Forest for the Trees

The world of tree planting (i.e. the planting of seedlings in largely clear cut areas as a means of reforestation) is presented in photojournalist Rita Leistner, who was a tree planter herself several years ago for several years, interviewing those working in the industry, primarily tree planters but also support workers at the camps, in the field in central British Columbia from the years 2016 to 2019. With what is largely piece work for what ends up being the equivalent of minimum wage if that, the interviewees talk about what, beyond the need to pay rent or put food on the table, draws them to doing it, especially those that have done it for more than one season and thus know what to expect in returning. With one interviewee describing the work as a combination of industrial labor and extreme sport burning the equivalent energy of running two and half marathons a day, the draw to it is despite most admitting to shedding tears of emotional and/or physical pain more than once a day. They also talk about the dichotomy of the isolation in the work being solitary even if one is in a planting pair, against the camaraderie between them in only they understanding through what they are going.