Adventures afoot
June 26, 2015 10:58 am Leave your thoughts
So in the interim between the spring plant and the summer plant which is starting at the start of July Taylor and I helped out the harvest planning and operations teams. Like I said last week, creek crossing inspections were a part of that. We also joined the area supervisors to help them with block recon and layout. I have to say it’s a good thing our cruise vests have lots of pockets to carry all of the flagging tape that’s needed, seriously, a couple of those days I felt like a pack mule. We got to see lots of different areas in and around Slave Lake. South of the town here there are foot hills with a boreal type with lots of Lodge-pole pine, and north of town there is higher percentage of aspen.
So Taylor and I were doing creek crossing checks and we came across this little fella. The pup was just sunning aside the quad trail. We came rumbling up the road and she or he, not sure which, just sat there and watched us for about 10 minutes. The whole time we were there, we both were wondering where mom was and had our heads on swivels watching for any movement in the grasses and shrubs around us. But how freakin adorable is it?! Anyways, we moved along and finished the area and found some spectacular views from a hilltop of the surrounding area and Slave Lake, in an old cut block. Bright blue skies with billowy clouds coming off the lake, and framed by the boles of a few standing aspen left as seed trees.
On my days off I like to relax and watch a movie or two, go to the beach just out of town here, it is a gorgeous beach being in the top 10 in Alberta. And my roommate and I fish at least once a week here. Caught some good sized pickerel and pike just off the pier, and I’m not exaggerating how fisherfolk like to do. Had a nice pickerel fish fry that night. And on Wednesday’s after work its tradition that we go to the taphouse across the street for cheap wings which are monstrous, each one probably scaling in at a pound a piece and play crib with me winning (sorry Adam).
To make sure we had a meaningful experience here at APL and change up our routine, one of the supervisors lead a training session for us and the area supervisors on plot cruises and we had an open discussion on what trees would be good for the mill. For example, what constitutes a small vs large veneer tree? At what point is it no longer feasible to harvest a site if there is a low density or it’s too difficult to get the trees? I felt like I added a solid 1% to the total conversation only because most of the mill details were a little over our (summer staff) heads, but I did have a lot of good points on site type and tree qualities from my last summer doing PSP work in Ontario which were well appreciated by the more senior attendees.
Lastly, I would like to pass on some wisdom that I acquired in the last few days. For those of you that carry bear spray in the field, if you can, do not wear it on the front of your cruise vest when quading. I’ve always left the canister in the back of vehicles when driving but never really thought about it when using an ATV. Well, I definitely learned the hard way this week. I had the canister clipped in and pocketed in the front of my vest, and had it there all day and every other time we have been out in the field and while using the ATV’s. I’ve kept it there for quick and easy access. So, while we were doing creek crossing inspections all morning on the quads, (insert GoPro video) with lots of mud and rough spots, it just so happened that while going out to the end of the second road we hit a rough patch of rutted road and I got jostled a little bit. Nothing by far as bad as some of the stuff we had driven through that day or that week, but by chance, the canister was punctured in my vest and because it was in a pocket, it sprayed up and into my helmet. I’ve always been that lucky… Anyways, it was very, very unpleasant and I would not recommend it. So yeah, my two cents, have your bear juice either stowed or behind you while using off-road vehicles otherwise you may just end up wearing it and becoming a nice spicy entrée for Smokey.
