. If you don’t carry trees in your back bag, it
is a good place to keep your plot cord and a small bottle of water.
Bama Socks – These are a special type of heavy padded sock which
only goes up to the ankle, but they are not elasticized or loose, so you don’t
have to worry about them slipping off your feet. They look like a type of mini-slipper. They are very good socks to wear in
conjunction with other socks because the padding will minimize blistering of
your feet.
Bareroot – Seedlings usually come in one of two types, either
bareroot or plug stock. Bareroots do not
have any significant amount of dirt around the roots of the tree. The roots are usually not trimmed, and thus
can appear to be quite uneven. Bundles
of bareroot trees are frequently just tied together with a piece of string or
held with an elastic, rather than wrapped in a plastic bundle wrapper.
Block (aka. cutblock) – The section of land that a company has logged and
which needs to be reforested.
Box-end or Boxtop – Many companies use boxtops as a means of verifying
tree tallies from the planters. As a
planter finishes planting a box of trees, he or she rips the unique box top or box
end from the box, and hands this into the foreman at the end of the day as
proof that the box was planted. Usually
the box will have a sticker on it that identifies what kind of trees are in the
box, and how many are in the box. These
days, the stickers are on the side (the box-end), although a decade ago they
often were attached to the top flap. The
box end, loosely speaking, often includes the sticker and a unique piece of
cardboard to accompany it. Many people
try not to rely on just the stickers, because in poor weather, the rain often
makes stickers rip off the boxes and disintegrate, therefore, the underlying
cardboard with the special marking is more important. A good combination is often to use the pesticide
warning flap on the top of the box, plus the sticker when possible.
Broadcast Burns – In the past in BC, it was common practice to set fire
to most of the blocks in the fall, to burn off the slash so the planters could
get at the dirt more easily. That
practice has been mostly discontinued, for a couple of reasons. First, many people living in rural areas
complained of the smoke that was created by these fires. Second, foresters are starting to realize
that some essential nutrients are destroyed when the block is burned, and it
would be better for the biomass to be allowed to decay naturally and provide
nutrients for the seedlings. The term
broadcast burn arose because the fire was broadcast over a large area. Under ideal conditions, the edges of the
block were light on fire with special accelerants and fuels, and then the fire
would creep in towards the center of the block and eventually run out of fuel
and put itself out, while the burning crew walked the edges to make sure that
the forest surrounding the block didn’t catch on fire. As you can imagine, the timing for this type
of activity was crucial, to take advantage of decent weather conditions that
allowed the slash to burn, without being so dry as to present a high risk of
starting a forest fire.
Brushing – Brushing is another type of silvicultural activity
which involves taking care of the seedlings several years after they are
initially planted. Brushers use special
saws (kind of like big whipper-snippers, but with a metal blade similar to a
skill saw instead of just a piece of plastic cord) to clear out large weeds and
brush around the seedlings, so the young trees do not have to compete so much
for the nutrients and sunlight needed to develop. Brushing contracts are quite often performed
by planters during the “off-season” since brushing can take place pretty much
any time in the year when the ground isn’t heavily covered in snow. Some of the planters that work in the
silviculture industry year-round will plant on the coast during the early
spring (February through April) then plant in the Interior during the
conventional spring/summer seasons (May through August) and then spend the Fall
working with saws on brushing and spacing contracts, until heavy snows hit in
November or December.
Brush Mat – A brush mat is a square of a special type of plastic,
sort of like a heavy plastic tarp, which is usually two to four feet
across. There is a small slit or hole
cut in the middle of the brush mat. This
mat is laid on the ground over a seedling so the tree is sticking through the
hole in the middle, then the four corners of the mat are stuck into the ground
with “staples”. The brush mat stays on
the ground and prevents grasses and brush from growing up in the immediate
vicinity of the seedling, giving it a couple years of a head start in growth in
its immediate micro-environment, with reduced competition from other
plants. After several years, the brush
mat basically dissolves. Brush mats are
typically only used in high-competition sites.
Bundle – Boxes of trees usually arrive with all the trees separated into small
groups, and wrapped in plastic. Each
bundle of trees typically has between 10 and 20 trees, although numbers outside
those extremes are not unheard of. For
example, if a shipment of trees has 225 seedlings in each box, it might be
arranged so that each box has fifteen bundles of fifteen trees each. Within any given shipment of a specific type
of trees, all the bundles will be the same size. In the early 1990’s, the most common bundle
size was probably twenty trees, although now the most common size is probably
fifteen trees per bundle.
Bung – A stopper, especially for the hole through which a cask, keg, barrel,
or drum is filled or empties. It comes
from the Middle English word “bunge” which meant a hole. Water and fuel drums and barrels
traditionally have a hole so that the drum can be emptied or filled. The bung is the part that screws into this
hole and makes the container watertight.
Bung Wrench – This type of specialty tool is a one-armed wrench
that has four thick tines on the end, and is therefore suitable for closing a
bung really tightly, or loosening it, to minimize the chance of small-scale
leakage.
Bungie – A type of rubber fastener cord with hooks at each end. The bungie cord will often stretch to almost
twice its normal length if you pull hard on it.
It is frequently seen in use to hold down tarps, or hold boxes on the
quad.
Burns – On many blocks, large piles of slash are left behind after
logging. These can either be created
when machines strip branches off the trees at the road (road-side processing),
or sometimes the branches and scrap wood is left all over the block (stump-side
processing). The foresters will
frequently use machines to clean up the blocks by bull-dozing most of the slash
into large piles, often along the edges of the road. In the winter before the block is planted,
these slash piles may be burned to free up a little bit more space on the
block. In this case, the planter may
notice dozens of “burns” on a block, which are areas of maybe five to ten
metres in diameter, where the slash piles used to sit. These burned areas are great to plant in,
since the hot fires usually burned down to clear mineral soil with just a few
inches of ash on top of the dirt.
Interestingly, trees planted in burns usually grow much faster than the
rest of the trees on the block, probably because of the large amount of carbon
at the microsite, from the ashes.
Bush Camp (aka. tent camp) – Planters working on various contracts
rarely have the luxury of semi-permanent accommodations. What typically happens is that a tent camp is
set up in the bush near the blocks to be planted. A decent tent camp, with a kitchen tent, a
mess tent (dining area), first aid tent, shower tents, drying tent (with
heaters, for drying wet clothes), and outhouses, can usually be set up by a
couple dozen planters in just three or four hours. Planters then set up their own individual
personal tents to sleep in, wherever is most feasible. This tent camp may only remain in use for a
few days, or sometimes can be used for as long as a couple months on a really
long contract. When it is time to move
on, the entire camp can be dismantled and packed up in a matter of hours. Technically, a bush camp can have slightly
more permanent dwellings, such as wooden buildings or semi-portable (ATCO)
trailers, but when planters talk about a bush camp, they usually have the
mental image of a tent camp.
Cache – A cache is a temporary storage area for boxes of trees. There are different types of caches. On the block, a planter may have a personal
cache or block cache, which might consist of two or three boxes of trees under
a small silvicool tarp, which is just enough to keep him or her busy for a few
hours until the foreman brings more trees.
When dealing with summer hot-lifted trees, which cannot be stored in a
reefer unit, larger caches are frequently used.
A field cache may consist of a clearing in the bush on the side of a
road, with some large tarps suspended to keep the sunlight off the trees, and
such a cache may often contain fifty to a hundred or more boxes. Some foremen will set up a field cache beside
the block they are about to plant, and bring enough boxes to it to finish the
block, then spend the next couple days moving trees from the field cache to
planters’ individual caches across the block.
Another type of cache, even larger than the field cache, is the “main
cache.” This is often located near the
camp, and may have as many as a thousand boxes or more under a whole series of
large suspended field tarps, again hung to keep sunlight off the boxes. In the summer, the trees will therefore come
out of the nursery and will be transported in a reefer to the camp, where they
are unloaded into the main cache, and from the main cache the foremen move
trees into a field cache and then into personal caches, or perhaps directly
from the main cache to the individual caches.
Spring trees are not hot-lifted, and therefore are usually just kept in
the reefer until they get moved out to personal caches on the blocks.
Caulks (aka. corks) – Caulks (pronounced corks) are a type of
metal spike that are attached the bottom of a pair of boots, so that the wearer
can easily walk across slippery wood and other soft materials with a reduced
risk of slipping. The spikes dig into
the wood somewhat, so your foot will not slip.
Although technically it is these spikes which are the caulks, common
usage has resulted in any pair of boots that have the spikes to be referred to
as caulks. Lots of planters who work in
wet ground will buy the big orange and black chainsaw boots, which have steel
toes, Kevlar fronts, and caulk spikes.
This type of boot is what a planter usually envisions when someone says,
“have you seen my caulks?”
Chaps – Chaps are a type of chain saw pant, which are pants with special
Kevlar webbing that is strong enough to catch and bind up a chain saw, so that
a person is unlikely to cut themselves with a saw. Chain saw chaps, like the chaps that cowboys
often wear, only have the protection on the front, with an open back side. This makes them lighter and cooler to wear,
and doesn’t significantly increase the risk of injury, since most people use
their saws in front of their body.
Checker – Checkers are people who assess the quality of the trees
that planters plant. There are two types
of checkers – internal and external.
