Chapter 5 – Getting Prepared: Purchasing Equipment
Last Updated: July 16th, 2010
This information was taken from www.replant.ca - Please feel free to
photocopy, share with other planters, and disseminate this information in any
manner that you want. If you post this
on other websites, please include a link back to the above site. Thanks!
Introduction
I’m
going to try to make this simple, and put a summary list right up front. This list will include items that I think a planter should
consider bringing with them for a season of planting. I’ll go into more detail about many of the
listed items as we get further down the page.
What is important to remember is that the list here is things to consider. Most of the items are highly recommended, but
a few are not mandatory – whether or not you bring them will depend on personal
preference and how much storage/carrying capacity you have.
A first
year planter once sent me this question:
”I was
wondering what your take was on this. I have never planted before and the
company I am working for said I am mainly going to be working out of bush
camps. I have worked at fire camps and I know what gear to bring and not to
bring. My problem is we were either driven right out to our sites or flown
there and I don't know how it works with tree planting. If I have to haul my
camping gear in for a long distance it is pretty damn heavy. Should I be really
concerned about weight?"
The answer to the above
question is, “Yes and no.” Planting will
be like working in fire camps. You would
probably never have to pack your gear in long distances ... you will almost
always be able to drive right into camp, and when that is not possible there
will be rolligons or helicopters taking you right into camp. So technically, no, you don't have to worry
about weight.
However, having said that, you'll
obviously want to use some common sense.
Cutting back on what you bring with you is critical. Don't leave things at home that you'll
definitely need, but at the same time remember that whatever you bring, you
will have to take care of all summer, and this includes times in town when
you're between contracts. My basic rule
is that if you can't fit everything that you own into two hockey bags, you've
got too much stuff. It's amazing how
quickly the pickup trucks fill up with planters' personal gear when moving camp. The less you have, the less you are likely to
use. By the way, hockey bags ARE a great
way of carrying gear around, and they are sturdy.
A hockey bag containing a tent,
tarp, hard hat, and other gear.
Equipment List
Items
on this list are generally indispensable, or at the very least, highly
recommended. Full descriptions of what
to look for are provided further down the page.
Clothing:
Work boots.
A
caulk-wrench and spare caulks, if you wear caulked boots (optional).
Rain
gear.
Work pants.
Long underwear/sweat pants.
Belt.
T-shirts, and long sleeved work
shirts.
Fleece sweatshirts.
Socks and underwear.
Hat.
Gloves.
Town clothes and boots (hiking
shoes).
Planting Gear:
Set of planting bags.
Shovel.
Silvicool
inserts for planting bags (you need three).
Silvicool
“Space” tarp – ten feet by ten feet in size is more than adequate.
Water
jug.
Plot
cord – 3.99 metre.
Flagging
tape – a couple rolls should do.
Toiletries and Medicinal:
The basics – toothbrush,
deoderant, shaving kit, etc.
Girls, do NOT bring makeup.
Hand
cream/moisturizer.
Sun
screen.
Solarcaine.
Fingernail
clippers.
Vaseline,
lip balm, and either Zincofax or Penaten for chafing and rashes. Penaten also works good for cuts on the
hands, and is cheap.
Vitamin
supplements (optional).
Tums
for indigestion (optional).
Heat
rub for sore muscles (optional).
Tylenol/Aspirin,
and maybe some muscle relaxants such as Roboxacet (optional).
Antihistamines,
if you might have allergies/hay fever.
Miscellaneous:
Tent.
Sleeping bag.
Foamie.
Small
pack or bag for lunch and rain gear.
Insect repellent containing
DEET.
Alarm
clock (or two).
Flashlight,
with lots of batteries.
Camera
(optional).
Duct
tape.
Email
account.
Clothing
Work
Boots
Your boots should have steel
shanks (a metal strip in the sole) to give protection against bruising of the
bottom of your foot. Many planters wear
caulked boots (pronounced corks) in order to achieve a better grip on slippery
logs and to enhance screefing capabilities – the process of disturbing the
ground surface to prepare a spot for your seedling.
Boots can generally be divided
into two types: rubber and leather (or waterproof and not waterproof). To increase your comfort level with all
boots, you should use insoles (wash them regularly), wear two or more pairs of
socks, and buy boots big enough so that two pairs of socks and insoles fit
well. Boots should not be too tight or
loose.
Leather
work boots, once broken in, are generally quite comfortable. They will last a long time if you clean them
regularly and put shoe-wax on them.
Clean them every day off (wipe off mud, etc.). If you buy leather boots, you really should break them in before you
go planting by wearing them around for a few weeks. If you don’t, you might be sorry (blisters,
and maybe a few non-productive days).
Leather boots will not keep your feet dry in the rain (although you can
wear a baggie or bread bag between layers of socks on each foot). If you can get them cheap, army surplus cadet
boots (with steel toe and sole) also work well.
Otherwise, buy CSA approved steel toe and steel shank work boots.
A typical pair of leather boots.
Leather
hiking boots are one of the most comfortable types of footwear known to
man. Once broken in, they are paradise
for the feet. However, the tree planter
will be doing some screefing with his/her feet, which will ruin good hiking
boots very quickly. More modern forms of
hiking boot, such as GoreTex or day hikers, are useless. GoreTex loses its water resistance when it
gets dirty. Fancy designs with multiple
panels of leather, plastic components, etc. will wear out very quickly. I would strongly advise against buying hiking
boots for planting because they wear out too fast (unless you want a pair for
just lounging around camp and town).
Hiking boots are great as town boots though, as long as you don’t make
the mistake of wearing them on the block for a day and ruining them.
Rubber
boots are great because they keep your feet dry, which is critical! There are
several kinds of rubber boots available.
Chainsaw boots are orange, with chainsaw matting (Kevlar) over the
shin. These have steel toe and shank,
and are fairly heavy. Some people
recommend that you avoid this type of boot, but I’ve worn them for many, many
seasons, and have been happy. They are
especially great in
A pair of chain-saw boots, or
“caulks”
Lace-ups
are a boot of choice for many BC planters.
They are comfortable, easy to put on/take off, and available with or
without caulks. The best kind seems to
be the Viking brand. They are priced
quite reasonably, but you get what you pay for - these boots may not last a
full spring and summer season. Don’t forget
to buy a couple pairs of extra laces.
Rubber boots without laces, but with steel toe and shank, can also work
well. They also last quite a while, and
don’t cost too much. However, the fact
that they don’t lace means you float around inside them, which is uncomfortable
to some people.
Plastic
boots are also available, with a number of brand names such as Koflach,
Kastingers, or Scarpas. These are kind
of like cut-off ski boots, and are light, warm, and fairly waterproof if worn
with gaiters. The hefty price ($250-$400
or more) scares away many people, as it should.
I would not recommend these for rookies, although some high-end planters
may be better off with them, depending on personal preference. You can also have a pair resoled to take
caulks, which makes them a great boot.
