You Can Make $30 A Day Planting Tree On Contract!

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THE BIDS

Just prior to the planting season (once again, that's early spring up here in Minnesota) the Forest Service sends a Request for Quotation to all prospective bidders. If you're one of those prospects, you'll be asked to fill out a short form for each unit you're interested in and to quote how much you'll charge per thousand trees to plant the tract. Before submitting one or more of these bids, you should consider:

[1] THE SIZE OF A UNIT. Larger areas usually can be planted more efficiently than smaller ones, because you can set up camp right on the tract of land and work it for long periods without moving.

Size is also an important consideration, especially with larger tracts, since you'll probably have to complete each replanting job within a specified time limit. (We have set as few as 250 trees per day under terrible conditions and as many as 1,200 per day when conditions were ideal. For bidding purposes in this area, however, we estimate that a person can plant about 500 trees per day. This means that he or she can handle a unit requiring 15,000 trees during a 30?day season.)

[2] THE ACCESS TO A UNIT. How far is the tract from your home base and what will the roads be like during the planting season? (Some unpaved roads in our area are a sea of mud in early spring. Bundles of seedlings and the equipment used to set them must be carried in by hand?sometimes for miles?before planting can begin.)

[3] THE UNIT'S CHARACTERISTICS. A steep area is usually more difficult to plant than a flat one. Marshes and rocky terrain slow a planter's progress. It's more difficult to work in heavy clay than in sandy soil. A tract covered with a deep layer of duff—undecomposed or partially undecomposed leaves, vines, pine needles, and other organic matter?is harder to work since the seedlings must be set into the layer of mineral soil below.

[4] A UNIT'S PREPARATION (OR LACK OF IT). After an area is logged, the U.S. Forest Service?or a paid contractor?generally makes an effort to prepare the unit for replanting. Bulldozers are used to "rock?rake" logging debris into windrows, and the duff, slash, and low brush are burned off to make planting easier and to improve the chances of survival and growth for new seedlings. This clears the tract down to mineral soil and makes setting trees much easier. An unprepared site?especially when covered by brush and thick grass?is quite difficult to plant . . . which means slower going and, in turn, a higher bid.

You may, of course, bid on as many units as you wish . . . as long as you state on each Request for Quotation form that you will accept contracts for planting no more than a specified number of trees. (The Forest Service will monitor the awarding of contracts and limit you to that amount.)

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