Internal checkers work for the same company that the planters do. External checkers work for the licensee or
government body that the planting company is working for. Checkers play a critical role for
planters. When they check the trees, it
is their feedback which determines whether or not the planters get paid in
full. There are various systems of
monitoring quality standards, and in almost all of these systems, planters will
get paid in full for a planting quality somewhere between 90% to 95% or
higher. If the quality drops below a
specified point, the payment percentage starts to decrease. To determine the quality percentage, the
checkers have a set of rules to decide whether or not each individual tree in
their plot samples is acceptable, depending on characteristics such as depth,
placement, lean, straightness of roots, distance from other seedlings,
etc. External checkers not only
determine the amount that you will get paid for your hard work, but they also
act as the enforcement officers, who levy fines against planters for poor
stock-handling or breaking other rules.
For this reason, external checkers are often feared or disliked by
planters. Internal checkers perform the
same roles as external checkers, although the difference is that the internal
checker is working for the same company as the planter. In this respect, they are working together as
a team. The internal checker will assess
the quality by trying to use the same system and methodology as the external
checker, and therefore can provide feedback to the planters and foremen if the
trees are expected to be rated as being of poor quality, before it is too
late. Once an external checker has
assessed a block, it is usually too late to fix problems. However, if an internal checker finds quality
problems, they can usually be fixed before the external checker makes the final
call.
Chigger – see “tick.”
Class Four – The class four is a special type of driver’s license
in many provinces. Most provinces in
western Canada (and the Maritimes) use a system whereby a class five license is
the normal type of full driving license that most Canadian adults use, which is
good for personal and non-commercial use, or commercial use of up to ten
persons in a vehicle. However, the class
four allows a person to drive a group of more than ten persons and up to
twenty-four persons, for commercial use.
For companies which transport groups of people around in large vans or
crummies or buses then, the driver must have a class four driver’s
license. The exact number of people vary
– for instance, in some provinces, the maximum number of passengers that can be
transported without a class four may be as low as six or as high as
twelve. Also, the upper limit of the
number of passengers that can be driven is usually twenty-four, but in a few
provinces is significantly lower. The
class four driver’s license therefore often called the taxi license or
chauffer’s license or bus driver’s license, depending on the province. To obtain a class four license, you have to
take slightly more difficult driving and written tests than for a normal class
five license, plus you must pass a medical examination.
Claw, the – The claw refers to a medical condition that planters
often experience at the start of the season, and sometimes right through the
spring. In the morning, you may wake up
and find that your shovel hand is so tight feeling that you cannot clench your
fingers to make a fist. This comes from
gripping the shovel handle tightly all day, and feels worst first thing in the
morning or in cold weather. It is not so
much painful as just inconvenient.
Crew Boss (aka. foreman) – The crew boss looks after a small group
of planters, perhaps from five to fifteen employees. Significantly larger crews were common in the
past (I had a crew of thirty my first year), but are not seen as often
nowadays. The crew boss will hire the
planters on the crew, and then be responsible for the direct supervision of his
or her planters while they are in the field, which includes assigning land,
delivering trees, checking quality, submitting payroll information, and dozens
of other related tasks. He or she may
have help in this job from internal checkers or dedicated tree runners.
Come-Along (aka. ratchet strap) – This is a type of strap with a
ratchet in the middle which allows for the use of leverage to tighten the strap
into place. Come-along is more of a
slang term, and many people just refer to these things as ratchet straps, their
proper names. These straps are often
used by truckers to hold down the tarps on their loads, and are useful for
keeping stuff attached to the back of a truck.
Smaller ratchet straps are sometimes used to hold boxes on the quad.
Cone-Picking – Another form of silviculture work, but one which
occurs only sporadically. When a
cone-picking contract comes along, a group of people will work in a camp to
harvest cones from trees, to provide seed for nurseries. Typically, a special helicopter will be used
which has a harvesting mechanism. The
chopper will target trees in a certain area that has been pre-determined by the
nursery to have desirable genetic traits, and when the chopper sees a tree top
that is suitably full of cones, the chopper can cut the top of the tree right
off and fly it back to the cone-picking camp.
There, the workers will lubricate their hands to protect against the
pitch or sap in the trees (usually with tubs of margarine or a cheap
substitute), and use their fingers to pick all the decent cones off the tree
top and put them into buckets.
Traditionally, enough cones are harvested over a period of a few weeks
to provide the nursery with enough seed to last for several years.
Container Stock (aka. plug stock) – Seedlings grown with root systems
encased in a package of dirt, rather than as bare roots. They are called this because of the
containers that they are grown in. Container
stock is more of an eastern term, and the seedlings are usually called plugs in
western
Contract – An agreement to plant a large number of trees for
somebody, such as a timber company (licensee) or a provincial government’s
forestry division. Many planting camps
will work on a number of contracts throughout a given season, while
occasionally a camp will just work on one big contract all summer and thus not
have to keep moving camp. Typically, in
my experience, contracts may last anywhere from three or four days to eight or
ten weeks, although two to four weeks seems to be the most common. Of course, the amount of time required to
complete a contract varies depending on the number of planters working on it,
and their production capabilities. Some
contracts are more enjoyable and/or lucrative for the planters than other
contracts, depending on the quality expectations, payment per tree, conditions
of the ground to be planted, and dozens of other factors.
Cream – Cream is what planters call “very nice land”. If you have a creamy piece, the section of
land that you are expected to plant may be relatively free of slash and other
obstacles, with very nice clean or sandy dirt near the surface. Of course, the price that you are getting
paid per tree is just as important as the condition of the ground. It is possible to have a pretty rough piece
of ground, but if the price is really high, the planter may still smile and
refer to it as a creamy piece, especially in relation to the rest of the
block. More commonly though, cream refers
to pieces that are good by any standard, at any price.
Creamer – A somewhat derogatory term applied to a planter who
tries or who appears to selfishly try to always select creamy pieces for
himself or herself, rather than trying to help make sure that the nice land is
shared equally among everybody on the crew.
Of course, sometimes your foreman or crew boss will put you in a really
nice piece on purpose, in which case you shouldn’t feel guilty about taking
advantage of the opportunity to make some easy money.
Cutblock (aka. block) – The section of land that a company has
logged and which needs to be reforested.
D-Handle – A type of planting shovel, which is characterized by
having a grip at the top of the handle which is sort of in the shape of the
letter D facing downward. This is by far
the most common type of shovel in
DEET – This is the chemical abbreviation for the chemical used in most insect
repellents. [Add to this, ie. chemical
name, properties, history, use, different concentrations in different
repellents].
Desiccation – The process of becoming dried out. The roots of seedlings are moist, and it is
suggested that planters store them in cool draw-bags with moist sponges to
minimize the effects of desiccation on the roots.
Direct Award – A type of contract in which the licensee contacts a
specific planting company and presents a contract to them, and asks them to
name a price. If the price is satisfactory
to the licensee, the planting company is awarded the contract. By allowing the planting company to name what
they consider to be a fair price, rather than competing by bidding on the open
market against other companies, a company can build a long-term relationship
with a licensee which will be more favorable to the planting company and the
planters. In addition, although the
licensee may end up paying slightly more for the work than would have been the case
with one tendered out to the lowest bidder, the quality of work performed is
often higher, and thus advantageous to the licensee in the end. The old saying, “you get what you pay for” is
probably applicable when considering whether or not a contract should be
tendered out for bidding on the open market, or negotiated with a specific
planting contractor who will want to provide a higher level of service in
return for guaranteed work for a number of years.
Donaren Mounds – A type of site preparation which creates mounds that
are probably the fastest for a planter to plant. To make donaren mounds, a pair of hydraulic
operated scoops is attached to the back of a skidder. The skidder then drives systematically across
the block. As it goes, the scoops will
scoop out a hole to accumulate some dirt, then when the hydraulic pressure
builds up sufficiently a few seconds later, the scoop flips over and creates a
mound. These mounds are not as large as
those created by backhoes, and because they are created in parallel lines on
the back of a skidder following some sort of logical pattern, they are easy to
plant. They can almost be planted the
same way that disc-trenching is planted, by going up one row of mounds and then
back down the next. Well ordered rows of
donaren mounds in sandy soil can provide the opportunity for some pretty high
tallies.
Disc Trenching – A type of site preparation in which a skidder drives
around the block with a pair of furrow blades attached to the back of the
machine. As the machine travels over the
block, the blades cut a path through the surface of the ground and flip it
over, exposing a strip of soil behind each blade. The best place to plant the tree is not in
the low strip of exposed soil, which is cold and wet and therefore not
conducive to growth. Rather, the tree is
often placed up on the side of the berm (flipped over part), somewhere around
the “hinge” between the ground the berm, or even right up on the berm. The exact placement varies from location to
location, and depends also on what the forester thinks will make the seedlings
grow the fastest. Although the majority
of foresters will want the tree high in the trench because the slightly higher
temperature will help the tree grow faster, there are exceptions. For instance, in 100 Mile House, we planted
trenches on blocks that were covered with cows.
On that contract, we were asked to put the trees in the bottom of the
trenches, because the cows were scared to put their feet down into the trench,
and therefore this kept the seedlings from being trampled.
Double-Shovel – See “back cut.”
Drag Scarification – Another form of site preparation. To do this, a skidder drives back and forth
across a block with a huge steel drum or drums (sometimes solid steel, other
times hollowed out steel which is filled with water to give added weight). The heavy steel drums crush and pulp most of
the slash and debris on the block, making it finer and easier to walk around,
and also slightly arranging it into rows or tracks. One of the biggest benefits of drag scarification,
for the forester, is that it also breaks up the cones and spreads them around
the block, so that the seeds in the cones end up being well-distributed and the
natural regeneration that arises from the cones will augment the planted trees,
helping to increase eventual density.