Boots
are one item where planters have a lot of opinions. Here’s one email that I got from one of the
best planters in one of the other Folklore camps: “A bunch of us on the crew last
year bought some of the green Dunlop Rig boots (Thermic). They are relatively cheap, very light, steel
toed and extremely durable. I destroyed about 3 pairs of expensive work boots a
year (prior to last year) and these things have now lasted me a season and a
half. Another guy here has had a pair that has lasted two seasons. They are painful for about two weeks until
they are broken in. I have ankle issues
and these things are an amazing help with that too. They are about $190 per pair.”
Many planters also wear what they call “mountain
boots.” From what I can understand, a
mountain boot is a glorified, heavy-duty, work-oriented hiking boot. If this is the case, and the soles and
leather are strong enough, then this kind of boot might be quite useful. Of course, you’ll have to be careful when
looking at these kind of boots, since there seems to be no straightforward way of differentiating hiking boots
and mountain boots, except by checking out the quality yourself.
A pair of “mountain boots,”
which are a heavy-duty hiking boot.
Caulks
and Caulk Wrench
Caulks
(pronounced “corks”) are little metal spikes which are found on the bottom of
some boots. They are very useful if you
are doing a lot of screefing with your feet (FH planting), or if you are on
steep, wet ground with a lot of slash, to prevent you from slipping on
logs. I would most strongly recommend
boots with caulks to every serious planter who can afford them. Bring some extra caulks (about fifteen cents
each) and a wrench to the bush with you.
Also, make sure you carry a pair of hiking boots or runners for town
use, because you’ll get yelled at if you try wearing caulked boots into most
gas stations, convenience stores, etc.
A slightly blurry picture of a
caulk-wrench and both old and new caulks.
Here we see the bottom of a boot
which is in the process of having the old, dull caulks replaced.
Rain
Gear
Rain
gear is very important since planters work in both good and bad weather. A rain jacket and rain pants are both
necessary. Investing a little extra in
rain gear will pay off in the long run - it can be frustrating to miss a day of
work because of sickness or cold that was exaggerated due to inadequate rain
gear.
Assorted pieces of generic rain
gear, showing both pants and jackets.
Bear in mind that when you are
planting you cannot afford to hide in a warm truck when nature gets wet and nasty,
no matter how appealing it is (I have worked for foremen that locked the trucks
and held onto the keys during poor weather, to keep planters from sitting in
the trucks). You have to continue to
work, while trying to keep dry and warm.
If you can’t stay dry, you still need to stay warm. Planting is one way to keep warm – if there
is a cold rain, you will soon learn that taking a break even for a couple
minutes while bagging up really makes you cold, although you’ll warm up again
once you start working hard. Cotton
clothes are cold when they get wet, so don’t wear them in the rain. Here is a good rain gear system:
- For periods that do not
feature heavy rain: Louis Garneau
polypro cycling tights - the durable, heavy duty kind, not the softer Lycra
version. Wear them with a pair of
cut-offs overtop to minimize chaffing from your planting bags, and to provide
pockets. These are thicker than regular
polypro underwear and resist tearing by branches and snags. They keep the black flies out, and the baggy
cycling ass is useful to the planter who spends his or her whole day bending
down to plant. These are about forty
dollars at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, but well worth it. You can also use spandex or polypro
underwear, but these will rip more easily.
- A shirt made of non-cotton
materials such as polypro. Wool is great
if you can stand the itching, and is warm when wet and quick-drying. You can use long underwear tops, cycling
shirts, or outdoor shirts sold at Mountain Equipment Co-Op.
- Reinforced rubber rain jacket
and pants. The pants can have
suspenders, or even better, a properly-fitting elastic waistband. The jacket should be tough, reinforced
rubber. Used when it rains very heavily;
in light or occasional rain you can plant wearing only a polypro shirt and
pants, which will dry in minutes. Other
good heavy rain gear is PVC. If you buy
rain gear, make sure it’s reinforced.
Straight plastic or rubber will shred within minutes of you getting out
on the block. Good rain gear can cost
over $100, but should last a couple seasons, and will keep you dry and
warm. Some planters like to use a heavy
rubber poncho over a synthetic layer, since this system allows considerable
freedom of movement. I have had very
good luck in recent seasons wearing rubber or caulked chainsaw boots, a pair of
sweatpants or long underwear, and a pair of black Coleman rainpants (with
inside lining) from Canadian Tire – available for about $50. This will keep your bottom half happy – on
top you can wear long sleeve shirt and wool sweater or fleece, and have an
optional rain jacket for the heavy downpours.
Should you buy Gore-Tex type rain gear? Gore-Tex is the outdoor person’s miracle
substance. However, its efficiency when
planting is not certain, because planting tends to get you dirty, and dirty
GoreTex does not work. GoreTex is also
vulnerable to tearing by snags, etc. If
you are planting in the Interior, or anywhere where there’s infrequent rain,
you might be able to use it, but on the Coast, forget it.
Jon at Raven Studios agrees with some of the information above, but believes that they are tailored for “casual” work in the rain. For planters looking for a longer-term investment, or for those working on coastal projects, these comments he made might be of interest: “Polypro and Goretex are for hippies who want to look cool at Starbucks, not for working men in the bush. Let me give you the real scoop on outdoor work-wear: it is called ‘wool.’ Use wool for socks, underwear, shirts and sweaters, period. Virgin Wool is what you want, to be exact, which is full length fibers rather than clippings from the mill floor. This takes care of three things: (1) it is not itchy, (2) it does not "fuzz", matt up into little balls, or fall apart, and (3) it does not smell over time. Properly woven wool not only keeps you warm when wet, but also repels water rather than absorb it. It also breaths better during strenuous activity and lasts forever. The best rain gear is made from 100% cotton "tin-cloth" with an oil finish. If you want the best gear for working in the bush get "Filson" at www.filson.com. It costs a lot, but there is nothing better anywhere. But that is probably a moot point because tree planters tend to be smelly, patchouli-oil wearing, cheap-skate hippies and granola crunchers who don't care if they wear rotten smelly cloths that fall apart after one season.” Well put, Jon!
Work
Pants
Planting
pants need to do two things: keep sun and branches off your legs, and keep the bugs
out. A light, baggy pair of cotton pants
(or cotton long johns worn with an old pair of shorts over top) works well in
dry weather. Unless you invest in proper
high-quality work pants (not necessary in your first year), your pants will probably
get destroyed in two months, so don’t spend a fortune on expensive army surplus
pants. For hot and bug-free days, a
ragged pair of thigh-length shorts is nice.
Some planters even wear shorts almost constantly, however, when one sees
the discomfort that they suffer with poor weather and/or bugs, and the multiple
lacerations (which, when bleeding, attract the bugs even more), other people
wonder about their general sanity. I’ve
found some nice medium-quality work pants at CostCo in the past year that many
of my planters have found to be very useful.
