My Mind While Tree Planting

I wrapped up my tree planting gig not too long ago. A final thousand or so conifers to complete a two-year touch up of a terrible replanting of a clearcut that is on the verge of being overrun by invasive species.

The tree species were Western red cedar, Sitka spruce and Douglas fir. The stock was superb and grown in a family-run nursery in the Willamette Valley.

My mind moves differently while I am planting trees in comparison to walking, driving or building driftwood forts. It’s always about the trees, whether they’ll make it, whether they’ll make any difference, whether the trees I planted one morning will offset the carbon damage caused by the jet that flew overhead, transporting many travelers to places they have no practical need of visiting, you know, like to run a marathon in Antarctica, to climb Everest, or to swim with whales, or see the place where Hollywood filmed the Hobbit village scenes in Lord of the Rings.

While I plant, I often wonder if some of the trees will make it to 500 years. That inspires me to imagine what kind of world will exist then, if it exists at all in any form we might recognize today.

The other interesting part of this most recent gig was that I planted while listening to the sounds of a logging operation going on somewhere in another watershed. Hearing the whine of the chainsaws and the toot from the whistle punk made me wonder if I was planting life faster than the loggers were taking it.

My life as an Oregon tree planter began when I moved to the Oregon Coast 25 years ago. I planted about 8,000 myself and oversaw the planting of another 25,000 or so in the capacity as a teacher, caretaker of a wildlife refuge, and watershed council volunteer and coordinator. I planted solo, with dogs, with students, seniors, teachers, inmates, friends, family and once even on a date! It was the best paid and unpaid work of my life.

I planted with some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my life. One in particular stands out. I often think back to our tree planting times together. Perhaps wee should revisit those sites and see where our labor went. I bet some of the cedars are pushing 80 feet!