400 million hectares: Faces of tree planting

The ride to the block in a helicopter. (Photo by Sarah Pledge Dickson, 2017)

Across Canada, tree planters are on their way to planting camps right now with hopes of money, saving the planet and having a good time.  

Tree planting is often seen in Canada as a rite of passage by exploring the Canadian wilderness and rebuilding the forests that are so fundamental to our identity as a nation. 

When you mention tree planting, many people reply that they’ve either done it of know someone who has. But very little has been written about what happens in tree planting camps. When I first started thinking about pursuing this project, it was because I knew that before I went for the first time, I certainly didn’t have a clear picture of what planting was. 

Throughout my interviews, specific issues popped up. They were things that I had seen or experienced myself, but rarely if ever did those issues have anything to do with the actual physical act of planting a tree. There was so much more than tree planting to this story.

From the party culture, the drugs and alcohol, the unreported or neglected sexual harassment and assault allegations and to the feelings of hopelessness for the environment, there were a lot of trends in the lived experiences of tree planters. And that was what I wanted to give life to in my collection of articles.

And to do that, I had to make choices as a journalist. I chose to write in first person, but not to turn the entire series into a personal narrative. In large measure because of the non-responsiveness of representatives of the corporations that profit from tree planting. I made the choice to leave the companies and their representatives out of the storytelling. And by extension, I decided not to name names or identify companies that were responsible for the tree planting operations that are mentioned throughout the story. 

Tree planting is often also a relatively privileged industry. Camps are often made up of a mix of “lifer’s" who’ve made a career in the industry and university students. And being able to attend university merits a certain amount of privilege. It’s also an industry that’s often dominated by white individuals. In some of my conversations, the topic of race did come up. However, it wasn’t something I felt I could accurately represent with the stories I heard and the space I had. I also wondered whether I was the right person to be telling those stories. 

My focus is exclusively on the planters and their untold experiences with the underbelly of a job that many view as a rite of passage in Canada, a country of forests and trees. 

Stepping into the remains of one of those forests, a clear-cut piece of land, called a “block,” was one of the most heartbreaking moments as a tree planter. There were hardly any trees, piles of branches and the ground was littered with coffee cups and pop cans. 

Many people go planting because they want to make a difference on the environment. And the act of planting of tree can feel like that. As I mention throughout the series, Natural Resources Canada reports that trees cover over 400 million hectares of land from coast to coast in this country. Most of these forests are publicly-owned, with private ownership, including logging companies, accounting for only six per cent. Each year, around 750,000 hectares are harvested. Only about half of that is planted back that same year. The planting industry is constantly in a race to keep up with the cutting down of trees, and it started way behind. 

Over the years, legislation compelled logging companies to make promises of regrowth. But for some, simple planting is not enough. What trees do you plant? Where do you plant them? How many species of trees do you plant in a given area? These are all questions relating to how we do sustainable forestry and what that even means. 

Those who’ve planted for decades have noticed changes. However, for many, planting is just a job. Some planters become what we call “lifers,” who’ve made a career out of the trade. Others, like me, spent the summers in their undergrad planting and making money to go back to school. It’s one of the more grueling summer jobs, but also one of the most rewarding. 

Someone once explained to me a theory that there are two types of fun. One is simply enjoyable while you do it but not particularly memorable after it happened. Tree planting falls into the second category of fun: in the midst, you wish you were doing anything else, yet, after you’re done, it contains some of your best memories. 

One thing I tell people if they ask me about doing it themselves is that it will be the hardest thing you do but one of the best. And I warn people that to be successful, you must be able to interact with only your thoughts for eight to 10 hours a day. 

For the past two years, COVID-19 has given most of us a better idea of what isolation can feel like. For months out of the year, tree planters live almost entirely isolated from the rest of society, often living in bush camps located hours down logging roads. They live in a specific version of isolation, for better or for worse. 

The physical isolation from society and the mental isolation from others while planting can be extremely taxing. Tree planting is a physically demanding job that requires you to spend all hours on your feet, bent over at the waist and carrying upwards of 30 lbs of weight on your hips and shoulders. Many of those hours are entirely alone. 

While I tree planted in northern Ontario and across Manitoba into Saskatchewan, I listened to a playlist of five songs on repeat every day. 

1.     On Top of the World – Imagine Dragons 

2.     Steal my Girl – One Direction 

3.     Thunder – Imagine Dragons 

4.     Kites – Scott Helman

5.     Believer – Imagine Dragons 

It lasted 17 minutes before the playlist started over again. 

Planting trees is monotonous work. Most planters put in an average of 2000 trees every day. “High ballers,” or those with high production will often put in above 3000. That’s an average of four to six trees each minute of a regular eight-hour workday. 

For me, having predictable music made the work mindless. Why exercise my mind when I was busy exercising my body? 

In my reporting, I’ve heard everything from days-long planting playlists, entire podcast series and audio books as ways to stay sane during the day. 

But sanity isn’t something anyone should anticipate while tree planting. 

I first met Dale David Kendall through Facebook when I posted about planting’s party culture. He reached out to me to talk about substance use disorder and planting’s contribution to his relationship with drugs and alcohol. For him, the isolation and hard work keeps him from falling into habits. Planting is a different kind of addiction.

For others, however, having what we called a “ripper,” or a camp-wide party, is a way to let loose. However, when substance use becomes a coping mechanism in the bush, it can carry over into the off season. Many of the people I spoke to said they didn’t realize how serious it was until they were out of the bush. 

In a lot of cases, what camp you’re in dictates the culture you’ll live for the summer. Some camps focus on early bedtimes and production. There are some companies that have dry camps and others with camps or crews that tailor to LGBTQ+ individuals or spirituality. Others have parties every night.

Sexual harassment and assault are a by-product of the party culture and isolation. Airika Owen is still tabulating the results of her online survey on experiences of sexual assault or harassment in planting camps. But data collected thus far reveals an epidemic of cases and a failure on the part of planting companies to properly implement training and reaction practices. 

Shortly after this survey got national news attention, it fell off the radar. This was when I realized that I wanted to look deeper into the issues I’d seen and experienced while tree planting. 

That meant making the difficult decision, as a reporter and also as a woman, to talk publicly about the night I was sexually assaulted. I chose not to name my attacker or to provide many details. But I thought it was vital to share this personal experience.

Tree planting culture lacks representation in the media. What little coverage there is usually relates to the environmental side of the industry or the act of planting a tree itself.

By looking at the planting camp culture side of the industry, my hope was to shed light on how people are navigating these issues and what the faces of planting in Canada look like.