Seasonal Tree Planter

Bartram Woodlands is hiring Seasonal Tree Planters for a full-time, fixed-term position in Guelph, ON, from April 23 to May 29, 2025. The role involves physically demanding outdoor work planting trees and performing supplemental tasks. Applicants must have personal accommodation in Guelph and be prepared for out-of-town assignments requiring hotel stays. Compensation is based on the number of trees planted. A cover letter and resume are required for applications.
TREEPLANTER POSITION: Full-Time Fixed-Term Position – 5 Week Contract

Start Date: April 23, 2025 Completion Date: May 29, 2025

Note: Contract will be completed when all trees are planted. This may be before or after stated expected completion date. Potential option to extend the contract if additional work is available.
• Applications will not be considered without a Cover Letter and Resume

Job Description – Seasonal Treeplanter

Outdoor work in all-weather conditions. Difficult, physically demanding treeplanting of bare-root and/or potted trees of various sizes on rural and urban properties in Southern Ontario. Work will include supplemental tasks such as loading and unloading trees and equipment and distributing trees on site. Additional tasks include watering by hand, mulching, staking, and installing coco-mats and tree-protection guards to planted trees.

Position requires excellent physical fitness and mental stamina. Must learn new planting techniques for each individual tree species, adapt to large fire-shovels and bare-root treeplanting spades (Note: Planting with “speed” spades will not be allowed). Complex planting sites on private property and in the public domain require absolute adherence to instructions and excellent listening skills with the ability to follow detailed instruction independently.

Piecework: Payment per tree, rather than by the hour, will provide successful applicants an excellent individual opportunity for rewarding compensation, provided they are able to deliver high quality planting while working in a technically challenging Southern Ontario treeplanting environment.

To succeed you will need to work to the full extent of your physical capacity for the duration of our planting season. We provide experienced supervisors and thorough training to assist you in maximizing your potential earnings as quickly as possible.

Work is based from Guelph, and all planting staff must have their own accommodation in the Guelph area. Frequent out-of-town projects will also require staying in hotels during weeknights and staff will always return to Guelph for weekends. All hotel accommodation and transport are supplied at no cost to employees, but you must supply and prepare your own food each day. There is a $25 meal allowance for each night spent in a hotel. Board and accommodation in the Guelph area is not provided.

Job Requirements
• Must be able to lift and carry up to 50lbs.
• Able to work outdoors while completing repetitive tasks, crouching/bending down, and standing and walking all day in various off-trail terrain while carrying heavy planting bags.
• Available to stay in hotels out-of-town for up to 4 nights a week whenever required during employment contract. Cannot have personal commitments (e.g. pets, babysitting, appointments, classes etc.) in Guelph/area in conflict with work requiring hotel accommodation.
• Personal accommodation is required in the Guelph area for training days, weekends, and all local work where hotel stays are not required.
• Comfortable working alone and in a group setting.
• Strong work ethic, motivated to work hard, competitive mindset.
• Able to communicate fluently in English.
• Must be able to tolerate flying and biting insects (mosquitos, blackflies, deer flies, ants, etc.), potential wasps/bees.
• Must be able to tolerate working in all weather conditions (cold, heat, intense sun, rain, etc.).
• Must be able to work safely around sharp and thorny brush (blackberries, brambles, hawthorn, buckthorn), stinging nettle, and poisonous plants (primarily poison ivy/oak, occasional giant hogweed).

Any of the following skills/ training will be considered strong assets:
• Previous tree planting experience.
• Demanding outdoor or farm labour experience.
• Outdoor travel and camping skills, summer camp experience.
• High-performance fitness training or organized sports training.
• 1st Aid Certification.
• