Snow Day, Wildlife & First Days on the Tree Plant
22 juin 2015 12:00 Laisser vos pensées
My first few weeks here at West Fraser have been filled with lots of detailed training, which continued in to my second week. The biggest danger that we face during our day-to-day work is driving. In a single day the conditions can vary considerably- dust, traffic and rough roads are all things to look out for. As such, West Fraser made a concerted effort to ensure that summer students were comfortable and competent driving the logging roads for work. For us, this entailed taking a defensive driving course in Calgary. We were taught general good driving habits during the city portion of the drive, and more technical driving manoeuvres during the track portion of the course. Some of the skills that we practiced included entering a ditch safely, threshold braking and how to recover from a skid. These skills came in handy for me very soon after. One of the days I was working, the forecast called for rain. However, when my supervisor and I arrived at our field site at a higher elevation outside of town, the snow began to fall. The planters called it quits for the day- drenched with wet snow and near hypothermic, the conditions were terrible for planters and seedlings alike. By the time we were ready to head back for the day, the snow was a few inches deep, making for the most difficult conditions I have ever encountered. Thankfully, the training that I completed in Calgary combined with patient and careful driving, ensured that we returned to town safely.
Throughout this week, we were also trained to complete our main job for the next few months. As planting quality checkers, our job is to verify that the trees are planted according to West Fraser’s specifications to ensure a viable future forest. To do so, we go into an area that has been planted and establish a random plot centre by planting our shovel in the ground. Then, using a plot cord attached to the shovel, we walk in a circle around the plot centre and mark each seedling. We then go around once more and check each individual tree for quality- a fault is called when a tree is planted too deep, too shallow, planted in unsuitable soil, etc. We then tally the number of trees that we found in the plot and record any faults. In this way, we calculate the tree planters’ quality and use this to ensure West Fraser’s needs are being met while providing constructive advice to the planting foreman. This past week, I also met the tree planters for the first time, and I already have so much respect for the job that they do. The tree planters live in a very simple tent camp. They plant in all weather- rain, snow, wind; covering around 20 km a day carrying about 40 lbs. of trees at a time. They definitely earn an honest living, and they are a fun group of people to work with.
The past two weeks have also been filled with tons of wildlife sightings. I saw my first grizzly bears, a mother and a two-year-old cub, feasting on roadside dandelions. I was also fortunate to see some bighorn sheep ram horns- quite a sight and sound! In addition, I have spotted several black bears and countless elk and deer. So far I am really enjoying working on the tree plant and taking part in the other tasks that we complete with the silviculture foresters.
Snow on May long weekend (May 16, 2015)
