Career – Tree Planting 
Tree Planters - Stuart and Tim – are part of the planting crew.
There are 15 planters in a full planting crew, often drawn from university students who have the endurance for hard work. The crew works five days a week, Monday to Friday, and is paid as a team for the number of hectares they plant that week and for the quality of their planting. Pay is excellent, but a planter earns every penny. A crew is expected to plant 45 hectares in a week — that’s about 100,000 trees!
The crew chief checks the quality of the planting daily. Trees should be planted 2 m. (7 ft.) apart. If there are rocks or puddles the spacing adjusts as the planter finds another growing spot. The quality supervisor looks to see the seedlings are securely in the ground with their roots covered. If seedlings are dropped or found with their root plugs uncovered they could dry out and die. The survival rate for seedlings in an Irving planted field is expected to be over 95%. On its own woodlands the company plants more than 7 species of trees grown at its own nurseries.
Each planting field has its own prescription, usually requiring a mix of tree species that is naturally suitable for that site. In the field that Stuart and Tim were working, they are planting a mixture of red spruce, white spruce and white pine. Planters may carry as many as 2 or 3 different species in their planting harnesses.
Emily is carrying trays of trees for planting
Job Requirements & Pay
Silviculture forester Kevin says it has been proven that tree planting requires more energy than any other forestry job. “After a summer tree planting a person has the stamina and the muscles as if they had spent every day in a conditioning gym program. They’re ready to play soccer or hockey or any sport.
“It takes about a week to get the body and mind able to meet the challenge, and get into the rhythm of planting. Workers have to be up early, ready to go for an hour’s ride to the planting site, and they are usually planting by sun-up. The day usually ends mid-afternoon with the heat of the day. That sounds like a short day, but it’s filled with black flies, heat, walking over rough terrain, bending and carrying. We expect each planter to plant 1,500 trees per day. You can see why they have to stay focused. A crew of 15 will plant from 95,000 - 100,000 trees in a week on 45 hectares. On some sites an experienced crew can plant 150,000 trees in a week. They’re paid by quantity and quality. In a week an experienced crew will earn $500 - $700 per planter.
Tree planting college student earning next year's
tuition
“For full time students - at high school, university or community college - our company offers a scholarship bonus if the student planter stays with us all season. For high school students it’s $250, for university or college students $500 — paid to the registrar of their university or college to help cover their tuition. High school students receive a certificate, and know their scholarship is waiting for them when they go on to post-secondary education. Then their accumulated awards will be paid towards their tuition costs. In 2002 the company gave out $34,250 in student planters’ scholarships.”