For this reason, foresters will often plant blocks that have been
dragged at much lower densities than planters are used to (perhaps 1000 to 1200
stems per hectare, rather than 1800 to 2000 stems per hectare found in many
other situations), knowing that the natural regeneration will bring up the
eventual numbers, and therefore save the forester some money.
Draw-bag (aka. feeder bag) – The side pouch on a set of planting
bags, which the planter will use to pull loose trees from. Most right-handed planters will use their
left pouch as their drawback, while left-handed planters will use their right
pouch as the draw-bag. The draw-bag does
not have to be kept closed, because you are using it, whereas the pouch on the
other side (the side reserve bag) and the back pouch (the back reserve) should
have the insert strings pulled shut if they contain trees, except when you are
transferring more bundles to your draw-bag.
Drip Line – The imaginary line at the edge of a forest that
indicates that furthest that rain can fall when drops fall off the tips of
branches of the forest after a rain storm.
Essentially, it measures the extent to which the canopy (cover layer of
branches in the forest) extends beyond the base of the trees. Planters are often expected not to plant past
the drip line when reaching the end of a block, or when planting up to a
residual tree patch in the center of the block.
The terminology is confusing.
Planters often wonder why seedlings should not be planted under the drip
line, assuming that rain falling from the heavens should not be any worse
hitting the seedlings than drops fifty feet from the canopy. What is important though is that the drip
line concept is not so much directly related to the raindrops but is rather a
good indicator of the edge of the forest canopy. New seedlings just need to be planted to the
edge of the canopy, rather than right up to the base of the big trees.
Dropped Tree – Sometimes, when planters put too many loose trees
into their drawbag (overstuffing), these trees have a tendency to drop out onto
the ground as you are bending over and moving around. A dropped tree that is discovered on a block
can result in a small fine – most forestry contracts specify a dropped tree
fine of $2 per tree. If a whole bundle
falls out of someone’s bags, then it adds up to $30 or $40 in fines. Even worse would be when the dropped tree or
trees are found in a pay plot. Even
though they aren’t planted, they can be considered to be part of the plot, and
therefore count as fault trees which can also raise your excess. In the end, however, the biggest drawback of
dropping trees on the block is that the checkers get annoyed when dropped trees
are discovered. You should be careful
not to let trees fall out of your bags, especially at the start of your bag-up,
while your bags are most full. It is
always a good idea to quickly scan the ground around your cache just before
going into your piece, and make sure you haven’t dropped any loose trees at
your cache.
Dry Tent – This is a large tent that is erected in some camps,
which is specifically designed to act as a giant drying area for wet
clothing. Years ago, camps would have a
dry tent with a wood-burning air-tight stove, which was of limited use. Someone would have to stay up all night to
tend to the fire, and only the clothes within a dozen feet or so of the stove
would dry properly. Nowadays, it is
more common to see propane or kerosene burning heating devices in the dry
tents, which can throw off enough heat to dry the clothes of a camp of several
dozen people overnight. The tent is
quite a sight when it is in full operation after a rainy day, with several rope
clotheslines strung between the rafters, and steam pouring out the vents as the
clothes dry. Just be careful not to put
your clothing or boots too close to the heater, and have them melt or catch on
fire!
Duct Tape – A special type of tape, usually a silvery-grey
(although many other colors are available).
This tape is wide and sticky, and is exactly the right kind of tape to
be useful to planters for dozens of reasons.
Many planters who don’t like wearing gloves (which restrict movement of
the fingers in your drawbag) will instead put a few pieces of tape on the tips
of their fingers, to minimize cuts and scraping while putting fingers into the
ground. Duct tape is also a good
general-purpose fixit material. Just
remember that it is spelled “duct” as in air-conditioning ductwork, not “duck”
as in the bird. There are dozens of
types of duct tape available, and experienced planters can often tell you about
the pros and cons of different brands (stickiness to the fingers, ease of
ripping off the roll, etc.).
Duff – Stuff that you could plant in, but you shouldn’t, because it just
isn’t dirt. Duff is usually composed of
dry feathery moss or dry humus material, maybe with a bit of surface litter
thrown in. Planters are not supposed to
plant in duff, because the tree roots are supposed to be planted in either
mineral soil or smearable humus and organic soil. Even if it was acceptable to plant trees in
duff, it would be hard to get them tight, so your quality would suffer since
having a loose tree is a fault.
Duff Shot – A tree planted in
duff.
Dynablast – A brand of propane powered water heater. Some camps may have a propane tank hooked up
to a Dynablast unit, then a pump by a river that delivers water to the
Dynablast, and the result is warm water for a set of showers.
Excavator Mounds (aka. hoe mounds) – These mounds are made by an excavator,
or back-hoe. The machine sits in one
spot and reaches around itself several times, scooping mud out of holes and
turning it upside down to form new mounds.
Once it has done this, it moves further along the block, continuing to
make new mounds behind itself. Excavator
mounds can be fairly big, depending on how big the scoop is on the
machine. It is hard to plant excavator
mounds in any sort of defined pattern, since they are just made randomly across
the block.
Excess – Foresters have target densities that they want to see on the
blocks. For instance, on a particular
block, they might expect to see 1800 seedlings planted on each hectare of land
(target densities usually range between 800 and 2000 stems/Ha). The way that the quality and plotting system
is designed, if there are more trees planted than targeted, this is called
excess (which is determined by a fairly complex formula based on plot
results). Planters are generally allowed
to have a certain amount of excess without any penalties, but once they exceed
that point, small financial penalties start to apply which ends up reducing the
tree price.
Ephedrine – A type of pseudo-amphetamine. It is a white, odorless powdered or
crystalline alkaloid made from plants of the genus Ephedra (especially Ephedra
sinica) or made synthetically. It is
used as a bronchodilator (to dilate or open up the alveoli in the lungs) to
treat bronchitis and asthma. “Diet
pills” commonly contain ephedrine, because in addition to being a safe and
common bronchodilator, it has mild side effects that cause the metabolism to
race (heart rate increases, body burns food more quickly), and also acts as an
appetite depressant. Some planters take
ephedrine because it has essentially the same effect as drinking a cup of
coffee. A huge drawback, however, is
that planters who do this will eventually rely on the pills to feel normally
alert, and another side effect is dehydration, which obviously is very bad for
anyone planting trees.
Fault Tree – A tree which has some sort of quality problem, and
thus cannot be considered to be a good tree if it falls into one of the
plots. Problems that might lead a tree
to be considered as being faulted include being too deep, too shallow, leaning
too much, bent roots, in poor soil, or any of several other problems.
Feeder Bag – See “Drawbag.”
Finger (depth) – Some foresters or checkers use the term “finger” as a
unit of measurement, ie. the top of the plug must be covered with dirt, but the
depth of the dirt can be no more than two fingers above the top of the plug.
Finger (on a block) – A finger refers to a part of a block that is a long,
thin section cut away from the rest of the block. Planters will hope that they can carry enough
trees in a bag-up to enable them to plant their way all the way to the back of
the finger, so they won’t have to walk in later with more trees to finish the
back of the finger (which is very inefficient).
Flagging Tape – This is light plastic ribbon which comes in dozens of
different colours. Planters and foremen
use small strips of this tape to mark locations on the blocks. A two foot long piece of flagging tape tied
to a stick is usually visible from hundreds of feet away. Many people use this tape to mark boundaries
on blocks when there is no easily identifiable division between pieces.
Foamie – A foamie is a large sponge mattress that a planter can sleep on. Foamies can come in different thicknesses,
say from two to four inches thick. A
foamie cannot be rolled up as tight as an inflatable air mattress for
transportation, and it is not comfortable when your foamie gets wet because it
is, after all, just a big sponge.
However, a thick foamie is often more comfortable than an air mattress,
and you do not have to worry about the risk of it being punctured and becoming
useless. A foamie usually costs about
$25 to $30.
Foreman – The foreman looks after a small group of planters,
perhaps from five to fifteen employees.
Significantly larger crews were common in the past (I had a crew of
thirty my first year), but are not seen as often nowadays. The foreman will hire the planters on the
crew, and then be responsible for the direct supervision of his or her planters
while they are in the field, which includes assigning land, delivering trees,
checking quality, submitting payroll information, and dozens of other related
tasks. He or she may have help in this
job from internal checkers or dedicated tree runners.
FS 704 – The BC Ministry of Forests form which is used to record and calculate
planting quality. Checkers will record
their plots in books of FS 704’s.
Girdling – A type of silvicultural activity designed to kill
undesirable trees. Usually, girdling
targets trembling aspen or balsam poplar stands, with maybe a few cottonwood
and willow, or birch and other hardwoods thrown in. When a tree is girdled, a strip of bark is
removed from around the base of the truck, below the lowest live branch. Since the bark protects the cambium, which is
the layer that allows for transfer of nutrients between the leaves and the
roots, elimination of the bark will effectively cause the tree to starve to
death eventually. Once this happens, it
dies, and may topple over a year or so later.
Workers girdle trees by hand, with the aid of specially shaped knives or
machetes. The reason for killing these
trees is often to eliminate the major competitors for a young stand of
coniferous trees, and open up the overhead coverage to allow the coniferous
trees to get more sunlight. Typically,
stands that are girdled contain trees that are between five and fifteen years
old – it is rare that more mature trees are girdled. There are two schools of thought which
support the use of girdling. The first
is when a stand needs to be cleared of competition, but for some reason, the
forester does not want all the weed trees knocked down immediately (perhaps a
lot more surveys have to be done in the following year, and the forester wants
people to be able to move around the block more readily). The second is that girdling kills the tree
slowly, starving the roots. This means
that the tree cannot send up additional shoots and start growing all over again
from the surface. If an aspen tree is
cut, new shoots will sometimes start growing right away, and a few years later,
the aspen stand has managed to re-establish itself.
