Tree Planting

 Another story from my days in Orleans for your reading enjoyment on a wet day. (First rain here in 14 days)  This might bring back memories for some of you old tree planters.

My first couple of winters (1971-72) on the Orleans Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest involved working on a tree planting crew for about a month.    It was not our favorite job since it was usually wet, cold and miserable working conditions.   There were six of us, including a young forester who was the foreman.    We were expected to plant 500 trees/day/man.   We had to wear rain gear most days and it didn’t seem to matter as we got wet anyhow from rain dripping down our necks or from the sweat of our bodies.   The tool of the trade was a hoedad, a long handled tool with a long straight blade used to make the hole to stick the tree seedling into.  It was also used for grubbing out a planting site when necessary.    After arriving on the job site and loading up our tree bags strapped to our waist, we proceeded to space ourselves about 10 feet apart and began planting trees.   The forester would return to the truck on days it was raining.  This did not sit right with one of the older crew members, a log scaler who went back to the truck and told the forester in a threatening manner that we are all here to plant trees, rain or shine!  The forester reluctantly joined us.  At noon we all retreated back to the truck, consumed our lunches, loaded up our tree bags and resumed where we left off.  

The units that were assigned to us were plantations that had been previously planted, but the survival rate was poor and plantation surveys showed these units inadequately stocked.   The newly logged and burned clear-cut units were put up for bid for tree planting contactors, where they could usually plant a thousand trees/day/man.   Contractors were assigned a Forest Service inspector, who delivered the tree seedlings from a freezer unit on the station to the job site and followed the tree planters inspecting a certain percentage of the planted trees for proper spacing, poor planting practices, better known as a J or L root and how well the trees were compacted in the ground.   For a week I was assigned as an inspector to a contracting company with the name of:  J & L Root Company.   This crew was made up of ex-convicts, who had been in a state conservation camp operated by the California Division of Forestry.   Whenever I came across a poorly planted tree it was reported to the crew foreman, who in an untactful manner informed the member of the crew responsible for this.   At times I thought some of the crew members might resort to their old ways and do me some harm.   At the end of the day we all went our separate ways, the crew back to their camp and me back to Orleans, thankful to have survived another day.