You probably only need to spend $20 to get a pair of work pants that
will probably last for one season (although at that price, you should probably
pick up about three pairs of pants). I
managed to find a type at CostCo that have “zip-off” leggings so you can turn
the pants into a decent pair of shorts on hot days.
Long
Underwear/Sweat Pants
When
it is cold out, wearing long underwear or sweats under your work pants can
help. These items are also very
comfortable when worn under rain pants, usually much more so than regular work
pants. Typical long underwear brands
which are more form-fitting are probably a better idea than sweatpants. Some people think they would be better off
bringing sweatpants, because they can be worn in public, but you’ll soon learn
that when you’re in the planting camp, seeing people wearing just long
underwear is commonplace and not at all out of the ordinary (although people
might stare if you wear long underwear by itself in town). Try to avoid cotton underwear, again because
of the fact that it is cold when it gets wet.
Also, be aware that your long underwear will almost always be wet – if not
from rain leaking in, from sweating.
Belt
If
your work pants all fit you comfortably and you don’t think you’ll need a belt,
bring one anyway. Within a month or so,
you’ll be at least two or three notches smaller, and you’ll be annoyed because
your pants will be falling down all the time.
If you want to save money and not bother bringing a belt, you can always
use a piece of rope as a substitute, although it gets annoying having to untie
the rope ever time you need to urinate.
T-Shirts,
Long Sleeved Work Shirts
You
can get cheap cotton clothes at thrift stores (the Salvation Army, Interfaith
Thrift, Frenchy’s, etc.). Mark’s Work
Wearhouse sells quality workwear including pants, socks, and outerwear for
reasonable prices. Some of the clothing
mentioned above can be bought at MEC or other outdoor places. You would do well to buy reasonably priced
items, because your clothes will get dirty, abused, and destroyed in the
bush. Don’t load up on designer branded
names at Eddie Bauer or J.Crew or L.L. Bean.
Go with proper work clothing suppliers (including www.motoca.ca, which carries pants &
head-gear & rain gear, not just shirts) if you’re looking for higher-priced
items that are designed to last through very rugged conditions. If you want to save money and go with more
disposable options, the Salvation Army can sometimes be a useful source. Nobody cares what you look like.
As
far as shirts are concerned, bring a couple of ratty white T-shirts and a baggy
white cotton turtleneck. The T-shirts
keep you cool, while a turtleneck (or any long-sleeved baggy work shirt) is
good for keeping the bugs away. A heavy
jacket is also useful for cold mornings at the start of May, and end of August.
Fleece
Sweatshirts
Fleeces
are somewhat bulky, and therefore not always the best items to wear while
planting, except maybe when it is cool in early May. However, they are quite useful in the morning
on the way to the block (to keep warm), and sometimes after planting if the air
is chilly. Fleeces are also popular in
light rains, and to wear around camp in the evening.
Socks
and Underwear
Socks
are very important. Buy at least a dozen
pairs of light polypropylene work socks, and a similar number of pairs of
wool/nylon blend thick work socks. The
light ones obviously go on first, with the wool on the outside. This setup keeps you from getting blisters,
and these types of socks keep your feet dry when you sweat, and are warm when
wet. Cotton socks are useless because
they stay wet, and are cold when wet.
When buying wool socks, try for an 80% wool and 20% nylon mix, which
will last longer. Bama socks, or other
types of polyethylene liners, are also excellent. A neat trick if you don’t like wet feet is to
put baggies or bread bags between your inner and outer socks. Eventually, your feet will still be wet from
sweat, but at least this is a gradual process, so it isn’t as painful and
shocking as accidentally dumping your foot in a puddle.
Poly-Pro Socks, and a pair of
Wool Socks.
A pair of bama socks.
For
regular underwear, bring whatever you’re comfortable with. Long underwear is discussed above.
Hat
The hat is an essential
item. Without a sunhat, you are much
more susceptible to getting a sunburn, heat exhaustion, sunstroke, tired, and
miserable. On rainy days, your hat doubles
in function by keeping some of the water out of your eyes (a ball cap or Tilley
hat is indispensable on rainy days if you wear glasses - and while I’m on the
topic, as a wearer of both contacts and glasses for over ten years, I would
advise that no one wear contacts on the block, for first aid and health
reasons). The only time I ever found
contact lenses to be more comfortable than glasses were, was during rain
storms. The best thing to use is a
broad-brimmed cotton or canvas sunhat that is white, which will keep the rain
and sun out of your eyes and ears - baseball hats and bandannas are also
acceptable. Keeping the sun out of your
eyes reduces eyestrain and makes you less tired at the day’s end - this is
important because planting with sunglasses is proven to be unfeasible (you can’t
see well into the holes that you are making).
Another
good reason for having a hat is to keep your hair out of your eyes while you’re
bending down to plant. If you have long
hair, a hat (or at least a bandanna) can be very helpful.
A typical sun-hat.
Gloves
Some
planters like to wear gloves while planting.
This is certainly acceptable, and minimizes contact with pesticides,
since some boxes of trees do have pesticides on them. However, most gloves can slow planters down,
because it makes it more difficult to grab trees out of your drawbag if you are
wearing a glove. Nonetheless, having a
glove on your planting hand can sometimes improve your overall production,
despite the fact that pulling from your drawback is slower, because you feel
more comfortable sticking your hand into the shovel hole and forcing the roots
of the tree to be straight. Planters who
don’t wear gloves sometimes get sore hands, and are hesitant about sticking
their fingers into the shovel hole, because it can hurt. As a compromise, some planters wear duct tape
on the fingers of their planting hand.
If
you decide to wear gloves, there are a couple brands that are especially
popular. Webbed orange gloves have been
around for years, and seem to get positive reviews. These gloves also have the advantage of being
ambidextrous – if you only wear a glove on one hand, you can buy a pair, and
after the first glove wears out, you can use the other glove on the same
hand. Another type of glove which has
grown quickly in popularity in the past few years is the Atlas glove, which has
blue rubber under the fingers, and a cloth mesh on the rest of the glove. “Botanically Correct” is a similar brand to
the Atlas, and presumably these were actually designed for gardening. There is also an Atlas thermal version, in
gray instead of blue, which is slightly thicker and better for use in cold
weather.
Town
Clothes & Boots
You
will definitely want one or two sets of town clothes (clean jeans, nice shirt,
clean jacket, etc.). I highly suggest
that you wrap these garments securely in a couple layers of plastic, and then
put them in some sort of pack where they are safe and dry. You should have a pair of town shoes or town
boots – hiking boots are great, as long as you don’t make the mistake of
wearing them while planting someday and ruining them. In with your town clothes, it is also
advisable to have a simple clean(ish) t-shirt and pair of sweats, so you have
something to wear while doing your laundry and errands on the day off that can
get dirty.
