Puddles and Puppies and Planting

Ahh... It feels good to finally get some film developed. Always a treat to see the negatives and prints for the first time. These images were taken with my Flexaret.

I'm doing a little summer retrospective here, but why not look back on the sunny days as winter closes in?

Joel

Camping between contracts on the way to Keremeos, B.C.

Peanut

Chilling on a bridge over-looking a frothy foamy fast-flowing river.

All those flattened boxes were full of seedlings at the beginning of the day. During this one day, tens of thousands of trees were planted by the crew on this block. We were planting under and around the burnt remains of yesteryear's forest fires.

We don't usually use quads to transport trees, but this block was unique. We had about an hour walk in (and out) due to deactivated roads. Without quads it would have been a heli show and our wages would have dropped dramatically to compensate—one more reason why our company rocks. 

Keremeos, B.C.

After some crazy hot and dry days we finally got a serious thunderstorm to ring in the end of the contract. We took the brilliant rainbow as a sign and got out of there as fast as we could. Who wants to sleep in a hotel when you can sleep in the wilderness anyway? We figured there was no moisture left in the sky since the potential there had been for rain had ended up on the pavement. 

Thanks for getting your feet wet Joel! 

And in honour of Joel and his blog, I'm going to end with a quote:

You've gotta live young to die old. 

(If it isn't a quote yet, it is now)

Tree Planting, BC, Canada

Another year of tree planting has come and gone. That's where I've been for the past two and a half months. It was a shorter season than usual, but I could be back on the block for a stint in the fall... possibly.

We had an amazing year. Planting was more or less business as usual, but the camp-life was unreal and that helped make work a pleasure 99% of the time. What a crew of amazing, happy, halarious people. Plenty of possitive attitudes on the block, adventures of all sorts on the days off, and parties to write home about (excluding some details) on the nights off. There was love and laughter in the air even on the days when the sun was a no-show.

Since I split my time between two passions, tree-planting and photography, I find it difficult to keep up with my photo blogs while working long days that end with exhausted nights. However, one day the two careers will merge into one when I put together a photographic presentation of my life in the bush. Once that happens, I think It will be easier to understand why I love my life so much. And I can't wait to share the details with everyone.

In the meantime, I hope a few images keep some people intrigued. It's all I can manage to share at present... I'm in the process of replacing a warn-out computer!

  

These are the tree seedlings we plant. Typically 15 to a bundle and 180-420 in a box depending on species and size. Note: These are pine seedlings.

 

Tree planting on Panorama Ski hill in Invermere, BC. With a golf course below and ski runs beside the block, it was easy to get distracted. I found 24 golf balls and one of the other girls found a lost ski.

 

The "mess tent", a.k.a. "cook tent", a.k.a. "cyber cafe". Pretty comfy-cozy for a tent.

The "dry tent". It would be virtually empty after a couple warm sunny days in a row. Needless to say, it was packed full of wet clothing and boots for almost the entire spring.

Alberta

I can't seem to separate my love for photography from my love for Silviculture. It's a continuous tug-of-war between the two sources of income. Lucky for me, they both pay the bills and they both make me happy.

I've been working in reforestation for 6 seasons as a tree planter, but I've only accepted work in the winter on a couple occasions. This past month, for the second time ever, I decided to leave home for a chance to go beetle probing. Funny job title, beetle prober, and misleading too. As fun as it sounds, the job does not require any probes to be inserted into any beetles. Instead, my co-workers and I are hired to probe through the forest in search of Mountain Pine Beetles in areas determined from the air. Helicopters and air planes spot visual signs of recent attack; red dead pine trees, and we go to those trees looking for current attacks. Usually by foot, but often by quad or snowmobile, we approach the attack sites with the aid of compasses and GPS units. Then we mark trees that show signs of burrowed beetles who are sleeping dormant, suspended within the tree trunk. Since they do not take flight during the cold winter months, they are vulnerable. The marked trees are later fallen and burned which takes care of the little critters one tree at a time.

I don't like the idea of marking trees to be doomed for death, but if it wasn't for the chain and fire, the beetles would eventually kill them. And, although the beetles are merely trying to survive and reproduce like any other creature on earth, they are severely damaging our forests.

However, don't be fooled, Mountain Pine Beetles are doing far less damage than us human beings. As far out as we get from civilization each morning, two and a half hours from it most days, we are still far from escaping into the wild. In fact, there is very little wilderness left and not even a bit of it would I consider pristine. Industrial activity exists so thoroughly in these parts of Alberta that we frequently encountered rush hour 90 minutes away from any paved road or highway. It's a strange place this part of the province. I've never been somewhere so remote yet so largely industrial as the ice roads, the frozen arteries, pulsing through the foothills and boreal forests of central and northern Alberta.

 

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