"The Tree Planter. What is it? Where does a tree planter work? Is it a real profession? What does his everyday life look like? We explored these questions and introduce you to: The tree planter.
A tree planter? That's a thing?
Indeed, there is, and we at NIKIN are extremely happy about it. Tree planters are people who - full-time or part-time - plant trees. How does one come to work as a tree planter? What does the work look like? What is the daily life of these amazing people who replenish forests all over the world?
We looked into it and can tell you a little bit about it.
How to become a tree planter?
Well, it's not really an apprenticeship. Most planters have come into contact with the job at some point through acquaintances or life partners, because the companies that plant trees almost no longer hire "beginners". After a few days and weeks as a newcomer, with aching bones and muscles and in the big "family" of colleagues, you eventually start to love the work. Being outside. In nature. Doing something meaningful. However, many growers agree that you have to keep an eye on the financial aspect. For many, the first "season" is not yet worthwhile; beginners are simply not nimble enough to get a tree into the ground. But from the second season onwards, it becomes increasingly worthwhile. For all your idealism, you have to be able to live from it.
Where do tree planters work anyway?
Basically, there are forest reforestation activities all over the world, but they are more or less extensive. Canada stands out, with extensive activities in British Columbia and the province of Ontario, for example. Since the areas of operation are globally dispersed, tree planters can be permanently employed - if they want to be. However, many of them work seasonally for two to four months.
The everyday life of a tree planter
A normal working day for a tree planter starts very early - often at five o'clock. For the Canadian tree planters, this means getting up in freezing temperatures even in spring and summer. After a sumptuous two-hour buffet breakfast, it's off to the luxury bus ... wait, stop, that was humour! The normal tree planter sees to it that he gets a breakfast and a coffee, because at six o'clock it is already time to collect. Before that, you have to make sure that you pack everything you need for the day, i.e. water, lunch, sun cream, rain protection, planting gloves...you have to get into a routine here. Because tree planters are always working. No matter if it rains, hails, snows or the sun burns from the sky. Newbies quickly learn to tape their shoelaces so they don't have to keep tying their shoes, and to wrap tape around their fingers in their work gloves. You also have to get used to the elements, and to the wildlife. It is perfectly normal to be accompanied by insects most of the time, and in some parts of the world the fauna can get bigger - Canadian tree planters can expect to have curious brown bears looking over their shoulders.
Buses distribute the workers to their posts in the morning. Mostly, groups of 30 - 40 tree planters work together and are dropped off in teams of two. Together with the trees. Many trees. While beginners are already proud and happy when they get 100 trees into the ground per day, experienced planters manage considerably more - 600 trees, for example.
A back-breaking job for the environment
That one is tired in the evening goes without saying. Nevertheless, many tree planters - and these are people who work for a living, not out of idealism - feel that they are making an important contribution. That their work helps to minimise environmental damage.
But probably the most rewarding factor of the job is that you learn to overcome enormous challenges. The rookies, who struggle with aches and pains all over their bodies in the first few days, feel at the end of the season that they have proved something to themselves. Because it is hard, difficult work, done in all weathers. A back-breaking job. Those who stick with it love it. When they go "home" to the city for a while, they miss the trees, the sound of the wind in the branches, the immediacy of the weather and the harmony with nature. The feeling of being grounded.
Tree planter - an important unknown job
Why should we plant more trees? Trees are important. They provide us with clean, oxygen-rich air to breathe and give us and numerous animal species a natural habitat. Trees counteract soil erosion and the greenhouse effect. We leave trees to our children.
Experienced tree planters have planted more than half a million trees in the course of their work. Let's thank them for that!