Planting Gear
Planting Bags
To
carry seedlings, the planter wears a set of planting bags. The number of pouches on this set of bags can
vary, but it is almost always three pouches in recent years. Essentially, the bags serve as a storage area
for the seedlings, so the planter can carry a large number of trees at a time,
and not have to go back to the cache as frequently to grab more trees.
When
buying your bags, make sure that the waist belt fits comfortably and tightly,
since it carries most of the weight. I
believe that BushPro sells an add-on thicker waist belt for their bags which I
would recommend highly. If you buy used
bags, make sure they aren’t ripped or frayed, and make sure the buckles close
and the belt and straps adjust properly (plastic clip-on buckles are preferable
to the much older cloth/stitched bags with metal clasps). New bags are around $80, while used bags (if
available) will go for $40 to $50. Avoid
stiff-bottomed (tray-bottom) bags. Make
sure that the part of the side pouches that will rub against your thighs does
not have seams and protruding material that will irritate your skin and ruin
pants.
A set of planting bags.
Shovel
The
shovel is the major tool in planting and should be comfortable to use. The shovel should not be too long or too
short. If the shovel is not comfortable,
it will hinder the planter's production.
There are three different types:
-
The "D" handle is the most preferred handle used by planters in
BC/Alberta.
-
The straight handle (staff shovel) should be used by planters feeling tightness
in the wrist caused by repetition (commonly known as tendonitis). It is used in rocky ground to cope with the
shock of striking a rock when making a tree hole.
-
Recently (in 2004), the “modified D-handle” started to become popular. These shovels are similar to the conventional
D-handle, except that they tilt down to the right, in an attempt to be more
ergonomically correct and comfortable for planters. Initial reviews from the vets suggest that it
feels strange, but there were no major complaints. Once I hear more about this new design (field
tested in 2003), I’ll be able to go into more detail. I have no idea whether or not there is a
left-handed version available.
There
are also different blade types for shovels.
The most common of course is the standard tree planter shovel, which has
a blade with a very slight curve, and is slightly tapered with a blade about
four to five inches wide, and about a foot long. Another type of blade is the spear, which is
a narrower blade that is helpful when planting seedlings in rocky ground. Spears are not very common.
Rookies should NOT buy a normal
D-handle. I find this difficult to say,
after going through more than a dozen seasons running a crew with almost
entirely D-handles, but it seems to be in your best [medical] interests to
avoid them. Staff shovels (staves) are much better for your limbs and body,
although their extra length sometimes makes for a pain in the ass when dealing
with helicopter blocks. The standard
planting shovel has a tempered-steel blade (made by either Carrant or BushPro)
that is about a foot long and between four and six inches wide. Shovels cost about $60 new, and if you see
new ones for a significantly lower price, avoid them because they are probably
more likely to break when you are hundreds of miles from your nearest hardware
store. It is also possible to buy
shovels with fiberglass handles, and I have never heard of one of those
breaking, although in 2004 we had several metal blades snap in our camp. Many pairs of planters will split the costs
to buy a third shovel between them to have a backup in case one breaks while in
the bush. The cost of having an extra
shovel ($50) far outweighs the despair of missing a day of work ($200) because
there are no extras around. I would
never switch away from a D-Handle myself, but the health experts disagree with
me.
There
is a recurring debate among planters as to which kind of shovel (Staff vs.
D-Handle) is better. On the face of it,
a D-handle is better. It feels more
natural than a staff. The handle gives
you leverage for twisting, and its length is more comfortable than the length
of the staff. It feels like a “normal”
shovel. In stores that sell planting
gear, there are always far more D-handles to choose from than staff shovels
(staves), leading many planters to think that the D is the way to go. However, the D can lead to physical problems,
such as tendonitis and bursitis.
A staff shovel.
Tendonitis
(and bursitis, which is related) affect people who use certain muscle groups in
repetitive ways. People who type, use
adding machines or power tools, and tree planters are the largest affected
groups. The tendon is a tissue that
joins muscle to bone. The tendon is
wrapped in a sheath of protective tissue.
When a muscle is over-used in a repetitive way, the tendon can inflame
the sheath by rubbing against it. This
causes the sheath to swell, which results in the creaking sound and feel of
tendonitis, swelling, pain, stiffness, and sometimes immobility of the affected
part.
The
treatment for acute inflammatory tendonitis is immobilization with support and
moist heat (definitely not ice packs).
This means that the planter who is severely affected can be out of work
for days or weeks. If you think it would
be great to go on Workers Compensation and spend the last six weeks of your
planting season on a beach somewhere, think again. Tendonitis often leads to scarring, which has
to be surgically removed, and which requires extensive physiotherapy to get you
back up to speed. Some types of
tendonitis of the knee and elbow can never fully recover.
If
you lay your palm flat against the outside of your thigh, your entire arm is in
what is known as the “anatomically neutral” position. This means that there is no stress or
extension on any ligaments, muscle groups, or tendons in your arm. Now, if you turn your hand so that its palm
lies flat on the front of your thigh, you are holding your hand OUT of the
anatomically neutral position. This
means that your tendons and muscles are extended.
Muscles
and tendons are like any other material: they have a limited (though, in the
long term variable) capacity to absorb and/or transmit stress. When you hold your hand so that it is out of
anatomical position, you decrease the “slack” or excess absorptive capacity in
your arm. This means that when you plant
with a D-handled shovel, you are in effect overloading the tendons and muscles
in your arm, because you are transmitting kinetic energy through your arm (from
slamming the shovel into the ground) and through muscles and tendons that are
already extended. Imagine something like
a climbing rope, rubber band, or bike tire.
When these materials are not stretched out, or only partially stretched,
they have a large capacity to absorb shock.
However, when they are stretched taut, the same amount of force can tear
or puncture them. Your muscles work in a
roughly similar way. A staff shovel
helps by making you use your arm in an anatomically neutral position because of
the way that you hold the staff, not like a D-handle which is at a
ninety-degree angle to neutral position.
This means that you will transmit stress through your muscles and
tendons which are not in an extended position.
A staff also allows your hand to slide along the shaft when the shovel
hits the ground (especially when you hit rocks), whereas a D-handle transmits
that energy directly into your arm, which hurts and causes damage over time.
A “D-handle” shovel.
Veteran
planters who are used to a D-handle can consider switching. After only a day or two, the staff supposedly
begins to feel normal to you. The long
handle can be sawed down (wrap the end in a ball of duct tape) so it doesn’t
get in your way, and the blade can be customized as with any other shovel. I personally expect to use a D-handle for the
rest of my life, but then again, I’m old and set in my ways. Morally, I still have to recommend that new
planters start off on the right foot with a staff. The Workers’ Compensation Board strongly
recommends a staff. Of course, the
significant inroads made by the “modified D-handle” in 2004 may mitigate some
of the medical drawbacks of the traditional D-handle. More on this once I get some more experience
with the new shovels.
