Oakley Meister: ‘Lifer’: Institutionalized by freedom

View from one of the many drives across Ontario and Manitoba. (Photo by Sarah Pledge Dickson, 2018)

It was 2008, in an isolated tree planting camp on Vancouver Island. Oakley Meister and his crew were three hours from paved roads on their way to a piece of land they were supposed to plant. 

Mike, the crew’s boss, had checked out the block earlier in their shift so it was not a surprise to him when they came across an 80-foot-deep, 80-foot-wide precipice with a huge tree fallen across it.

“Nobody knew where we were,” says Meister. “There was a huge canyon, and we could have walked up the hill where it would have been easier to pass, or we could walk across this blowdown [tree].” 

According to Meister, Mike was a “very poor risk manager.” He’d crossed walking on the three-foot-wide tree and assured them that it was safe. At this point, the crew of six had been walking for over a kilometer carrying all their planting gear, water and food for the day. 

“I took a moment to gather my strength, make sure my legs were refreshed,” says Meister. 

The tree split into two trunks near the other side. And Mike warned them that if they fell, there’d be no coming back from it. 

It was like being at the end of the earth, he says. 

“This was next level,” says Meister. “Because nobody’s even going to bother to figure out if you’re ok or not. You’re dead for sure.”

But all six of them crossed. 

“Don’t look down,” he says. “Like Indiana-fucking-Jones-style and we all did it.” 

They shimmied along the tree with around 20 pounds of gear and water. 

“And we were just like, ‘Holy fuck, that was the dumbest thing we’ve done ever,’” says Meister. 

They planted the day but left around the gully, walking for an hour and a half until they found the main line where their boss was waiting to see where they popped out. 

This is one of many stories that Meister has from his more than two-decade long career planting across Canada. 

“So, I jumped on the coast,” he says. “And all of the sudden I was a lifer, addicted to the free time. It’s like being institutionalized by your freedom.” 

A “lifer” is someone who makes a career out of the industry, often planting for more than five months of the year. The freedom he refers to is the months off to pursue other creative endeavours. Why make a middle-class salary in a whole year when you can do it in half that?