Sure, it’s big money but It's not all a bed of roses _ By DANA HUBLER IT'S BEEN cold and wet since you started work at 6 this morn- ing. You come back ‘home’ to Jind your tent blown over and your sleeping bag soaked. _That’s the worst case scenario ~ in the life of a treeplanter accord- ing to Pele, one of the planting crew. members working at Humphery Creek. “"Foday, I’m in a wondering mood,” he says, “I’m wondering what the hell I’m doing here.’’ What he’s doing here is making money - money like few other jobs pay students, , “This is the best way of making lots of money in a short time,” says Pete, a student who recently graduated with a criminology dip- loma from Calgary’s Mount Royal College with hopes of bec- oming a police officer. He makes an average of $150- $200 per day. Because planting is piecework, Pete mainly controls how much he makes. By working harder and planting lots of quality trees in soft ground, he could make $300 or more 2 day. Planting also appeals to Pete because it gives him a chance to live’ and work in natural sur- roundings. “It’s really nice to get out of the city,’’ Pete says. ‘Tt doesn’t matter what you look like be- cause the people out here are real- ly easy-going and down-to- earth.” is been sunny and breezy since you started working at 8 this morning, there are no bugs swarining around your eyes and you made $300. This is the best treeplanting scenario, says Aldona, a four-year veteran of the business and part of the Humphery Creck crew. Today, she is covering cotton- wood stems with vole guards and the best case scenario is distant because the work is slow. “Days like this make you wonder why you do this,’ she says. ‘But, really, there are no other jobs where I can make--~ enough in six weeks of work to travel the rest of the summer and go to school in the fall.” In six wecks, she hopes to get a cheque for $7,000. While the Humphery Creek contract left them close enough to Terrace to live in a motel, Aldona prefers living with her crew in a camp. “Living in a motel, everyone just kind of does their own thing in their rooms,”’ she says. ‘You gel to know everyone so much It's not TREEPLANTERS WANTED: people seeking mindless manuai labour need not apply. So the ads go, says forest ser- vice silviculturist Rod Meredith. _ “The planting community has had to realize that the business is changing,’? Meredith says. “It’s not just planting anymore because it is so much more diversified.’’ A trial site near Humphery Creek is one example of that diversification. The SOha area is marked for re- habilltation by replanting with marketable trees, ‘The area was logged and replanted about 25 ycars ago but the regrowth was not up to cur- rent standards, Meredith says. An outbreak of the spruce leader weevil, an insect that targets spruce trees only, caused forked branches making the logs poor quality for processing. The excess alder also made the laid less useful than it could be, Meredith says, as there is no cur- rent market for alder in this area. "The forest service, after looking at the potential of the land, de- cided to cut down most of the ex- {sting growth and replant, A mixed species is now being planted in the area. Per hectare, they want the land planted with . 1,400 cottonwood and 1,100 con- ifers (40 per cent cedar, 40 per cent balsam and 20 per cent spruce). Cottonwood and conifers have been found growing together nat- urally in valley bottom sites like Humphery Creck, allowing nature to guide their decision, says Meredith. . To ensure that 2,500 trees are planted per hectare, forest service tree-checkets like Cheryl Morton mark out. plots with a.3.99m radius (one-fifticth of a hectare) PLASTIC TUBE held by treeplanter Aldona will be nlaced overa 2 newly- planted cottonwood stem ta help protect the young growth from mouse-like voles. Just in the background is a brush mat, which protects conifers from competing underbrush. better when you live in a tent bes- ide them, eat together, hang out together.’’ Planters like Ian wonder icss about why he’s here. *Tt’s kind of romantic — we're like this caravan of people going from forest to forest,’’ says Ian. “The lifestyle is like no other.’’ If given the choice between tak- ing an office job paying $300 a day and treeplanting, he says, treeplanting would always win, Carl, a rookie-planter and stu- dent at the University of Calgary, started this season fo see firsthand what his treeplanting | buddies were talking about.’ *F found out it’s really hard work,”’ he says. ‘I’m sore at the end of the day but know I’ve real- ly done something,”’ Aside from the physicak strain. he finds planting very peaceful, giving him lots of time — for thought and self-awareness. “T’m enduring it, hoping it will build character,”’ says. Carl. “‘At least I’m still able to look at it all and laugh.’” And as Carl says, *‘Planting’s not always complete heil.’’ AFTER SIX years as a planter and four years as a crew . foreman, Stephane Bedard knows how to hire them. “J'm pretty direct in the in- terview,!” says Bedard, foreman of 25 planters work- ing for Summit Reforestation in the Humphery Creek area. “T don’t want someone who will be whining all season.”’ He first asks _ potential planters if they really want to make big money. “A good planter has a posi- tive attitude even on the bad days,’ says Bedard, who has a University of Calgary degree in outdoor pursuits, ‘‘Everyone else on the crew is going through the same pain and the last thing we need is a -com- plainer.” The right stuff _ '¥ou have to devote ‘some a good imagination.”* Planters must be ready for monotonous and transient work, able to find a way to motivate themselves for 10-11 hour days and adjust to moving often. Many of the ‘‘lifers”’, people who plant every summer to pay for travel or school, have learned to survive by develop- ing strong minds, says Bedard. days to your family or some- one you love to motivate your- self,’ he says. ‘Although money can motivate, you need Necessilies include a warm sleeping bag, well-sealed tent and good boots, Bedard says. Top of the list is a walkman, gocd music and plenty of bat- ieries. as easy as it looks and count the number of trees. By checking a minimum of 10 plots per hectare and averaging the number of trees she finds planted per plot, says Morton, she knows if the planters are follow- ing the plan, She also checks the quality of the planting by digging up al least 10 per cent of the trees. When checking a cottonwood, she looks for at least one-third of the stem to be underground, Straightness of the tree, minimal damage to the stem and tight dirt- packing to keep the roots from drying out. Planters are paid based on the quality Morton calculates. If a crew’s quality is below 60 percent, forexample, the planters do not get paid. Any quality of 92.6 per cent and above grants the crew full pay. Planters are also part of another experiment besides planting the mixed species. Every cottonwood tree planted on the site must be covered with a vole guard, a plastic tube to pre- vent ihe mouse-Iike pests from cating the tree. About half of the conifers are being planted with a brush mat surrounding them. The mat, a green plastic sheet similar to a garbage bag, is staked to the ground around the trees to kill the brush by trapping heat. The mat allows a tree to estab- lish itself without the. brush tak- ing over, Marton says. - Within seven years the mat breaks down, giving the conifers the four years needed to establish themselves without competition. By mixing the species and providing protection, this’ land will now. yleld at least two ‘har- vests in the next 100 years, SILVICULTURIST ROD Meredith uses a tape to mark out size of a sample planting plot before checking to see if the right number of trees have been planted. Meredith says. The cottonwood can be. harvested in 40 years, while the. conifers will be har- ‘vested in 100 years. This: ds the first stand in ‘Kalum District planted with both cottonwood and © conifers,’’ he says. ‘It's a project we’re proud of and will be monitoring | for the next seven years.” sag sore soe ae Tee p> oocuern de The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 1, 1994 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Land offer an insult Dear Sir: How can you suggest (editorial May 11, 1994) that the offer of three per cent as ‘“‘crucial negotialing positions and counter of- fers’? This was not an offer, it is an insult. If you’ve read a book called ‘*The Devil and Mr. Duncan’” then you'd realize that federal and provincial negotiators today still have the same mentality when it comes lo dealing with aboriginal peoples as their forefathers before Confedcration.