The newer “modified-D” shovel.
Planting
shovels come pre-made in standard configurations, however, some planters modify
their shovels by having a metal shop or hardware store change the shape of the
blade. You can shorten a blade, change
its shape, and saw off one of the kickers.
Rookies need not bother with this procedure, until they have some
experience and know how blade modifications can benefit them. Be careful, however, not to shorten your
blade too much. I’ve occasionally had
planters get pulled off the block by checkers because their blades did not meet
the contract’s minimum length specifications (and because most checkers figure
that a shorter blade leads to j-roots, a theory which does have some
merit). I’ve also known planters who
have shaved down their shovel, and afterwards, lament because they shaved too
much off the blade and they wished it was still a little bit longer.
Silvicool
Inserts
Insert
bags are used in the planting bags to protect the seedling from heating
up. They are made out of reflective
material and must be closed at the top when full of trees, with the exception
of your feeder bag/drawbag (the one currently in use). Wet moss or sponges must be kept in the
bottom of these bags to keep the trees moist.
Most contracts specify that you must use your inserts, even when it is
raining. Typically, the drawbag has an
insert with the top rolled back, for easy access to your loose trees, and the
other two pouches contain closed inserts.
Some
planters also use an extra insert to carry their lunch and/or water, to keep it
cool.
Three silvicool inserts. The left one is folded over to be used as a
drawbag.
Silvicool
Tarp
Personal
tarps or “space tarps” (possibly called such because the silver lining makes
them look like things from outer space, although I’m not positive about that)
are made from reflective material and are used to cover your individual box or
boxes of trees on the block. Boxes must
be covered as specified at the pre-work conference. Rocks or logs can be used to keep the tarp
from blowing off the box. A box of trees
exposed to sunlight may result in a penalty to you or your crew. Note that the spring and summer seasons,
because of differences in the ways that trees are delivered to the contractor,
have different specifications for tarping.
Spring trees (over-wintered) are usually required to be completed
covered and tucked in on all sides.
Summer trees (hot-lifted) are usually required to have a tarp suspended
a foot overhead, keeping sunlight off all parts of all boxes, and the boxes
themselves must be opened, watered, and all trees standing up within the boxes.
Plot
cord
A
plot cord is an essential piece of planting equipment. Planters should not be allowed to plant
without one. The only way a planter can
maintain proper spacing in the long term is by using the plot cord. This cord is 3.99 metres long and is made of
rope, wire, chain, etc. (preferably clothesline). I use a plot cord all the time when I plant,
and usually try to throw a plot on myself at least after every second run, just
to double-check my own density. Some
planters are reluctant to throw plots on themselves, but think about it – it
takes you about one minute at the very most to throw a plot or two as you’re
walking back to the cache, and if you catch spacing problems before they get
out of control, you can save yourself hours of replanting. I’m just amazed that some experienced
planters practically refuse to throw plots on themselves – many of the best
planters I’ve known (production-wise, not just quality-wise) have not allowed
this form of hubris to get in the way of the job. Be careful that you don’t buy a spacing plot
cord, which is 5.64 meters long. It can
still work, but just be aware that it covers exactly twice as much surface
area, and therefore you can expect to get twice as many trees in it as
expected.
A standard 3.99 meter plot cord.
Water
Jug
A water container is
indispensable. You can drink as much as
ten litres of water (or more) on hot days.
Although it is possible to buy fairly inexpensive coolers (about $20) which
hold a gallon and keep it moderately cool, planters could also consider
bringing several old two-litre plastic pop bottles. These are universally available, and very
strong, to withstand bouncing around in the back of the truck. The only drawback with these is that once
empty, someone else on the crew might throw it in the garbage. Another option is to ask the cook to set
aside a couple of empty milk jugs for you from the kitchen. These hold a decent amount of water, and are
pretty durable. You can take two or
three of these jugs full of water to the block with you, and if you have to
walk a distance into a block, they fit easily into the pouches in your planting
bags. Planters should ALWAYS be aware of
how much water they bring to the block.
Although your foreman will try to get you more water if you run out
during the day, it is often impossible to magically come up with more fresh,
clean water when on the block. And if
the rest of the crew is depending on the presence of the foreman to ensure that
planting proceeds smoothly, he/she often cannot afford an hour long trip to
camp to get more. ALWAYS take more than
you think you can use. Also, try not to
pour out extra water at the end of the day, just because you want to make your
gear lighter on the walk out of the block.
Remember, the planting camps often have to pay to have potable water
hauled in, or have to send trucks to town to refill barrels, which is a real
hassle. Every little bit of conservation
of water helps, just don’t ever skimp on drinking lots of water on the block
for the sake of conservation. Finally,
do NOT buy a red jerry can to use as a water bottle – these should be reserved
for fuel purposes only.
A pair of common water
jugs. The one on the right is insulated.
Flagging
Tape
Ribbon
or flagging tape is used by planters to mark boundaries and is carried either
in a pouch, in the planting bag, or in the planter's pocket. There are tons of colors available, and
ribbon shouldn’t cost much more than a dollar or so per roll, especially if you
get a whole deck (package of a dozen rolls or so) at once. Try not to buy green ribbon, because it blends
in with the vegetation – I’m not sure why they even sell it in this color. Besides getting ribbon in a solid color, you
can also get “tiger-stripe” ribbon, which is stripes of two alternating colors
(usually black or white is one of the two colors). I have often been asked why flagging tape is
made of plastic, which is not exactly biodegradable, and why someone doesn’t
produce biodegradable ribbon. Well,
biodegradable ribbon IS available, although it is a lot more expensive, which
is why most people don’t use it.
Biodegradable ribbon usually disintegrates completely after just a year
or so, whereas normal ribbon usually becomes frayed and disappears after quite
a few years, but probably doesn’t really break down in an environmental
sense.
Several rolls of flagging tape,
also known as “ribbon”.
Where to Buy Gear
Camping gear can be bought
pretty much anywhere. You can get crappy
stuff very cheaply at Canadian Tire, K-Mart, etc. I would recommend buying decent camping gear
because it will last and make your life more comfortable. For better camping equipment, there are some
upscale places around. Mountain
Equipment Co-Op has stores in
If
you are in
In
In
You
can also order high-quality, durable clothing-related items from www.motoca.ca
Click
here if you want
to download the BushPro 2004 catalogue as an Adobe .PDF file.
Toiletries and Medicinal
The Basics
The
basic toiletries that you bring should include anything that you might bring to
a cottage for an overnight trip in the summer – soap, shampoo, towel,
deodorant, hair brush or comb, razor (males), and tampons (females). You should also bring some of the things that
might not be used on an overnight trip, but which would come in handy
eventually – fingernail clippers, q-tips, etc.
Some people suggest bringing band-aids.
