To plant more than 4,500 trees in one day, you don鈥檛 move like a gardener, you move like a machine.
In a video viewed millions of times on social media, Leslie Dart walks across a desolate and burnt landscape in Saskatchewan. She plunges a small spade into the ground, levers open a hole, drops in a seedling, then stomps the hole shut, barely breaking stride as she does it again, and again, and again.
By the end of that summer day last year, Dart had planted 4,545 trees. In the past three summers, she has planted 372,290 trees across Canada.
Dart, who now works in the aerospace manufacturing industry after graduating from Durham College in Ontario this spring, is among the thousands of tree planters, many of them college students, who work mostly for logging companies across Canada to plant trees each summer.
Some of that work is mandated by law, but tree planting also takes place after forest fires.
The British Columbia Ministry of Forests said in a statement that reforestation is a 鈥渧ery large and important component鈥� of the province鈥檚 forest industry and 1.6 billion trees have been planted since 2017.
Dart, 29, said the job was physically and mentally demanding, but also 鈥渋ncredibly rewarding.鈥�
Dart鈥檚 video on TikTok has been viewed more than 8.7 million times. It went viral after being reposted on Twitter last month.
In another video, Dart guides viewers through a 17-hour day when she planted a personal best of 5,415 trees in 34-degree temperatures.
Dart said the job has highs and lows, largely depending on the weather.
鈥淚t could start the day off sunny and then minutes later, it will just be raining, torrential downpours, hailing or snowing. You never know what to expect,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here were some days that we were planting through a heat wave, so we had like 37-to-40-degree weather for several days straight and that was really difficult.鈥�
She said she had done some particularly tough work near the community of Bob Quinn Lake in northern B.C.
鈥淐limbing over giant logs, fighting my way through an endless sea of Devil鈥檚 club (a spiny plant), tripping over roots, rocks and logs hidden in the overgrowth, every step was a surprise while being mercilessly swarmed by mosquitoes in the rain,鈥� said Dart.
The job isn鈥檛 without serious risks, too. Last week, a tree planter was attacked by a suspected grizzly bear near Tumbler Ridge in northeastern B.C. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said the 21-year-old woman was in a stable condition.
Dart said she had never encountered a grizzly, but has encountered several other bears, as well as moose and other wildlife.
She has been flooded with online praise for her efforts. But it isn鈥檛 voluntary work for the tree planters or the companies that hire them.
The B.C. Ministry of Forests says it is a legal requirement for forestry licensees, who must 鈥渞egenerate鈥� a specified number of trees in their stewardship plans. More than 200 million seedlings are planted in B.C. each year.
The ministry said that in addition to mandated post-logging programs, tree planting supports forest regeneration and health after wildfire. More than 12,000 square kilometres of the province has been burned so far this year, in what is likely to be a record-setting season.
Jonathan Clark, president and CEO of Replant.ca Environmental, an organization devoted to Canadian reforestation and environmental issues, said tree planting is huge in B.C. because the province has more rules about replanting after logging.
鈥淥n the east coast of Canada, there are not really any rules about planting more trees, but there is also a lot of natural regeneration that is very successful, and you don鈥檛 really have to plant trees anyways because nature does it very well,鈥� said Clark.
But natural regeneration doesn鈥檛 work well in B.C., said Clark, requiring help from planters.
Tree planters usually get paid anywhere between 13 and 27 cents per tree, depending on the roughness of the terrain, said Dart. The highest Dart has been paid was 44 cents per tree in northern B.C.
It may be back-breaking work but it鈥檚 a popular summer job for university students, Clark said.
Many stick with it, some for decades, drawn back each season by the lifestyle.
Veteran Saskatchewan tree planter Kenny Chaplin has been at it for 35 years.
He works in the film industry as an assistant director and is a substitute teacher in Regina, but Chaplin said it was tree planting that 鈥渃hanged his soul,鈥� helping him develop a strong work ethic and allowing him to quickly move up the career ladder.
Along the way, he set a Guinness World Record by planting 15,170 trees one day near Prince Albert, Sask., in 2001. He planted, on average, one tree every 4.5 seconds for 19 gruelling hours.
Chaplin said tree planting is such a 鈥淐anadian thing鈥� to do. 鈥淚 think every parent in Canada should be sending their kid out tree planting because it will take your child and it鈥檒l turn them into a worker. They鈥檒l learn how to work, they鈥檒l have responsibility. They鈥檒l have money in their pockets.鈥�
He said he walked away from every planting season 鈥渋n the best shape鈥� 鈥� both physically and financially.
Photographer and filmmaker Rita Leistner, who was a photojournalist during the Iraq War, credited her late career success to spending her early years planting trees.
鈥淲hen I worked in war zones, and people asked me: what prepared me for that work. I told them: tree planting in Canada,鈥� she said.
鈥淧eople were surprised because they said tree planting doesn鈥檛 sound very hard,鈥� said Leistner, who planted trees between 1984 and 1993.
In 2021, she examined tree planting in a documentary film, 鈥淔orest For the Trees.鈥�
The job sometimes involves sleeping under the stars, and there is camaraderie with other crew members, but the job is not romantic, said Leistner.
鈥淎nd so, when I was spending time somewhere in the middle of the desert in Iraq and I couldn鈥檛 shower for three weeks and there wasn鈥檛 proper food, I was OK with that. I was used to that kind of living鈥� she said.
Dart has entered the full-time workforce now, but she plans to get back to tree planting too, in the 鈥渃oolest office鈥� she has even known, in northern B.C.
鈥淏eing surrounded by snow-capped mountains and such a vibrant, wild landscape, I couldn鈥檛 help but pause every second to take it in,鈥� said Dart.
The job had taught her about grit and self-motivation, she said.
鈥淵ou just really have to be prepared for everything, be open-minded, roll with the punches. It just makes you a stronger person mentally and makes you more adaptable and ready to take on the world,鈥� said Dart.
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