Tree Planting in the UK or Tomorrow’s Planters
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The UK countryside is dotted with recently planted trees. An observant driver would note plots of stake and tube units along the roadsides and scattered through fields. What’s often not observed is the people planting the trees.
Forestry is a well recognised and respected term in the UK. Tree planting, completed at the speed and scale of companies like Tomorrow’s Forests, is a growing component of the UK forestry industry.
This component is well established in Canada, which is known for its timber industry and strong tree planting culture. The country hosts a plethora of tree planting companies which employ people to plant thousands of trees per day to be logged in years time.
Tomorrow’s Forests is one of the first tree planting companies in the UK that is modelled after its Canadian counterparts, bringing piece rate planting, with its deadly mix of speed and quality to the traditionally slower paced UK industry. Owners, Nick, from Manchester and Liz, from Quebec, both cut their teeth working as planters in Canada before returning to the UK to pursue their passion of strengthening the UK timber industry.
Nick and Liz have steered Tomorrow’s Forest ahead of the Canadian blueprint. Tomorrow’s Forests doesn’t just plant the trees, it sees a project through from grant application through planning to completion, with an offering of wider woodland establishment and management services including fencing, ongoing maintenance and harvesting also available.
Forestry in the UK isn’t just wide swaths of pine trees planted and harvested for timber. The scope for tree planting in the UK is more broad with woodland creation projects, rewilding and hedgerow installation being widely encouraged by the UK government through legislation and grants. But how do these trees get there?
Tree planters, colloquially known as ‘planters’ are employed to plant hundreds to thousands of trees per day. Generally, planters are paid per tree which encourages fast paced work for a lucrative outcome.
Planters have three key components to their work; spec, speed and quality.
Meeting the specifications of a job is crucial. This may include accurate spacing between trees, consistent varying of tree species or correct installation of stake and tube units.
Speed ensures that projects are completed on or ahead of time, it also gives the planter the opportunity to make as much money as they can per day.
Planting work is checked by the clients, foresters and an internal quality supervisor. If trees don’t meet the spec or are poorly planted, the planter is required to fix their work. Payment is once per tree so it’s in the planters best interest to do it once and do it right.
Mental and physical fortitude are the top skills and qualifications to be a tree planter. There are few other requirements. Experience in manual labour can help but attitude and drive are a planters main tools. That and a shovel.
Lachlan, an Australian who worked for Tomorrow’s Forest as a planter then a quality supervisor says the requirements to be a tree planter are simple:
“You just have to be a good worker.”
The life of a tree planter can be viewed in extremes. The work is seasonal so planters work long hours in all weather. In turn it can be extremely lucrative and they work in some of the most renowned estates and stunning countryside that the UK has to offer.
The UK tree planting season runs from October to April. Planting dormant trees allows the sapling to establish its root structure, forming a strong foundation before growing limbs and foliage in the warmer months. Working outdoors through a UK winter is not for the faint hearted. Those with an aversion to physicality, discomfort or rain will struggle. The appeal of planting lies in working in nature and not being limited to a salary, if you work harder you make more money.
“The best part in an ecological sense is you plant a lot of trees. In a financial sense you can make a lot of money,” Lachlan says, “the worst part is how hard you have to work to make that money.”
It’s not all doom and gloom. Tree planting has a certain addictive quality to it. A continual pursuit of a goal, a challenge met head on. Many planters find themselves returning season after season.
“A beer never tastes as good as the one you have after you’ve planted 2000 trees in the rain,” says Lachlan.
Laurence (UK) and Jessie (Canada) describe their rocky entry into planting.
“We did a season of Canadian planting together and she (Jessie) wasn’t immediately sold…she swore she would never plant again. After trying other piece work her tune started to change…and she agreed that maybe she would humour planting again. That’s when we found Tomorrow’s Forests,” says Laurence.
Planters work in crews of six and often share their planting goals with each other for motivation and encouragement. The average planter might plant between 1000 and 3000 trees a day. Accommodation is organised by the company and the crews work on projects across mainland UK. The shared experience of hard work and shared living can create strong bonds of camaraderie.
“What followed was two seasons for her and three for me of the most fun and lucrative work that we’ve ever done together,” says Laurence, “we worked a variety of contracts and planting techniques that took us across the country. We worked with awesome planters from around the world that we remain great friends with to this day. Liz and Nick are a pleasure to work with as owners because they both spent countless seasons as planters, foremen and supervisors so they know and understand all the challenges you face. We highly recommend working with them and often wonder if we should do just one more season…”
Planting is more than putting trees in the ground. It’s a celebration of hard work, it’s working in and with the land, it’s frozen sunrises, driving rain, relieved laughter and the winter sun warming your face.
To find out more visit tomorrowsforests.co.uk or contact Tomorrow’s Forest by email here
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