That is probably a good idea, in case you get a significant cut that you
want to cover at night. An alternative
is to keep it exposed at night (exposure to air heals cuts far faster), and
maybe put a band-aid and duct tape over the band-aid during the day, while
planting, if you don’t want a lot of dirt to get into the cut. However, you will probably find that you
don’t want to bother using band-aids on ninety percent of your cuts.
Makeup
Girls,
you probably should not bring makeup.
You will definitely not need it in the bush, and might even be laughed
at if you put on makeup in camp. If you
insist though, you can bring some very basic makeup for nights off in
town. Remember though, that planters are
a very down-to-earth sort of group. If
you want to get all “dolled-up,” go ahead, but you may feel out of place. Many people who go tree planting are not the
type to do that.
Hand
Cream/Moisturizer
Think
about inserting your hand into the ground, a couple thousand times a day. Your skin will dry out and crack, and your
hand will hurt. Wearing gloves will
help, but some people don’t like to wear gloves. If you don’t wear gloves, maybe you can at
least duct tape your fingers on your planting hand, to minimize cuts and
scrapes. Either way, a liberal
application of hand cream every night will make your hands feel a lot better
over time. In my early days of planting,
everyone said, “make sure you get vitamin E hand cream.” The most popular brand of hand cream in my
camp these days is probably Glysomed.
Different types of Hand Cream.
Sun
Screen
You
will get sunburned. If you are lucky,
you will do it in stages, so you don’t blister badly. Remember that many times, you will be
planting in the mountains at significantly higher elevations than you are used
to. The air is thinner, and the sun’s
radiation is stronger. You can burn
quite quickly, even on freezing cold days in early May. Once you’ve been planting for a month, you’ll
probably go without sun screen, and revel in the sunshine (until it gets really
hot). Planters can often be seen
planting without shirts even in late April, if the weather is even minimally
nice, because you generate so much body heating while planting. My suggestion is to bring out one bottle of
sunscreen – by the time you’ve used that up, you’ve probably built a good base
so you aren’t as likely to turn the shade of lobster. For the first week you are planting, make
sure you put sunscreen on the tips of your ears, even if the weather is
cold. The tops of your ears are always
the first part of your body to burn and blister. Don’t buy weak sunscreen – get SPF 15 or
higher.
Solarcaine
Even
if you follow the advice in the above paragraph, you may end up with a solid
sunburn at least once every season. If
that is the case, solarcaine is worth its weight in gold. Liberal applications of this stuff every four
hours for two days can really minimize the effects of a bad burn. Don’t leave home without it.
Fingernail
Clippers
Well,
the need for these is pretty self-explanatory.
However, a bit of advice – don’t cut your nails short. Always cut them down so there is still a few
millimeters more than you would in the city.
You will always want to keep a slight fingernail, to help protect the
tips of your fingers (since you’re always digging in the dirt). Fingernail clippers serve a double function,
since they are also very useful for digging thorns out of your hands.
Vaseline,
Lip Balm, Zincofax/Penaten
When
planting, you get dehydrated. Between
this, and the sun on your face, your lips will inevitably become very dry, and
may become chapped and sunburned. In
extreme cases (not uncommon), your lips may even split and bleed. Applying some sort of lip balm every day will
help, and make eating less painful.
Vitamin
Supplements (optional)
Tree
planters burn a lot of energy. While a
normal adult may only require from 1200 to 2400 calories per day to function
normally over the long term, planters may need anywhere from 4000 to 6000
calories per day, or even more. If you
are going planting to lose weight (not a good reason, although it is certainly
a side benefit for some people), do NOT diet intentionally – you will become a
health/safety risk because of poor nutrition.
Trust me – you can eat very well and eat large quantities if you are
planting hard, and you will still lose weight.
Many planters lose between ten and thirty pounds in their first six to
eight weeks of planting. Anyway, the
point of this is that it is an accepted fact that planters need to eat large
quantities of proper, healthy foods, in order to remain in peak productive shape. Because of this, the cooks usually supply a
very balanced diet, and in very generous portions. You are very likely able to get all the
vitamins and minerals you need from eating the regular fare that the cooks
provide. However, having said this, I
still bring up the option of taking vitamin supplements. To be honest, I have no clear idea on whether
or not this is a good idea. I’ve always
been of the mind that if you eat a balanced diet, you don’t need to take
supplements. However, when you’re
planting, your body is working double-overtime and really pushing itself to the
limits, so I figure that it can’t hurt to be safe. I certainly think that fluids and salts
(sodium, magnesium, potassium, etc.) are especially important to watch. Drinking water sweetened with sugar and juice
crystals probably isn’t the best approach, but drinking a lot of water IS
important. Personally, if I’m planting,
I will sometimes make Gatorade from powder (purchased at Costco), although that
is more designed to make my day more interesting instead of being due to the
health aspects. I figure that the salts
and other stuff in Gatorade are just a nice bonus, and are better for me than
pop or sugared juices.
Tums
or Antacids (optional)
If
you ever suffer from heartburn or indigestion, it might be smart to bring some
Tums or other antacid brands (Pepto-Bismol).
If you eat a big breakfast, you may end up getting indigestion while you
are planting in the morning, both because of having a full stomach, and also
because you keep bending over all morning.
The only drawback of these products is that they partially neutralize
the acids in your stomach, which means that you end up digesting your food more
slowly. Another problem comes at night,
if you end up eating several plates of dinner (very common) and then trying to
go to bed an hour later. If your stomach
doesn’t have time to digest the food before you go to bed, you may start to
suffer. Of course, rather than staying
up late to allow yourself time to digest a huge meal, it may be better to
consider trying to eat more often, but in smaller quantities with each
session. Rather than completely binging
at breakfast and supper, eat reasonably sized meals, and carry a big lunch with
you on the block that you can work away at in small pieces frequently throughout
the day. This also gives you a more
constant supply of energy.
Heat
Rub (optional)
I’ve
never used heat rub products such as A5-35, and I don’t know if they are that
useful. Certainly, I don’t think they
are extremely common in planting camps, although some people do use them. The problem with these products, I think, is
that they are more designed for specific sort muscles. In planting, your entire body will be aching for
a while until you really get into the season, and heat rubs may not be a decent
solution. Some people prefer to use an
“internal” solution to their aches and pains, like a can of beer and a muscle
relaxant before bed. I think some of
these “solutions” probably offer more psychological help than physical assistance, but if it makes
you happy, go for it.
Tylenol/Aspirin,
Muscle Relaxants (optional)
Pain
relievers and muscle relaxants are certainly recommended by some planters. Some of the craziest planters that I’ve known
have even gone so far as to rely constantly on strong analgesics while on the
block (including T3’s – Tylenol 3’s – which are available by prescription), and
muscle relaxants at night to help them relax while sleeping. If you need this sort of help to keep you
planting, then do whatever it takes.
