This page was created to help treeplanters find work. On another page you'll find links to
many treeplanting
companies and where you can approach them yourself, while this page is reserved for
treeplanting companies who want to specify they are looking for positions to fill, or
where you can be informed directly as positions become available.
Mobile Phone and Email Notification of
Available Jobs
In the bush and can't
get to internet to check this page for available jobs? Working on a contract you'd rather
get away from and want to be informed of the latest offers? Or just want to be instantly
informed as soon as an offer hits the table so that you can be one of the first to
respond? If you have a mobile phone and a signal where you are planting, no need to worry!
Sometimes planters get sick, others have to leave or were not able to show up, or perhaps
a contract drags on longer than it should and the company needs some positions filled
pronto. For such cases the treeplanting company can contact you immediately concerning
available offers. There are two ways this can happen:
you submit your telephone number(s) (and email, included
for free) so that the contractor can contact you immediately as soon as some openings
surface. All contractors looking for positions to fill will be given the list and it is up
to them to contact you. Names and contact
information will be stored in the order that I receive them;
if you prefer to keep your contact details private or want to be notified in addition to the method above, I can send you an email notification and a text message to your mobile. This includes one free test message to make sure it works.
For this I ask an administration fee of 30$ for the treeplanting year, payable in advance. Please contact me for further details.
Some treeplanters quit, got sick, or your treeplanting contract not turning out as it was supposed to? Desperate for treeplanters to help you finish on time? Fear no further. Contact me and I'll send the word out to help you asap! Alternatively, if you're in the bush, don't have time to check your email often and need planters as quickly as possible, you can send an advance payment of 50$, by credit card, PayPal or in a number of ways to our Bank of America account as explained through the link to the left. Email me all the info you want published. I'll put a flashing banner on this page with a link to the details of the treeplanting contract, your contact details, any other information you want to post, and I'll contact all the available treeplanters who are looking for work.
On the tree
planting companies page you'll find the contact information to many of them, but
others took some scouring to dig up. Busy with school and packing up things for the summer
season? One option is to let me contact all the companies for you. Each email is sent out
individually through a dedicated server to ensure delivery. I can send an email to all of
them for you, or by the province or provinces of your choice. The emails will be sent to
more than 70 treeplanting companies in your name, with your reply address, and with your
text of choice. An easy and safe bet for only 30$.
The rest of this page provides some basic information about treeplanting jobs.
I will go into this in greater detail. In the meantime, you can go to the main hardcoretreeplanters.com site link located at the top of this page for the basic information which has been prepared so far. Basically you will need treeplanting boots (preferably at least two pairs - one with cleats and a light pair for less demanding terrain), a treeplanting shovel, and proper treeplanting clothing.
If you plan to tree plant in British Colombia, Canada, the treeplanting season can run longer than in other provinces due to the moderate climate near the coast. This is referred to as coastal planting, but it is generally much more difficult and requires a seasoned planter who knows all the tricks of area planting
Jobs in Canadian Forests
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Jobs in Africa
I would like to get a tree planting job in Canada this summer. I used some of the contacts on your site and some from other sources and I sent about 80 mails to the tree planting companies. The answere were all negative, because their crew is already full or it is too late. Do you have any idea what could help me to find a tree planting job for this summer ? I have read at your site that once you were tree planting job for 8 months straight. How is it possible when the season is only in the spring and beginning of summer ? Is there any kind of job, treeplanting job for which I can apply at this time ? and so there is more months during which is possible to work there other than tree plant?
I live in Slovakia, Europe and will be 20 this summer. This week I have finished my highschool studying, so I´m available from the next week. I wanted to go fishing to Alaska, but I haven´t found a job for me. I have no tree planting job experience, but I know that it is a hard work and not for everybody. I have a positive relationship to nature and I´m used to sleeping in the nature and to the other living conditions, because I often go to nature for several days just with my sleeping bag. I´m exited about the treeplanting and the possibility of earning good money.
