2021 Season UPdate

We’re so excited to get boots on the ground and trees in the dirt, and to start hearing your season’s success stories! I’ve been loving the quick chats I’ve had with our team so far, we’ve got some pretty amazing people with us, and we’re well set up for a fantastic season of 40 million trees (wow!). A big Thank You also to our Management Staff for all the training they took on this year, including Wilderness Mental Health First Aid, Naloxone training, and Consent Workshopping, all of which aim to ensure that our workplace is as safe a space as possible for all our employees.

With Covid19 cases continuing to rise, and with variants now circulating that increase transmission and severity leading to hospitalizations in younger people, it is vital that we all adhere to Provincial Health Guidelines, as well as Summit’s detailed COVID Policy. Ensure that you are familiarized with this policy, as well as having submitted your completed Travel Plan, Exit Strategy, and Health Log. Being diligent with careful self-isolation and following masked, physical distancing strategies and hand hygiene before travelling to camp is the most important step in ensuring that Covid19 is not brought into our pod systems in the first place, so that our transition into work and between phases is seamless. Please be especially diligent when arranging travel plans, and do not carpool with anyone outside of your camp, and ideally, travel only with people on your crew. Prepare for strict pod systems as our season starts. Ensure that you have enough clean, triple layered masks to make it through Phase One. Bandanas/buffs are not sufficient.  Much like planting, we expect hard work to pay off, and have designed protocols that we believe keep our employees, the communities we work in, and the silviculture industry as safe as possible. 

Make sure to continue to follow the pre-season training plan found on our website. (https://www.summitplanting.com/plantingfitness.html ). Having activities and exercises that you love for your endurance and cardio training is great, but paying extra care to these particular exercises is important; these have been found to reduce injuries by up to 70%. Further, all planters will be expected to be able to demonstrate this program at the start of the season. All planters, new or experienced, will need to follow the taping measures outlined on the website for three weeks. We will have tape available, however if you have sensitivity to some athletic tape, sourcing and bringing your own sports tape is recommended. We will have some supplies for sensitive skin, but these are limited. Unfortunately, reimbursements for tape brought from home can not be offered.  

As camp isolation is still a requirement, and employees are not able to visit town to do laundry, Summit will be making use of local laundry drop off services. To access this, laundry will need to be handed in in a securely fastened bag, containing no more than 7lbs of laundry. The cost of this is $20 a bag, to be deducted from payroll. Luggage scales will be available in camp to measure before handing laundry in; and shaking out as much dirt as possible from laundry will help to keep this cost effective. It is advised that you practice filling and weighing your laundry bag before leaving for the season to ensure that the bag you have chosen is suitable.

Sanitation tents will be present in each camp this year, with a small sink which can be used for minimal laundry, and a designated area to sterilize small personal items. There are specific protocols to be followed when using these areas, and pots for boiling water are not supplied. If you have a personal item that you predict needing to sterilize, it is your responsibility to bring your own small pot with a heat safe handle, and a method to remove the pot from the hot plate safely. Food is never permitted in these tents. 

To remedy the inability of visiting town to grab supplies during the season, each camp will have a commissary at which you can purchase toiletries, gear, basic pharmaceutical items, snacks, etc. There are three options to procure items not available in the commissary:  

       o Products which would require special licensing to sell (for example alcohol), a licensed location close to camp will be designated for each contract to receive phone orders with credit card payment. These orders will be picked up periodically by the Town Runner, who will communicate the cut-off time for ordering. 

      o Specialty Items not available in the commissary can be ordered with this same procedure. Best efforts will be made to designate the store likely to offer the most variety, which will vary by contract. 

       o Specific items not outlined above can be ordered online, sent to the designated P.O. Box, or sent General Delivery and addressed to: Your Name, c/o Name of Town Runner, Summit Reforestation, General Delivery, Town Closest to Contract. This process will vary by contract, which will be communicated to you by your Camp Supervisor. When using this option, err on the side of caution when calculating shipping times.   

Bring adequate supplies of any items or products you will want through the season, particularly those which you imagine may be difficult to source remotely and/or have specific preference for. 

And finally, as you prepare for your season by increasing your social distancing, doing your preseason training, and packing up your world for tent life, don’t forget to consider the things that help make camp feel like home. Bring books, art supplies, cards, frisbees. Download movies, audiobooks, playlists to enjoy and to share while in camp. Ensure that background apps are turned off on your phones so that we can ensure internet is available for contact with our loved ones on the outside. Think about ideas you’d like to contribute to social committee, the goals you’ve set for yourself, the ideas that you have for submissions for the Tree Planting Film Festival.

See you Soon! 
​
Slaine Sutherland
Human Resources 
Summit Reforestation
250.551.1098
slaine@summitreforestation.com