However, remember that in the end it is your body that makes the
decision about whether or not you can handle the physical aspects of being a
highballer, and the drugs don’t really make any difference except for
psychological. If you can do it with the
chemical help, then you can certainly also do without, if you put your mind to
it. By the way, I’ll talk more about
buying drugs at Costco in just a minute, but for now you should be aware that
one popular muscle relaxant, Robaxacet Extra Strength, cost about 75 cents per
tablet in drugstores, but only 41 cents per tablet at Costco, while their house
brand (Stanley) costs only 7.5 cents per tablet (prices researched in the
spring of 2004).
Antihistamines
I
cannot say enough good things about antihistamines. If you know that you occasionally suffer from
allergies, bring these in quantity. If
you have acute attacks of hay-fever, you may want to look for another job. The amount of pollens that you come in
contact with while working in the bush can be phenomenally higher than what
you’ll encounter in the city, so be aware.
You should know that taking antihistamines whenever you have an attack
is not the smart way to approach the situation.
If you do that, you’ll still potentially have a couple of hours of
downtime while your body recover from red eyes, sneezing, or even puffed-up
eyeballs and inability to breathe clearly in more acute cases. If you are even slightly worried about
allergies, your best bet is to buy a lot of antihistamines and start a regular
daily regimen about two days before you go into the bush, and keep it up
throughout the season. Your body takes a
few days to become fully prepared (internally) once you start taking the pills,
so if you start acting in a preventative manner from the start, and have extra
drugs on hand for the occasions when you are working in extreme conditions,
then you’ll probably be alright. A word
to the wise: shop for your drugs at Costco, and buy their house brands. The savings are absolutely incredible, and if
you look at the chemical contents, you can probably find brands with the same
strength as you would by purchasing the name brands in drugstores, at a
fraction of the cost. As an example, in
the spring of 2004, we did some comparison price shopping on
antihistamines. We found that Reactine
(extra strength) was almost a dollar per tablet in drugstores, 58 cents per
tablet at Costco, and their name brand equivalent (Stanley brand) was only 20
cents per tablet. Claritin tablets were
also almost a dollar each in the drugstore, while they were 69 cents per tablet
at Costco, while the Costco Stanley brand was only 15 cents per tablet! Benadryl, another medicinal product, was 21
cents per tablet at Costco (much more in drugstores) while Costco’s equivalent
Stanley no-name brand was a stunning 1.6 cents per tablet. You get the drift by now, so find someone
with a Costco card, and go shopping before you hit the bush.
Miscellaneous
Tent
If
you are hesitant to spend a lot of money on a tent though, go ahead and buy one
from Canadian Tire. Just be aware,
however, that you will probably end up throwing it out at the end of the
season. Also, if you are sleeping alone,
you will probably want to buy a two-person or three-person tent. If you are sharing, you will probably want a
four-man tent.
Sleeping Bag
One
of my strongest recommendations in terms of buying gear is that if you’re going
to splurge anywhere, spend extra money and get a good sleeping bag. My parents bought me a top quality sleeping
bag in 1990 as a present before I went out planting. I finally had to throw it away in the spring
of 2004 because it was getting too ripped.
That sleeping bag lasted me through fourteen full seasons, and it helped
keep me warm on some painfully freezing nights.
Don’t get me wrong – I consider myself to be very “thermodynamic” and
enjoy cold temperatures, but I can’t imagine how cold I would have been if I
had just owned a normal sleeping bag.
Make sure that the bag you buy is good to twenty degrees below
freezing. Make sure that it is
machine-washable. “Mummy bags” are
designed to be narrower and tighter, and the heat that they trap therefore has
to warm a smaller area, so they are said to be better for the single
person. However, if you are not sleeping
alone, buy a normal square or
rectangular sleeping bag, or get extra fancy and buy two bags that are exactly
the same, so you can open them up face-to-face and zip them up to each other,
to form one huge sleeping bag. Find a
laundromat with a double-loader and wash your sleeping bag at the start of each
successive season when temperatures are lowest, because a clean bag does a
slightly better job of insulating you (or even wash it a couple times per
season, just so it is clean and fresh).
Foamie
A
“foamie” is a large foam mattress, which is usually either three or four inches
in thickness, which you should lie on the floor of your tent to sleep on. Foamies are pretty cheap, usually less than
$30 each, and are much better than air mattresses. Although an air mattress can be compacted
more when you let the air out, there is probably enough room for you to carry a
foamie around from camp to camp. Write your
name on it so it doesn’t go missing! A
nice bonus of the foamie is that if you suddenly need more sponges for your
inserts, you can always tear a corner off the foamie that you’re sleeping
on.
Kit
Bag or Packsack
A
pack is also essential for carrying all of your little treasures: duct-tape, boxtops, lunch, Tylenol, a knife,
suntan lotion, extra flagging tape, a thermos, etc. And a tip for using a thermos: pre-heat it by leaving a bit of hot water in
it for five minutes. Dump this out and
then add your coffee/tea/whatever. This can
make a huge difference in keeping your beverages hot until supper instead of
just until lunch. Just be careful that
if your lunch is in your kitbag, it is zipped up. If dogs are permitted on the block, they will
sometimes raid planters’ lunches when nobody is looking. Interestingly, I have watched crows or ravens
pull open zippers on backpacks to get at the lunches inside. Once a crow has been treated to a lunch in a
half-open backpack, they are pretty smart and will go around opening others to
look for more treats.
A conventional kit bag, or
knapsack, to carry supplies and lunch to the block.
Insect Repellent
The best way to deal with bugs
is with clothing. Wear long-sleeved
shirts, long pants, and maybe a bug hat.
DEET is evil and deadly stuff, and is an important ingredient in almost
all bug repellents. Most spray type
repellents only contain 15-30% DEET, whereas the little containers of liquid
that you rub on your skin are generally 75% to 95% DEET. Muskol and Deep Woods Off in liquid form
are 95% DEET, and the most effective repellents, but are becoming increasingly
hard to find. I wonder if they are not
permitted to be sold in Canada anymore, or if the retailers just prefer to sell
the aerosol form. I swear by DEET, have
used it in mass quantities for years, and would certainly suffer without it,
but then again, the downside is that I’ll probably have mutant children someday
due to the chemicals that my body has absorbed from bug sprays. DEET can cause severe allergic reactions in
some people, and in others it simply burns the skin. DEET has also been known to melt plastic and
parts of your planting equipment. Some
people say that Skin So Soft and Citronella are effective. They are wrong. Besides, if you use those products, you’ll
smell so good that you’ll have bears and bumble-bees chasing after you all day
(ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration).
Spray cans of “Off” insect
repellent, both the regular variety (green) and “Deep Woods” variety.
The
biggest problem with bugs is mental.
Bugs can be just incredible if it is your first time in the woods,
especially when you go further north.
You can look up and see so many bugs directly above you that they look
thicker than stars in the sky when you’re out on the ocean. At the right time of year, you can look at a
planter standing still on a landing and count literally hundreds of mosquitoes
on their back, especially if they are wearing dark clothing. Some people are bothered more by the
incessant buzzing than by the actual bites.