Hi Tomas, cool you are from Slovakia, cause I was actually born in Czech! The best way to apply for a tree planting job is to start early. Perhaps even in the fall of the previous year. Tree planting companies bid on contracts, usually need to finish them by a certain time, otherwise they might be subjected to fines, and then move onto the next treeplanting contract to keep their crew constantly employed and happy over the summer. So they want to make sure they have their crews filled early. They need crews of certain sizes so they know they can finish the contracts on time, but not too big so that people are grumbling without tree planting work and perhaps look for other companies to work for.
But if you are starting late in the season, one thing I might suggest is to take your chances and go up to Prince George in northern British Colombia. It is the tree planter's meat capital of the world. It has been called the "crossroads to nowhere", in reference to the highways which turn to logging roads and eventually fade into nothing. It is a huge logging area, and many tree planting companies constantly prowl the streets looking for fresh meat to abuse. But at least this way you will get your feet into the door, gain some experience, learn about the industry, gain valuable contacts, accumulate your necessary gear, and be in a much better position to look for work the following year. Keep in mind that, yes, it is a tough job, and it will probably take you at least two months to get the hang of it and start to make real money. If you want to make money with tree planting work, unless you're one of those seldom few lunatics who can REALLY push themselves, you're going to want to do this profession for at least a few years, because it does take a while to learn all the tricks (which I suggest you read on the rest of my site, to help you earn more money faster). You should try to get a good overview of companies with horrible reputations. Keep in mind that there are horror stories where a treeplanting company will fly you deep into a bush somewhere, from which you cannot even escape, and you might be stuck there working on the worst possible contract in the world. But at least it will be a good learning experience for you, so use your time to learn as much as possible, maintain a positive attitude (because a negative one wont help you), and think about trying another tree planting company once you do manage to escape.
Otherwise, there are lots of other jobs out in the "bush". You can just go to PG (Prince George) and hunt around, and I think there could be a fairly good chance you find something. There is cone picking, through which I'm told you can make as much as tree planting. Then they need the seedlings cut down and thin out the forest as it grows. You plant about 2.5 metres apart, but I haven't seen too many healthy forests where the trees are that close to one another. I guess it's a probability game, so the sicker weaker trees get cut down at an early age and used as fertilizer as the forest grows.
Then there is all sorts of oil rig work and many other hard jobs in the bush.
I met one guy who said he went up to Alaska to a fishing marina and just walked from one boat to another until he found work, and said he was making 150 bucks a day. Then you can hit all the hotels. Lots of work to be found, and once you find anything, you can ask and hunt around and eventually find the better paying jobs. Maybe even get on a tree planting crew while you work at a hotel. Many crews go to PG on their days off if they are planting in the area, and there is certainly a lot of planting in the area. In fact, many crews stay in hotels in the town during their contract, so you can hit all of them while they are drinking, offer them some dope, schmooze the crew boss and see if you can muscle your way onto a crew. I suggest you bring your tent and try to sleep in the forest if you are worried about expenses until you do find work. And PG is a good town where to buy all your tree planting gear if you do find work. Or other gear if you end up with another job. The town is geared for all these professions so there is much competition and it might even be cheaper up there for such gear than in Vancouver. Otherwise many crews have second hand treeplanting gear they'll sell you for cheap, so think twice before you start blowing all your money.
I managed to plant 8 months straight because I started at the beginning and held out to the very end. Because British Colombia has a coast, the ocean will naturally moderate the climate, meaning a longer planting season. Generally around the beginning of May the ground will start to thaw and you will already see planters pounding away and ripping up their tendons. But because the growing season is longer, the trees are also much bigger. And when the logging company comes and sees a slight crack in a tree, they'll just cut it down and let it lie to rot there. It's a sad waste, but since the trees are as wide as you are tall, there is a lot of clambering to do and it's a lot more difficult. So generally companies specializing in "coastal planting" wont even look at you unless you have at least six years of serious planting under your belt. So yes, as a greener, you're probably best off joining the rest of the meat grinders in Prince George, start at the bottom and work your way up. Coastal planting is a totally different ball game and such planters are usually long term and hard core professionals. But you can switch to cone picking, for example, which I believe starts in late fall and runs through the winter.
Oh yes, and there is also mushroom picking and I've heard of people making as much as 600 dollars a day, but that's sort of a secretive society and many locals might object to your presence, because they know where all the secret spots are and you are essentially taking work from them. I believe the Japanese are hot for pine and other mushrooms and pay a pretty penny in their markets for it.
