This page has been set up to share photos & video relating to the "Density, Spacing, and Excess" chapter of "Step By Step, A Tree Planter's Handbook." Visit www.replant.ca/books to see books about tree planting.
Here is a spacing chart, which allows you to estimate the average spacing desired between each tree and each of its neighbours, once you have been given a target density in stems per hectare.
This planter is throwing a plot on herself.
Here's another photo of a planter throwing a quick plot on himself at the end of a bag-up, before heading back to the cache. Good work, Francis.
In this photo, taken at the start of a contract, the checkers for the lumber mill are working with the checkers for the planting company, to make sure that everyone agrees about a consistent way to assess variations in the density and spacing of the planted seedlings. Perfect spacing is not always the best approach. If the foresters allow the planters to have some variance in their spacing, it means that planters can do a better job of picking the best microsites for the seedlings. Ultimately, this flexibility can greatly reduce the mortality rate of a plantation, and will eventually increase the yield during harvesting.
In this photo, two checkers (who work for the planting company) are waiting for the planters to start working on a new block. They'll be doing an intensive series of density plots to make sure the planters are on track to meet the proper prescription, in order to make sure that the block gets finished with no unplanted ground, and that no seedlings left over once the block is complete.
This photo shows a checker assessing the density on a block.
Planters are often confused why foresters can pick such wide variances in prescribed densities as they move from block to block. The prescribed density can depend on a lot of different factors. Some species like lots of room, while others (such as the lodgepole pine in this photo) can thrive in close proximity to each other. Lodgepole usually regenerates at very high densities after a wildfire, and a forester may prescribe high density for a lodgepole pine plantation.
Click here to see a page listing books related to reforestation in Canada. If you received a photocopied version of this book from your planting company, or you're a trainer at a Canadian planting company, click on this link for more information.