Greener (aka. rookie) – An inexperienced (first year) planter.
Greening Up – The
process by which the cut blocks go from having lots of exposed soil in the spring
(May) to being covered with green grasses and other small plants later in the
summer (July). Once a block has greened
up, it usually takes a bit longer for planters to plant it.
Hectare Planting – A form of planting where the planters are not paid a
specific price per tree. Instead, they
are paid a certain dollar amount for a certain amount of ground being
covered. As long as the planter meets
minimum stocking requirements for the piece, he or she is paid for the work, no
matter how many trees it actually took.
If a planter plants his or her trees closer together than intended, the
same amount of money is made, therefore, it is in the planters’ best interests
to take lots of density plots on themselves to try to ensure that they exceed
the minimum stocking requirements, but without planting too many trees. Hectare planting was initially developed as
an alternative payment system that would be used to combat stashing – stashing
was pointless because it didn’t matter how many trees were claimed, just how
much ground was covered. Nowadays,
hectare planting is done very infrequently, although most other areas of
silviculture (brushing, spacing, girdling, thinning, etc.) are paid by the area
completed.
Highball – To put in a lot of trees. Every camp or crew usually has a few
consistent highballers that work hardest and plant big tallies day after day.
Hoe Mounds (aka. excavator mounds) – See “excavator mounds.”
Hole – Trees are planted in holes. However,
there is another type of hole that planters need to be aware of. When planting a section of a block, if some
of the ground is not planted, that unplanted piece becomes known as a “hole”. Holes are bad if they do not eventually get
planted. The best way to envision a hole
is to think about where the planted seedlings are, and imagine them as all
having grown ten feet high, with large branches. When you do this, it becomes much easier to
understand the dynamics of a hole, because it will turn into an obvious open
space on the block as time passes.
Hot-Lift – Trees that are grown from seed in the spring will be
ready at the nursery in June and July.
When these trees are being harvested, they are lifted from the trays in
the nursery, bundled, and placed into boxes.
These boxes then end up in the field a very short time later. The trees have not been frozen over the
winter, and therefore they are still fully alive and in the growing stage
during transportation. Since trees
produce moisture and heat as they grow, if the seedlings are kept in the closed
boxes or in an enclosed space, they will quickly heat up and die, unless
exposed to open air. For this reason,
these hot-lifted trees need to be spread out and have the boxes opened for air
circulation, so the trees do not overheat.
Humus – A brown or black material, often moist, which results from partial
decomposition of plant and animal matter, which forms the organic portion of
soil. Planters will usually find it
under the litter of layer on the ground as a thin black layer, similar to peat
moss, which sits on top of the mineral soil.
Insects – There are a lot of insects that planters could be
concerned with. None of them are
particularly important to planters, although several of them are annoying at
times. Don’t be mad though – remember
that insects are critical to maintaining the planetary ecosystem, and human
life therefore depends on them. Despite
this, being attacked by flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, wasps, and hornets is
not fun. Some people are scared of
spiders. If you are one of those people,
get used to spiders, because you will see a lot of them. You will also see a lot of other “bugs” that
don’t really have major effects on you: butterflies, moths, dragonflies,
beetles, water bugs, ladybugs, and dozens of others. Some beetles have an effect on planters that
you may not notice right away – the mountain pine beetle (and to a much lesser
extent the spruce beetle) are decimating forests in the Interior region of
British Columbia at the present, and ruining thousands of square kilometers of
timber.
J-Roots – When you plant a seedling, the tree will eventually
grow to be straight up and down, as it grows toward the sky. Just as the tree above ground likes to be
straight, the central root system should start its life going straight down
into the ground (although eventually it will umbrella and spread across the
surface of the ground around the tree).
If you don’t plant your roots so they are straight up and down, they are
said to be “j-roots” because they resemble the shape of the letter J. If you get caught planting J-roots, your life
will become painful. Replanting a
section to fix this kind of problem is very time-consuming, because every
single tree has to be dug up and replanted.
At least if you have other types of faults, like leaning trees, it is
pretty easy to cover the ground quickly and through visual checks be able to
fix only the trees that are not straight.
My advice for planters has always been that if there is one fault to be
extremely paranoid of, make it J-roots.
Use your fingers to tuck the roots down and straighten them out!
Jerry Can – The jerry can refers to a container used to hold
gasoline or other types of fuel. I have
no idea where the name came from, but it may be slang that originated in
WWII. These cans can be easily
recognized by their red shape, and by the bright yellow spouts used to pour the
gas out of the container. Be careful
that you understand what kind of fuel is contained in the jerry can. Most camps have at least three types of fuel
on hand – gasoline, diesel, and “mixed gas” which is a mixture of two-stroke
oil and gasoline to be used in chain saws.
Kastinger – A brand of high-end work boots.
Kevlar – A trademark brand for a certain type of aramid fiber. This fiber, used in bulletproof vests and
chain saw pants, is an extremely long, tough fiber. When woven into the proper type of material,
it has the ability to ensnare and hold the steel teeth of a running chain saw,
stopping it from being able to cut or rotate any further, and is therefore used
extensively in personal protective equipment.
Koflach – A brand of high-end work boots.
Leaner – A planted seedling that is leaning significantly. Trees grow straight up and down, so it should
be a goal of planters to plant the seedlings straight up and down too. When a checker walks onto a block, he or she
will always get a good initial impression if all the planted trees are
straight. Remember, you only ever get
one chance to make a first impression.
Many checkers assume (correctly) that if the planter took the time to
ensure that the trees look good and straight, they probably also took the time
to make sure that the rest of the quality considerations are good.
Line Planting – A method of covering an area by planting a row of
trees into the piece beside the last row of previously planted trees. Once you reach the end of the row or line or
piece, you turn around and plant another row back out to the front, beside the
trees that you just planted.
Litter – The layer of sticks, twigs, chunks of wood, pieces of grass, leaves,
and other detritus or garbage on the surface of the ground. This stuff should be kicked out of the way
before you plant a tree in the ground.
Logging Camp – An effectively permanent camp in the bush, with
full-time year-round heated wooden structures.
A typical logging camp includes bunking and shower facilities, laundry,
hot & cold running water, kitchen, dining room, and maybe a TV lounge or
games room. Loggers and equipment
operators and truck drivers often stay at these camps, and pay daily camp costs
of between $40 and $80 a day for most camps, which includes accommodation, use
of all facilities, and meals. Planters
rarely stay at logging camps, except maybe when working coastal planting
contracts.
Loose – A loose tree is one which, when pulled lightly, comes out of the
ground quite easily. To solve this
problem, the grounds needs to be closed firmly by the planter, either by squeezing
tightly with the hand, or by kicking the ground. Some checkers will pull lightly on the top of
the tree when checking to determine if it is loose. Others will do the “two needle test” or the
“three needle test” or a similar variant, in which they grab a couple needles
from the top of the tree, and pull hard.
If the tree comes out the ground, it is too loose. If the needles break off the tree, it is
planted firmly enough. Of course, the
needle tests are not very discriminatory, so it might be safer to tug at the
top of the seedling to see if it is loose.
Some foresters prefer for trees not to be loose, while others will
prefer loose trees, to ensure that root systems are not compacted or crushed
when planters are kicking the holes shut.
The word loose can also apply to spacing. Loose spacing is equivalent to “wide”
spacing, which is (on average) greater than target contract spacing. The opposite of loosely spaced trees are
those which are tightly spaced, or (on average) closer together than target
contract spacing.
Lowball – To plant a low number of trees compared to other
planters. This term, which means the
opposite of highballing, is not used nearly as often as highballing.
Lyme Disease – An inflammatory disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted by
ticks, and characterized initially by a rash followed by flulike symptoms
including fever, joint pain, and headache.
If untreated, it can result in chronic arthritis and nerve and heart
dysfunction.
Microsite – The microsite is the mini ecological environment that
the seedling is planted in. When looking
at a seedling, you could probably say that its microsite encompasses the area
about a foot square around the tree.
Important considerations when evaluating different microsites for a
seedling include moisture content, soil type, shade, elevation (even a few
inches can make a big difference in temperature), etc.
Mineral Soil – This is what people think of when they think of
“dirt.” Mineral soil includes
traditional dirt and small pebbles or gravel.
Other types of soils which are different than mineral soil would include
things like humus (organic soil, composed mostly of black peat components).
Minimum Spacing
(aka. minimum) – The minimum spacing is the shortest permitted distance between
any two trees. For instance, a contract
may specify that the target density for a block is 1800 stems/Ha, which
translates to an average spacing between all trees of 2.7 meters. This average contract spacing is just that,
an average, which means that the checkers recognize that some trees will be
further apart than 2.7 meters, while others will be closer together than 2.7
meters. However, by specifying a minimum
acceptable spacing (say 2.0 metres, as an example), they are saying that they
will not permit any tree to be closer than 2.0 meters to any other tree, or
else they will consider it to be an unacceptable fault tree. Usually, the acceptable minimum spacing is at
least half a meter to a full meter less than the target contract spacing.