- The picture the federal and provincial governments are painting is that the negotiations are progressing very well. I think it’s. very im- portant for other tribal groups lo know what is on the table. A reality check: What is or was the difference between the apart- heid system in South Africa and the Indian Act. When did we have to paint a picture for you that aboriginal people of Canada are vic- lims or oppressed people. Get a grip and re-study your history. The history in your high school days was not reality. Your forefathers have a history of trealy breaking since they were able lo form governments, And you think you have the right to criti- cize an aboriginal leader for disclosing a minor detail? When your forefathers broke treaties it meant the loss of land for the aboriginal people of B.C. that is largely unrecoverable today. The most damaging to aboriginal people, and without consulta- tion, was the Royal Proclamation of 1763. I suggest you read a book called ‘Surviving As Indians’” by Menno Bolt. Read and un- derstand our Frustration and indignation. There is no misunderstanding on our part as to who is dragging their feet. The provincial government has been doing just that until very recently. Then came the treaty commission which in my mind is another delay tactic in addressing the issue of land claims. Those .tribal groupings whose land claims were accepted by the federal government as late as 1978 have been pegged back at the starling gate. So please take some cross-cultural training to understand both sides of the issue or forever hold your pen and tongue about some- thing you know nothing of. Tell me, very truthfully, how you would feel if you were a white resident in Nelson Mandela’s homeland? Is this your fear? Do you _and other third party interests really think this is on our agenda? Albert Robinson Kitamaat, B.C. Not very productive ‘Dear Sirs. Your editorial of May 11, 1994 was in my view extremely ‘speculative about the Nisga’a treaty negotiations. I do not believe _that such speculation is either productive or positive, The settlement of the Nisga’a land question is long overdue. It is in the best interest of the Nisga’ a Nation, residents of northwest . B.C. and all people in the province. The objective of the parties to this negotiation is to achi¢ve an eq- ‘ uitable and lasting agrcement. We will continue to pursue that end with our best efforts. The province has made and continues to make.a great deal of ef- fort to consult and seek the views of local government, industry and interest groups in northwest B.C. toward a Nisga’a settlement. The Nisga’a treaty settlement will be consistent with the provin- cial vision of post-treaty British Columbia, The treaty will be fair _ and affordable and will help lead alt British Columbians to greater ‘economic-certainty.i; Ba Mepbapyh gs toa tthe oct eon os John Cashore, Minister, Aboriginal Affairs Respect needed An open letter to all employers: ie Recently, a friend of mine was involved in a serious logging acct: dent. It happened carly on a Friday morning. I visited him in the hospital Jater that evening and the following night, - In one of our conversations, I had asked if any management or ac- cident representative had been up to see him and he replied, “*No, just family and friends”. Needless to say, I was appalled that this large company did not have a representative for these types of situations. This happens far too often, So, let’s get it together and start showing: Some respect and con- cem for your ur employees. ‘ : s . ne ; “Norm Prest, More letters Page A& THE START IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ Six people dead SIX PEOPLE died in a plane crash last week. The plane took off from Stewart on May 25. It carried a pilot and five passengers. The passengers went to look at glaciers. But it ran into bad weather. A search started when the. plane did not return to Siewart, It was found in the evening on May 25. The plane had crashed into the side of a mountain. Two bodies were found right away. But bad weather kept searchers away from the site for days. The pilot’s name was Dave Blais. He was from Siewart, The passengers were from Port Coquitlam, New Zealand, Los Angeles, Australia and from London in England. Seal hunt wanted FISHERMEN SAY there are too many seals in the Skeena River. And they eat too many fish. The seals also damage fishing nets. . So the Tsimshian (SIM SHUN) Tribal Council wants to start hunting seals. It says the seal meat can be sold, The skins can be made into purses and wallets. Skeena River seals were hunted until 1970. Since then the numbers of seals has gone up a lot. Experts think _ there may be more than 1,800 seals in the Skeena River. Seals swim way up the Skeena River past Terrace. ~ The tribal council must get the OK for a hunt from the _ federal government. More studies r must also be done.