Every person deals with them differently, though most just use lots of
DEET, long clothing, and try to ignore the noise. People who have planted in Ontario tell horror
stories about the bugs there. My worst
experiences have been up north, near Fort Nelson (BC) and Vermillion (Alberta).
Bees,
wasps, and hornets do not seem to be affected or deterred by insect
repellent. They just sort of fly
around. If you disturb their nest, they
are going to come after you with a vengeance, although if you can move away
several meters, they may abandon pursuit.
Their stings are painful and may cause an allergic reaction. Interestingly, bees rarely sting, because
their stinger has a hook or barb on the end (like a fishhook) which means that
when they sting you, their stinger gets ripped out of their body afterwards and
they die. On the other hand, hornets
(white stripes) and wasps (yellow stripes) have straight stingers like lances,
and can sting you again and again, and often do so with very little
provocation. There are sting treatment
kits available (anti-histamines and eppie needles for extreme circumstances),
but since repellents don’t work, the best approach is caution. If you disturb a nest, jump back. If you know that you have allergies to these
insects, or are ever stung in the neck, notify your first aid attendant right
away, just to be safe (swelling can constrict breathing).
Black
flies, mosquitoes, and no-see-ums, are deterred by repellents containing
DEET. If you do get bitten by these
insects, the bites can cause irritation, and multiple bites may even cause
swelling, especially around the eyes and lips.
Inhaling these insects is fairly common, and feels kind of strange and
uncomfortable. Get used to the feeling –
it happens occasionally, no matter what you do.
If you don’t like using repellent, wear pants and long-sleeved clothing.
Deer
flies and horse flies do not seem to be deterrent by insect repellents. They go for bare flesh, probably not so much
because they are seeking it with a vengeance, but because they happen to land
on you. If they do (and this happens
frequently if you are planting without a shirt when it is hot in July and
August), then they may bite you if given the opportunity. The bites can be surprisingly painful. House flies are a small cousin of the deer
and house flies, and are also not deterred by repellents, but at least house
flies don’t bite. The only drawbacks to
having house flies around is the buzzing noise, which seems to annoy some
planters, and the fact that they transfer diseases fairly readily since they
like to land and feast on feces of various animals.
Ticks
are apparently deterred by DEET-based insect repellent. I don’t know a lot about ticks, since I
haven’t encountered them frequently while planting. However, they are a very common problem in
bush areas on the east coast of Canada.
I’m not sure why we don’t run into them more often while planting. If you are attacked by a tick, don’t try to
remove it by prying or pulling it off – use heat (a burning match) to make it
release its grip.
Battery
Powered Coleman Lantern (optional)
A
flashlight is more of a priority than a lantern, but if you insist on reading
at night to put you to sleep, a battery powered lantern is a wise
investment. Whatever you do, don’t have
fires in your tent. Using a candle or
open flame to read by is an incredibly bad idea. Most tents are labeled as being “flame
retardant” or “flame resistant,” but I have seen tents that can go up in flames
in twenty to thirty seconds. Don’t take
a chance on burning yourself.
A battery-powered Coleman
lantern.
Alarm
clock (or two)
If
you are the type that likes to read at night, and consequently likes to sleep
as late as possible every morning, you will want a couple alarm clocks. In the old days, we used to honk the truck
horns in the mornings to wake everyone up, or fire the rifle at 6am on critical
days. These days, planters are more
work-oriented (in my crews, at least) and don’t usually need assistance in
getting up in the morning. Therefore,
you will have to make sure that you have a decent alarm clock. It would really suck to miss a day of work,
and lose a couple hundred dollars, because your tent was far from camp and you
slept in an extra hour. Having said
that, the camps should also have a roll call system in the mornings, so that if
someone is not accounted for within fifteen minutes of when the trucks are
about to head to the block, someone goes to check on their tents to see if they
just slept late, or if the employee is sick or has been eaten by a bear during
the night.
Flashlight
Having
a flashlight is useful for general purposes, such as rummaging around in your
tent after dark. However, you’ll find
that a good flashlight is worth its weight in gold the first time that you wake
up at 2am and you have to go to the outhouses in pitch darkness. Just remember to bring batteries. By the way, you should remember to bring
extra batteries for everything that you own.
May is especially harsh on batteries, since the cold temperatures seem
to drain some batteries a lot faster. I
don’t understand why this happens, since I thought electricity travels more
efficiently when there is less heat present.
Anyway, deal with it, and bring extra batteries for your flashlight and
alarm clocks and vibrators and other goodies.
Camera
(optional)
A
camera is very nice to have. However,
many people are disappointed with the pictures that they take, because it is
tough to take really good pictures in the bush, for several reasons. For one, you are better off having a good
camera. However, unless you have money
to burn, you should not bring a good camera to the bush, because you will
destroy it. For example, speaking in my
extensive experience as a photographer, no matter how carefully you take care
of your equipment, I find that an auto-focus type of 35mm lens will not last
more than two seasons. It will get
dirty, and it will no longer auto-focus.
Dirt gets into every part of your equipment, no matter how careful you
are. You can wrap your camera up in
three layers of clothing and plastic, and only use it on sunny days, but you
will still look at it in October when you get accustomed to city life and
wonder how it got so much dirt on it. If
you take the smart route and buy less expensive equipment, the quality of your
photos will suffer. Also, you will not
want to be out taking photos when you can be planting and making the big
bucks. Your best bet is to get a
not-so-expensive camera, because after all, life as a tree planter is something
you will remember for the rest of your life, and you’ll want a few
pictures. If several people in camp have
cameras, you can make multiple copies of prints from each film, and share them
around. Now that digital cameras are
becoming popular, this is even more of an attractive option. I try to take pictures all summer, and then
at Christmas, I burn them all (as JPEG files) onto CD’s and mail them to most
of my planters, so everybody can share the memories.
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
fix-it 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.).
Email
Account
It is great to have an email account. Tree planters traditionally have been some of
the most transient and mobile people on the planet, and trying to pin them down
to a physical address is often difficult, if not impossible. The growth in popularity of email over the
past decade, and the popularity of internet cafes, now means that email is a
viable and acceptable form of communication (and preferable for people who
don’t like giving out their home addresses).
I use email as a preferred form of communication in the pre-season, and
during the leadup to the season, I recommend that my planters check their
accounts at least once per week (I ask foremen and checkers to check their
email every second day). Every planter
who does not already have an email account should consider getting a free
account from www.hotmail.com or www.gmail.com
.
Conclusions
If you have any suggestions or
additions to the above information, please send an email to djbolivia@gmail.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
Special thanks to Chris Stolz,
whose website provided some material used in the writing of this page, and also
to the original Tawa planter’s training manual.
- Jonathan Clark (Scooter),
author.