Missed Spot – A missed spot occurs when you skip a spot that should
hold a tree. The key word here is
“should”. There is a lot of debate on
this rule between licensees. Some say
that if a tree could be inserted anywhere into a plot and still be more than
the minimum spacing from all other trees, then that indicates a missed
spot. However, this is not correct, at
least not according to provincial quality standards. The Ministry specifies that to be considered
a missed spot, the tree would have to be inserted into a plot and still be
contract spacing (not minimum) from all other trees. If this is not the case, then the plot should
be written down to have wide spacing (not a fault) rather than a missed spot,
to clarify why there might be a lower number of plantable spots than expected
in the plot. To use a numerical example,
assume that the contract spacing is 2.7 meters and the minimum spacing is 2.0
meters. In this case, if there was a
small “opening” in the plot which was greater than 5.4 meters across, then
another tree could be planted in the middle of that opening and still be at
least contract spacing (half of 5.4 meters, or 2.7 meters) away from all other
trees. Therefore, there would be a missed
spot.
Mixed Bags – Mixed bag planting occurs when you plant more than
one species at a time, and thus have multiple species mixed in your planting
bags. For instance, one section of the
block might call for a ratio of two pine trees to every spruce tree
planted. In that case, you might want to
bag up with a box of pine trees and half a box of spruce trees, if the two
types of boxes contained the same number of trees. Mixed bag planting is not that common (or
complicated) in the Interior, where about ninety-nine percent of trees planted
are either spruce or pine. However, when
doing coastal planting, it is not unheard of to have four or five species in
your planting bags at any given time, each of which targets a specific type of
microsite.
Modified Work Duty – Some companies, in order to reduce Workers
Compensation Board payroll expenses, will try to find alternate duties for
workers who are injured on the job, to keep them active in the work force and
reduce compensation claims. For
instance, if a planter gets a stick puncture in his or her shovel hand, they
may be used as a checker for a couple days while their hand is healing, so they
still feel like a useful part of the workforce and are still earning wages
rather than drawing compensation. For
companies with large payrolls, the negative effect of a compensation claim can
fair outweigh the minor cost involved in paying the employee to do alternate
duties for a couple of days while they recover.
Moleskin – This material can be fastened to sensitive areas of
the skin, to prevent blisters from forming.
Moleskin is commonly used to prevent boots from blistering peoples’
heels.
Monoculture Stand – This is a group of trees in the forest which is
comprised of entirely one species. While
many forests may be mixed and contain dozens of species, it is fairly easy to
find large tracts of forests where only one dominant species of tree exists.
Muskeg – Swampy or boggy ground, formed by an accumulation of sphagnum moss,
leaves, and decayed matter resembling peat.
Muskol – A brand of insect repellent which is one of the most famous in the
world. Muskol was probably the first
repellant to contain DEET, which led to its overwhelming popularity. Interestingly, the inventor of Muskol in the
1960’s was Charles Coll, who was Scooter’s next-door neighbour while growing up
in Nova Scotia.
No-See-Um (aka. biting midges, punkies, or sand flies) – The
no-see-um is a nasty little fly which likes to bite. The problem is that it is so small that you
can barely see it, hence the nickname.
Luckily, gnats do not like DEET. – These midges are very small flies (about
1/25-1/10) inch long whose small but blade-like mouthparts
make a painful wound that is out of proportion to the fly’s tiny size. Welts and
lesions from the bite may last for days. The larvae of various species
breed in a wide variety of damp or wet places high in organic matter. Most are
attracted to lights. One vicious biter breeds along the Atlantic coast in salt
marshes and wet soil. Another species, found in mountainous areas, feeds in the
evening and night hours and is small enough to pass through ordinary screens.
These are important pests along coastal and mountainous areas and can seriously
interfere with outdoor activities.
Nub – When trees are shipped from the nursery, sometimes they are not in
perfect shape. Occasionally, bundles
will become dislodged within the box rather than standing in orderly rows. In this case, the roots of a bundle may
become bent. This can also happen during
the bundle-wrapping process, so that planters end up receiving bundles with
trees that have bent roots (J-roots) before they are even planted! These “pre-made J-roots” are called nubs.
Obstacle Planting – This refers to a type of planting in which all seedlings
are purposely planted in locations by obstacles, for various reasons. In some areas, snow-press is a concern, and
by planting the seedlings immediately beside obstacles such as stumps, the
obstacles provides a bit of “shade” from the snow drifting, meaning that the
seedling may not be pressed as badly by the snow. In other areas, trees may be placed on a
certain side of stumps, so that when Chinook winds come in the winter and
spring, the seedling is sheltered from the winds (this is true, believe it or
not!). Finally, a more general
justification for obstacle planting is that it is generally good to plant a
tree beside a decaying log or other form of bio-mass, because that rotting tree
will eventually provide nutrients for the new tree.
Off – A well-known brand of insect repellent. Muskol and “Off” are probably the most famous
brands of repellent. “Off” comes in a
couple different varieties – the Deep Woods variety is a favorite, and smells
best, as far as insect repellents go.
Organic Soil – Soil which is made up of very decomposed and decaying
organic matter, such as old plant and insect matter. Organic soil is usually a black smearable
mush, much like peat moss.
Over-Wintering – Trees that are planted at the nurseries in the late
summer, after the spring trees have been pulled and shipped out, are usually
packaged sometime between the start of October and mid-December. Once they have been placed in boxes, they are
frozen in giant freezers. This act
purposely mimics nature, and makes the seedlings go into dormancy because they
assume (correctly) that it is winter. In
the spring, the boxes are pulled out of cold storage approximately ten days
before they need to be delivered to the planters, and are allowed to thaw out
gradually. These seedlings, planted
during the spring plant, are said to be over-wintered. This is in contrast to the hot-lift trees
(grown in the spring) which are planted during the summer plant.
Paloma – A brand of propane powered water heater, very similar to a Dynablast
unit (although the Paloma probably was available for years before the Dynablast
came onto the market). Water goes in one
end, then propane heats it, and warm or hot water comes out the other side. The temperature of the water coming out
depends on the volume – to make the water hotter, you just slow the flow down,
so it takes longer to move through the Paloma and therefore has more time to
heat up inside it. The Paloma can easily
warm a stream of water traveling through a garden hose, and is used for camp
showers or to provide hot water for the kitchen.
Personal Protective Equipment – This is any type of equipment that is used to protect
a worker somehow. Examples vary widely,
and can include safety boots, hi-visibility vest, gloves, hard hat, quad
helmet, safety glasses, hearing protection, and many other items. Abbreviated PPE.
Phloem – The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve
tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.
Basically, this is the inner bark of the plant or tree, which is what
allows food substances from the leaves to reach other key parts of the plant.
Plantable Spot – When assessing quality, the checker measures out a
specific area (usually 50 square meters in British Columbia) and checks all the
trees within that area. Besides
comparing the quality of each tree, the checker also looks to see whether the
correct number of trees were planted, by comparing the trees planted with the
number of plantable spots. The number of
plantable spots is usually determined by the target density. One plot is 1/200th of a
hectare. If there are expected to be
1800 trees planted in each hectare, then simple math shows that the average
plot should have 1/200th of that number, or nine trees. If there are less trees planted than
expected, the checker will look to see if he or she can find another plantable
spot. For instance, if there is a gap
where no tree was planted, that might indicate a plantable spot. First, however, the checker must check the
ground right there, to verify whether or not it was a plantable spot. Perhaps there was an enormous boulder just
under the surface, which means that it would not be possible to plant a good
tree in that spot. That might be why the
planter left the gap in the first place.
Plot – When a checker is assessing the quality of a block, he or she starts
by taking a plot. This means that a
specific area is measured out, and all the trees that fall within the plot are
checked for planting faults. Under the
BC Ministry of Forests quality system, which is the most widely used system in
BC and Alberta, a plot is taken by choosing a center point somewhere on the
block, and measuring a circle that is 3.99m in radius or 7.98m in diameter
around that point. This turns out to
have a total area of exactly fifty square meters, which means that the plot
represents 1/200th of a hectare.
For accuracy, on blocks of ten hectares or greater in size, the checker
will throw one plot for every hectare of land on the block. Therefore, a block which is 100 Ha in size
will have 100 plots thrown on it to determine overall quality and the payment
percentage. If the block is to be
planted at 2000 stems/Ha, then this block should hold about 200,000 seedlings. Since each plot is expected to hold about 10
seedlings (1/200th of the target density of 2000 stems/Ha), then
about 1000 trees will be physically checked, and the expected statistical
quality of the entire block will be extrapolated from the quality of those 1000
trees.
Plot Cord – A plot cord is used to help a checker determine the
boundaries of each plot. In planting, if
using the BC MOF quality system, the radius of the plot circle needs to be 3.99
meters, therefore, most planting plot cords are 3.99 meters long. In spacing and brushing, the plots are
designed to measure 1/100th of a hectare, therefore, twice as many
trees are measured in each plot (100 square meters). To make this happen, a spacing plot cord
needs to be 5.64 meters long. Some
licensees in Alberta, plus the Alberta Forestry Service, use different methods
of plotting which may not necessarily involve round plots. In Saskatchewan, a large square area is
marked out to determine a plot, in some places.
Plug – Seedlings grown with root systems encased in a package of dirt, rather
than as bare roots. Although these
seedlings are usually called plugs in western Canada, they may be referred to
as container stock in eastern Canada.
See also “container stock.”
Pre-Work Conference – At the beginning of almost every contract, the licensee
or forestry checker will come out to the planting camp to meet the
planters. At that time, the checker will
hold a conference with either the foremen and internal checkers, or with the
whole camp, to talk about their expectations for the contract. During the conference, topics such as safety,
quality standards, density standards, stock-handling expectations, and many
other issues are covered, so the planters know how to satisfy the contract
requirements. The pre-work conference
usually takes a couple hours, and happens on the very first morning of the
contract.