Concerning how tough the work is, it's probably tougher than you can imagine. I met a tree planting cook last summer who said he worked in different kinds of construction for seven years, from road building, to skyscrapers, to all sorts, and he said that tree planting is by FAR much tougher. Construction workers may think they're big and tough, occasionally carrying something heavy, slurping on coffee in between, but in tree planting, you are carrying at least 300 seedlings on your back until you bagup again, constantly clambering over all sort of obstacles, constantly trying to muscle the shovel into the ground (which certainly is not always giving), and if you want to make any money, you are doing this ALL DAY LONG, nonstop. I calculated that, at a highballer's rate, every second equates to one penny. So every second you waste picking your nose or enjoying the scenery will cost you one penny. The highballers know this and they don't stop for a single second the entire day. So it is much more than just liking nature and not minding sleeping in a sleeping bag but mostly about tolerating the billions of mosquitoes and pushing yourself like you've never worked before in your life. No one will push you, and it can be depressing to come back to camp after a long day, subtract your camp costs, figure out how much you made that day, and then blow most of it on your day off because you need to get wasted and forget what a horrible job it can be! Be careful about this because it's easy to think you're rich and get caught up in the party mood with the rest of the planters, but find at the end of the summer, after taxes, that not that much remains left in your pocket.
Otherwise, if your body is young and expendable, I found it a romantic and rewarding experience. Good luck!!
Thanks for your time to write me all the information. Actually, I have more czech blood than slovak because my father is czech and mother has mother from Czech Rep. and father from Slovak Rep. :-). The problem is that first I need to get a work contract so that I would be legally allowed to work in Canada. I made a call to one canadian company (Spectrum) and I was told that it is given by law that in the forest industry you are only allowed to work when you have a work visa before. But I think that getting a work visa is only possible when having work contract first so I´m little bit confused. Yes, you are right. For tree planting it´s too late. I decided that before my univerzity I would like to work. My plan is to find a job for summer in the silviculture industry (spacing, brushing...) and after that to go to Alaska and find a work contarct, a deckhand position for autumn and winter. Than coming back to Slovakia and getting a work visa (using the work contract) and flying back to Alaska. I have read on your webside that you are able to send emails for certain payment to these companies. Do you think that you could help me to find a job in the silviculture industry for this summer? Is this the kind of help you mention on your website?
When I used to plant 20 years ago there were many people from different countries and not sure if they had a permit. Now though I think it's tougher, although for work in the bush it might be different. If you find out anything please let me know so that I can put the info on this website for others.
Yes, I can send your email to 70+ tree planting companies if you make an advance payment of 30$ as explained in the tree planting jobs webpage. Sometimes contractors need positions filled over the summer, but for that it would be better if you were already there.
Don't forget that Alaska is not in Canada, so your work visa would not help you there. Tree planting pays much less in the US and I'm told it's quite a different ball game.
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Currently, I am treeplanting in Deersdale New Brunswick, Canada for Irving. I had heard that their are companies that hire planters to plant in steep/mountain areas of the country, most likely in BC or Alberta. So steep that planters required harnesses and ropes while climbing/planting. I was just wondering if you have any information about this as far as company names, seeing I am a experienced rock climber, and would much enjoy this style of planting for next summer.
I suggest you check out my tree planting jobs page at http://hardcoretreeplanters.com/treeplanting-jobs.html because I've added some info concerning getting a planting job on the coast. You can also check out pictures throughout the site and some of the videos to give you an idea what planting on the coast can be like. I put in a couple of seasons myself but I've never heard of planters having to use ropes or harnesses. Seems like a tall tale which billowed as it travelled to the other side of the country. But I do remember there were occasionally sections you practically had to climb just to get to the next plantable area. Otherwise I can't imagine it being too much sense to plant a tree into the side of a cliff (funny thought though).
One change I do remember being told about from before is you may occasionally have to slip little fertiliser bags next to the roots, to help the tree along. An extra flick of the wrist and thumb to do it quickly and which I'm told can increase the chance of tendonitis of the wrist.
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