Pruning – Another form of silvicultural activity in which the
workers go into a block of well-established young trees, and prune the lower
branches off the trees. Some people
believe that by eliminating the lower branches, the tree will put more of its
energy into growing taller. The validity
of this theory is debated in some circles.
Also, the value of bothering to prune pine trees is suspect, since pine
is a self-pruning species (you will notice this when you look at mature pine
trees, which have very few branches until you get to the top of the tree).
Quad – A four-wheeled ATV (all-terrain vehicle) that seats one person. Quads are incredibly versatile machines, and
are heavily used by foremen to move trees to blocks which are not accessible by
road. Although machines made by Polaris
and Yamaha are functional, the Honda “Foreman 400/450” series are probably by
far the most preferred vehicles in the planting industry.
Quick Thaw – When a nursery pulls over-wintered trees out of cold
storage, they normally are given ten days to thaw in a cooler at slightly above
the freezing point. However, sometimes
(through poor planning or last minute changes in plans) the trees are needed
more quickly. If that is the case, a
“quick thaw” can sometimes be done by the nurseries. A quick thaw can be done in several days, by
allowing the boxes of trees to thaw in a slightly warmer environment. Many nurseries ask for a five day lead time
for quick-thawed trees, but due to limited capacity, only a certain percentage
of a nursery’s trees can go through the quick-thaw process instead of the
regular 10-day thaw.
Raw (aka. plant-as-is ground) – Ground that has not been site prepped at
all, is called “raw” ground.
Reassess – A polite way of saying that a piece or block is being
replanted. Some licensees do not allow
trees to be dug up and replanted, therefore, if there are quality problems,
only certain problems can be fixed (ie. leaning trees, or deep or shallow
trees). In such cases, if faults are
found that require pulling up and replanting the seedlings (ie. j-roots, air
pockets, poor microsites), the piece cannot be reworked to improve quality. Some planters use the term “reassess” to
indicate minor reworking and “making the trees look pretty,” while they use the
term “replant” to indicate major reworking.
Red Rot – When wood (logs, trees, etc.) decays, it goes through
a couple different steps. First, the
wood cracks and dries out. Next, it starts
to crumble and turn into dry chunks, usually reddish or orange in colour. Finally, the chunks start to decompose
further, and become a smearable, greasy reddish organic material. Eventually, that material starts to become
dark and more finely decomposed, and turns into part of the organic soil. When the wood is in the stages somewhere
between dry red chunks and smearable reddish organic material, it is called
“red rot.” Most contracts will allow a
planter to plant in red rot only if it is in the greasy and smearable stage, OR
if there are some chunks but they are mixed with at least fifty percent mineral
soil.
Reefer – A refrigerated truck unit, without the truck. If you can imagine an eighteen-wheeler
transport truck, the reefer is the back container, which carries the
cargo. Many reefers are between 40 and
53 feet long, and have their own refrigeration and heating units attached to
the front of the reefer. These temperature
control units run off a small diesel engine attached to the reefer, and are
supplied by a tank of diesel which is attached to the underside of the
reefer. The reefer units can therefore
be regulated at probably any temperature between about minus twenty and plus
fifty degrees Celsius (as a guess), but for tree planting, the goal is to keep
them between four and seven degrees Celsius for transportation (and for
short-term storage of spring over-wintered trees). During the spring plant, reefers are usually
left on site to act as a temperature regulated storage unit for the seedlings. During the summer plant, the reefer will
deliver the hot-lifted trees to the field, then the load is moved into a field
cache for improved air circulation.
Release (pesticide) – Release is the name brand for a popular type of
herbicide that targets non-coniferous species.
It is therefore useful, when used in the appropriate concentrations and
conditions, to kill brush that competes with young seedlings.
Release (submit a block) – To release a block means that a foreman is confident
that the block meets the contractual planting standards, so he signs an
authorization which releases the block to the licensee or Forest Service,
giving permission for the block to be pay plotted, or to have the quality
officially assessed. Once a block has
been released, no further work can be done upon it.
Repellant – A mix of chemicals that is applied to the skin,
either in liquid or aerosol spray form, to repel insects. Common repellants include brands such as
Muskol and Off, although the active ingredient (DEET) in each of these is the
same. These repellents are good at
controlling mosquitoes and black flies and gnats (no-see-ums), but do not seem
to deter horse flies.
Replant – To a non-planter, replanting is the act of
reforesting blocks that have been logged or burned by fire. To a planter, replanting is the process of
fixing trees that were initially planted with quality problems.
Replant.CA – A well-known website about tree planting in Western
Canada.
Reserve Bag – For years, every planter knew what a draw-bag referred
to, but there was no common term to refer to the silvicool insert that was on
the opposite side of your draw-bag, or your back bag. I got annoyed with constantly describing “the
bag opposite to your draw-bag” when talking to people, so I decided to give
that insert a name. From now on, the two
inserts in your planting bags that are not being used as your draw-bag will be
called your side reserve bag, and your back reserve bag. Hopefully I can start a trend here. Read it, learn it, live it.
Respiration – The process by which a tree (or any plant) breathes.
Rework – To go over a piece of planted land for the purpose of trying to fix
trees that are of bad quality.
Ripper Plows (aka. rips) – A form of site preparation similar to
disc-trenching, although the machine that makes the trenches does so by
dragging a large tooth or teeth behind it, instead of having a furrowed
blade(s). Because of this, the rips are
generally a lot smaller and of poorer quality than disc-trenching.
Rookie (aka. greener) – A first year planter.
Rookie seems to be the preferred term in Western Canada, while “greener”
is more frequently used in Eastern Canada.
Sally-Ann – Slang for a Salvation Army store.
Salvation Army – A store that accepts donations of used clothing, and
sells it at very low prices to budget conscious people. The Salvation Army is a perfect place to buy
planting clothes, because they can get dirty and destroyed and you can throw
them away at the end of the season, without having spent a lot of money.
Scalp – When a tree is planted, some contracts require a scalp, which means
that the area around the seedling to be planted needs to be cleared of
competing plants, debris, and litter.
Usually, a couple swipes of the shovel or kicks with the boot will
provide a good scalp, and then the tree is planted in the middle of the
scalp. Not as extensive as a screef.
Scarification (aka. site preparation) – Scarification happens when
the ground to be planted is altered in some way by machine before the seedlings
are planted, to make the planters’ job easier (in theory). Some methods of scarification include
trenching (disc-trenching or ripper plows), mounding (excavator mounds or
donaren mounds), or dragging.
Scarpa – A brand of high-end work boots.
Schnarb – Slang for the annoying obstacles and vegetation that
are present on some land, including logs, fallen trees, tall grasses, bushes,
etc. Schnarb is similar to slash,
although schnarb is usually assumed to include living plants as well as the
logging debris.
Screef – When a tree is planted, some contracts require a screef, which means
that the area around the seedling to be planted needs to be cleared down to the
FH (fines and humus) layer or down to mineral soil. Once the screef has been cleared down to the
necessary depth, the tree is planted in the middle. A screef is more extensive and deeper than a
scalp.
Select Bidding – When a contract is tendered out for competitive bids,
but only offered to a small group of bidders, rather than offered to the open
market.
Shovel – Come on, you must know what a shovel is! Tree planters use different types of
specialty shovels. Most of them have
smaller blades than a conventional garden shovel, perhaps a foot tall and four
to five inches in width. The handles of
tree planting shovels are usually staves (staff shovels), or shorter handles
with a triangular grip in the shape of a D pointing downward.
Shovel Tuck – Planters who learn to plant a lot of bareroot trees
will often learn a technique in which the blade of the shovel is used to gently
tuck the roots of the seedling into the hole.
If done improperly, the roots of the tree can be damaged, which is a
fault. If done properly, the planter can
learn to plant bareroot seedlings comfortably and easily. Some planters who get good at shovel tucking
will take this technique and use it when planting plug stock, although to be
realistic, it is not the most appropriate technique for planting plugs. Checkers who see planters using a shovel tuck
on plug stock will be very wary, and will probably examine planted plugs
carefully to look for cut plugs (a planting fault).
Silvicool Insert (aka. silvicool or silvi) – Most commonly, these are
referred to as your “silvies” (almost pronounced “sivvies”). A silvicool insert is a small bag with a
drawstring at the top which can be tied shut, which fits almost perfectly into
one pouch on a normal set of planting bags.
Most planters have three silvies, which allows them to fully load up
their bags (many contracts do not allow planters to put bundles or loose trees
in any compartment of a set of planting bags that does not have a silvicool
insert). The point of the silvicool is
that it keeps the bundles of trees in your bags cooler and less likely to dry
out during the time that the trees are in your planting bags. Many checkers ask that any inserts containing
trees remain closed at all times, with the exception of your drawbag. Silvicool inserts are also useful for keeping
your water jugs cool if you don’t have an insulated water cooler, and also for
keeping your lunch cooler than in a knapsack or kitbag. The outside of a silvicool insert is usually
a white plastic tarp-like material, while the inside is a reflective silver
material.
Silvicool Tarp – A silvicool tarp is used to shade a cache of
trees. These tarps are made of a white
material similar to plastic on one side, and have a shiny reflective silver
coating on the other side. These tarps
are either used to wrap up boxes and keep the sunlight off in the spring, or
are suspended (elevated) over the cache in the summer, again to keep direct
sunlight off the boxes of seedlings. My
one big question, and perhaps a minor pet peeve about the industry, is why
tarps are used in the manner that they are.
At the moment, convention dictates that the white side remains up, and
the shiny side is underneath on the side of the trees. However, my knowledge of physics is not
exactly poor, and I recognize that even though white is an excellent reflector,
silver reflective material is probably even better at reflecting light and
other forms of radiation. Therefore, if
we are trying to keep the trees cool, why aren’t we putting the shiny side up? Putting the shiny side down, facing the trees,
helps to trap the heat. You can hear
about an example of this effect when you talk to any cooking professional who
has ever baked potatoes – the shiny side of the tinfoil stays in, to trap the
heat and help cook the potato faster.
Skidder – A large machinery that is used extensively in
forestry and logging operations, kind of like a conventional farm tractor is
the mainstay of a farmer. The skidder
has four very large wheels (about the height of a person, plus very thick and
round), and the front and back end are held together by a universal joint,
which effectively allows all four wheels of the machine to tip in different
directions and angles. Skidders are
often used to haul logs from the middle of the block to the nearest roadway
(known as skidding the logs). Skidders
can also handle lots of scarification attachments, such as disc-trenching
blades and ripper hooks and donaren scoops, and they drive around the block to
perform the site preparation work.
Skin-So-Soft – This product, by Avon, is a form of skin
moistener/conditioner. It ironically
seems to have the effect of acting as a mosquito repellent, and because it is
so cheap, suburbia populations have latched onto it as a very cost-effective
repellent. However, while I will admit
that this product does work, it is more effective in situations involving minor
harassment from mosquitoes. When you go
to work in the bush, you will definitely want something far stronger and more
effective, such as any product containing DEET.
Also, remember that Skin-So-Soft only repels mosquitoes, but when
planting, you also need protection against gnats, black flies, chiggers, and
more.
Slash – The detritus and by-products left over after a block has been logged, which
includes logs, small trees, branches, and other pieces of wood.
Slashpile – Sometimes, instead of leaving the slash lying all over
a block, the foresters will get machines to gather it up into piles, usually
made along the sides of the block roads. These piles may then be burned during
appropriate weather conditions. Piling
slash and burning it makes the block a lot cleaner for the planters to work on,
but has the drawback of removing future nutrients that might help accelerate
the growth of the seedlings. The
forester often makes his or her decisions about whether or not to reduce the
slash based on economics – using machines to pile the slash, and then burning
it afterwards, may reduce the price that has to be paid out to have the block
replanted, so that in the long run, eliminating the slash is cheaper than
paying for higher planting labor costs.
When this kind of a financial decision must be made, the fact that the
slash is a good fertilizer is often ignored for short-term profits. Personally, although burning the slash
doesn’t make a lot of ecological sense, I’m happy that the blocks are easier to
move around on, even if it does mean that the tree price is slightly reduced.
Slurry – Slurry is a mixture of peat-moss and water. When planting on bare-root contracts, the
roots of the seedlings can very quick dry out when exposed to the air, which
increases the risk of mortality for the tree.
To mitigate this risk, planters are asked to fill buckets with a mixture
of slurry, and then, when bagging up, the planter is expected to dip the roots
of each bundle of trees into the slurry mixture to coat them with this moist,
protective mix. Slurrying trees is a
pain in the ass. However, it does have
one advantage other than just increasing the survival rates of the trees – most
people find it easier to deal with the roots of the bare-root seedlings when
they are wet and stick together, therefore, the damp roots are slightly easier
to control and faster to plant than when planting seedlings which have not been
slurried.
Snow Cache – Snow caches are used fairly rarely. In isolated circumstances, however, they can
be useful. A snow cache is used in the
spring plant, when working in an area (usually fairly far north) where the only
access is either through air by chopper, or across frozen rivers in the
winter. Since the trees are frozen in
the nursery, some companies will analyze costs of flying the boxes in versus
moving them to the site (in the winter) by rolligon or some similar vehicle,
over the frozen rivers. If the contract
is big enough, and distance for flying is large enough, it may be economically
advantageous to rolligon the frozen trees in during the winter, set them up
into a huge pile, and cover them with sawdust or some similar material for
insulation. Then, as the winter
progresses, the trees get covered with a deep layer of snow, and of course
remain frozen. In the spring, when the
planters arrive, the layer of snow has probably melted from the heat of the
sun, but the sawdust keeps the boxes insulated, and the trees are probably
still slightly frozen, but ready to be pulled away from the snow cache where
they thaw within a couple days once spread out to the blocks. Of course, there is one huge drawback to a
snow cache: the cardboard boxes get
incredibly wet and soggy, and fall apart.
This makes them very hard to move around any more, either by chopper or
by quad. I personally haven’t ever seen
a snow cache used effectively, although if the boxes could be protected from
moisture in some sort of extremely large temporary tent structure, or through
the use of extensive tarping or protection with plastic sheeting, the concept
would be much more feasible. If someone
has a picture of snow cache that I could post here, I would appreciate the
contribution.
Snow Press – Snow press is a phenomena that occurs over the course
of the winter, as young seedlings get covered in a layer of snow. These seedlings may not, for their first
three or four years, be strong enough to withstand the weight of the snow on
them in the winter. The snow may press
down and bend them all out of shape (or flatten them on the ground), so when
they are exposed in the spring, they are all curved, bent, and deformed, rather
than pointing straight at the sky. After
several years however, if the tree survives that long, the truck will have
become strong enough to withstand the weight of the winter snow, and the trunk
will probably straight out eventually.
There is of course a concern that the snow press may not only stunt the
tree in terms of appearance, but also physically handicap the growth of the
tree, or pose a risk to survival in extreme cases. In some places, obstacle planting is
recommended to mitigate the effects of snow press. In obstacle planting, the trees are planted
very close to stumps and logs and other items that may give a small amount of
shelter to the tree.
Space Tarp – See “silvicool tarp.”
I think that the name “space tarp” refers probably to the fact that the
silver lining makes it look like some futuristic item from space, or less
probable, because elevated tarps above boxes of trees provide a shaded place
for airflow.
Spacing (distance) – When talking about distance between trees, you are
referring to the inter-tree spacing.
Usually, target densities on a block or contract are given in stems per
hectare. To aid the planters, a second
number is often given, which is the target average inter-tree spacing (2000
stems/Ha = 2.5 meter spacing, 1600 stems/Ha = 2.9 meter spacing, etc.). Another type of spacing which may be
mentioned is the minimum acceptable spacing between trees. Contracts will often specify some number like
2.0 meters which is the minimum acceptable spacing between any two trees. If two trees are planted less than 2.0 meters
apart, one is considered to be a fault tree.
When asking about spacing, you should try to clarify and get two
different numbers, the target spacing (average) and minimum spacing, so you
know exactly what is expected.
Spacing (cutting) – In the silviculture industry, there is a lot of
“stand-tending” work done in some areas, which means that once the seedlings
have been planted, they may require additional attention to maximize their
growth potential. Stand-tending can
include activities such as brushing, spacing, thinning, etc. Spacing refers to the process of cutting out
some of the crop trees so that the remaining crop trees are “farther
apart.” This is a bit of a misnomer,
since the retention trees are in the same spot as before, and therefore are not
physically any farther apart than they were before. However, the elimination of some of the extra
crop trees in between the retained trees gives the appearance of wider spacing. Essentially, brushing, spacing, and thinning
are very similar processes, with subtle nuances. In brushing, the weeds and brush are
eliminated, so the crop trees have less competition. In spacing, which generally occurs when the
stand is between eight and twenty years old, there are too many crop trees, so
some of the weaker ones are cut out to minimize competition for the remaining
good crop trees. These weaker crop
trees, once cut, are left where they fall and will eventually decay and provide
fertilizer and nutrients for the rest of the plantation. In thinning, which should be properly
referred to as commercial thinning, the space process occurs as for spacing,
but the age of the stand is a lot greater (perhaps 25-40 years) and the crop
trees which are cut in the thinning process are salvaged for commercial use
(probably to make pulp) rather than just being left to rot on the forest floor.
Spear – The spear is very similar to a staff shovel, but has a narrower
blade. The spear can be very useful in
extremely rocky ground, where the narrow width of the blade makes it easier to
shove into the ground between the rocks.
Sphagnum – A type of moss, any specimen of which is any member
of a large genus (Sphagnum) of
atypical mosses that grow only in wet acid areas where their remains become
compacted with other plant debris, and eventually form peat. These mosses have white leaves which are
slightly tinged with green or red. Any
patch that sphagnum grows will probably not feature any other significant plant
life.
Sponges – Some licensees require planters to carry sponges in
each of their insert bags. These
sponges, which are expected to be kept moist, will theoretically provide
moisture for the roots of the trees.
Many planters think of sponges as being a big hassle. I personally don’t think that sponges are that
effective, especially since most contracts feature plug stock rather than
bare-roots, but at the same time they don’t weigh that much, so I don’t see any
reason to try to argue the necessity for carrying them. Rather than asking my planters to buy proper
kitchen sponges, I usually go to the dump at the start of the season to see if
I can find an old chesterfield or armchair that has foam cushions, and just cut
up the foam centers of the cushions.
Failing that, you can buy a large foamie for about $25 at a sporting
goods store, and cut that up to provide sponges for an entire crew.
Stand – A community of trees which is sufficiently uniform in species
composition, age, arrangement, and condition to be distinguishable as a group
from the forest or other growth in adjoining areas, which thus forms a single
management entity.
Stand Tending – Stand tending is the process of taking care of a
stand of trees, which can include pest management through herbicides and
pesticides, physical maintenance through brushing and spacing and thinning, and
other miscellaneous activities such as pruning of limbs, culling of diseased
trees, etc.
Stashing – Stashing is the illegal disposal of seedlings that
should be planted. Stashing is very
similar to theft. Some planters,
regrettably, will stash some of their trees and say they planted the seedlings,
to try to make more money. This meets
with varying degrees of success – statistical analysis of blocks will quickly
show if the expected density based on planters claimed tallies matches the
plotted density of the block. If the
stats show that the numbers don’t jive, checkers will quickly investigate to
see what could have caused the discrepancies.
There are quite a few methods used to look for stashing of trees. In some areas, stashing is unfortunately a
tolerated part of the planting culture, although in my experience it is
commonly frowned upon in BC and Alberta, and people suspected of stashing are
usually terminated immediately. Stashing
is morally wrong, and many honest planters will bring problems to the attention
of their foremen if they think another planter is stashing trees.
Steel Shank – Many good work boots have a steel or metal strip
embedded into the bottom of the boot, which prevents the sole from being bent
when walking on sticks and rocks and uneven materials. The steel shank also protects the bottom of
your foot when kicking a shovel, because rather than all the pressure being
concentrated in one part of the foot (where it meets the shovel), the pressure is
instead distributed more evenly across the entire bottom of the foot.
Tendonitus – Aka. Tendonitis.
A condition referring to inflammation of tendons and of tendon muscle
attachments.
Thinning – Thinning, properly known as commercial thinning, is a
form of stand tending similar to spacing.
Some of the crop trees in a stand or plantation will be cut, in order to
minimize competition for the remaining crop trees. In spacing, the eliminated trees are usually
left to rot and decay on the block, but with commercial thinning, the cut trees
are presumably large enough to be salvaged for commercial use, such as for
production of pulp.
Tick (aka. chigger) – A member of the family Ixodidae, which has numerous small bloodsucking parasitic
arachnids, many of which transmit diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever
and Lyme disease. Ticks can also refer
to members of the family Hippobosciddae,
which are wingless, louselike insects which are parasitic on sheep, goats, and
many other animals.
Toe-Tapping – Toe-tapping occurs when a planter closes a hole by
gently tapping it shut with the toes, rather than giving a good hard kick with
the heel. There are advantages and
disadvantages to both methods.
Toe-tapping uses less energy, and isn’t as hard on your heel and foot as
toe-tapping. However, toe-tapping
doesn’t always close the hole properly, or eliminate potential air
pockets. Of course, one drawback of
kicking hard when closing the hole is that the roots of the seedling may be
compressed, making it harder for the tree to become established.
Treatment – The type of treatment on a block refers to the type
of site preparation, if any. Some
different types of treatment can include various forms of trenching or
mounding, or other miscellaneous approaches such as burning, dragging,
etc. Treating a block, depending on the
method of site preparation used, is expensive for the forester, however, it
usually makes it easier for the planter to plant the trees. Of course, because the ground is easier, the
planter usually gets paid less for treated ground than he or she would for raw,
un-prepped ground.
Tree Runner – Some companies employ tree runners to deliver trees
to the planters, rather than leaving this responsibility solely in the hands of
the foremen or crew bosses. The tree
runner will usually have a quad, and will spend the day bringing truckloads of
trees from the main cache out to where the trucks park by the block, and then
quadding the trees from the truck to the individual planter caches. Making sure that planters never run out of
trees should always be the top priority of any foreman. Unfortunately, foremen are often paid by
commission, while tree runners are often paid by the hour, or given a daily
rate. This can cause problems, because
the tree runner may not be as motivated as the foreman to ensure that the trees
are delivered to the planters as quickly as humanly possible. If that is the case, planters who have to
wait for trees may get extremely frustrated with the tree runners. Tree runners are sometimes most useful as a
backup to foremen, especially if they can double as quality checkers during
times when tree running is caught up and the planter caches are all
well-stocked.
Trenches – Trenching is a form of site preparation, in which a
trenching machine (perhaps a skidder with the appropriate trenching
attachments) goes back and forth over a block, and digs up trenches in the
block. The planters then walk up and
down each trench, and plant trees either in the exposed dirt, or on upturned humps
(high spots), depending on the particular contract specifications. There are several different types of
trenching, such as disc-trenching, ripper plow, etc. Each type varies mostly in the way that the
trench is made (either by a rip through the ground, or by a blade or disc
flipping over a row of sod and dirt). It
is always much faster to plant up and down along the trenches (following the
trenches), rather than trying to plant across the trenches. Therefore, the skill of a site-prep operator
in laying out the trenches in a manner well-suited for planting can make a huge
difference in the speed with which a block can be planted.
Trike – A trike is a three-wheeled ATV.
These things are [hopefully] no longer in commercial use in planting
companies, having been replaced by quads in the 1989-1993 period. Trikes are incredibly dangerous because they
are unstable and very easy to flip, and in the early 1990’s they were the cause
of many broken and sprained ankles and other problems.
Two Finger Rule – The two-finger rule (or one-finger rule, or
three-finger rule) refers to the general depth tolerance on a planting
contract. Usually, a forester will say
something like “you are expected to cover the top of the plug when planting the
seedling, and you have a tolerance so that you can plant it a bit deeper by as
much as the width of two fingers, before you will get faulted for your tree
being too deep.” Of course, the number
of fingers depends on the forester or checker, and since everybody’s fingers
are slightly different, this is a somewhat arbitrary measure, but it gives the
planter a rough idea of what the checker is looking for.
Ungulate – An animal belonging to the orders Perissodactyla or Artiodactyla, which are comprised of the hoofed animals such as
horses, cattle, deer, caribou, moose, swine, and elephants.
Unplantable Ground – For ground to be considered unplantable, the checker
must not be able to plant an acceptable tree, according to normal contract
quality standards. A number of things
could cause a specific spot, or general area, to be classified as
unplantable. For instance, consistent
red rot, or a thick carpet of sticks, might be a good reason not to plant a
tree. Most commonly though, I think that
wet ground (if the hole made by your shovel immediately fills up with water)
and extreme solid rock would be the two most common reasons for a small area to
be considered unplantable. It is fairly
common to find a specific spot which is unplantable, but with a little bit of
work, the planter can usually find a plantable spot within a few feet. It is very rare to find unplantable areas
more than five or ten meters across, except on very nasty blocks.
Vet – A vet refers to a veteran or experienced planter. Planters are considered to be veterans after
they have completed one spring and/or summer season, and return to the field
the following year. Some companies, in
submitting bid proposals for contracts, promise that they will supply 100%
experienced planters, under the assumption that a planter who has spent three
days learning to plant elsewhere is experienced. I think that’s bullshit. A first-year planter should be called just
that, a first-year planter, for the entire first year that they are
planting. Of course, a first-year
planter near the end of the summer, with sixty or seventy days of experience,
can sometimes be almost as good as any of the true experienced planters in
their second or third year. I usually
refer to new planters as “rookies” during the spring season, and as “first-year
planters” during the summer half of their first year, once they have several
weeks of experience.
Vexar Cones – Vexar cones are short cones made of plastic or
similar materials, which are placed over a tender young seedling to protect it
from being eaten by deer and other ungulates.
Presumably these cones are biodegradable, and disintegrate after several
years once the seedling has established itself and started to grow. Vexar cones are not commonly used in the
interior, although they are fairly common on some contracts on the coast of BC.
Void – A void is what is created when a “hole” or unplanted area is left on a
block. Since there are no trees planted
in a specific area, there will be an empty spot or hole in the forest canopy
once all the surrounded trees have matured and grown up. The term “hole” is usually used in planting,
whereas the term “void” is used in spacing but is slightly different than the
term hole. In spacing, a hole is often
acknowledged as a pre-existing spot in the plantation devoid of trees, whereas
a void is a hole that has been created accidentally by a worker who has
unfortunately cut down too many crop trees in a specific spot, thus creating a
void where there used to be trees. Creating
a void while spacing is a very bad thing to do.
Walk-box – A walk-box is a plastic container attached to a belt
that contains a strong nylon string and a counter. If you tie the string to a stick or something
stationary, then start walking, the counter on the walk-box will register the number
of meters of string that has played out, which therefore tells you how far you
have walked. The walk-box is commonly
used by checkers and other forestry workers to measure the distance between
plots, etc.
West Nile Virus – A viral disease of varying severity, occurring in
Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and parts of North America. It is a type of flavirus mainly infecting
birds and mosquitoes, transmitted by them to humans and other animals, which
causes flu-like symptoms (West Nile fever) which may lead to encephalitis and
meningitis, with no known treatment.
Unluckily for tree planters, I have read articles that estimate within
five years, more than one mosquito in a hundred might eventually become carriers
for this disease in Western Canada. Knowing
how many times that a planter gets bitten by mosquitoes each year, this means
almost certain exposure to the disease over the long term. However, the same article suggests that the
people who are most susceptible to the disease are the very young, the old, and
the weak. It was estimated that among
healthy young tree planters, less than two percent of the population would even
notice the symptoms or have any obvious deleterious effects, and that less than
one in ten of those people would suffer any serious effects.
Xylem – The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants,
consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels.
Basically, this is the woody part of a plant or tree.
Conclusions
If
you have any suggestions or additions to the above information, please send an
email to thepub@canada.com or post
feedback in the appropriate thread of the training forum on the Replant Message
Boards at www.replant.ca/board
Also,
please feel free to print this page and pass the information along to other
potential planters, and let them know the link to www.replant.ca
An
excellent additional reference for forestry and silviculture related terms, in
case you can’t find a specific definition above, is at the Ministry of Forestry
website’s glossary page, found at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/glossary
-
Jonathan Clark
(Scooter), author.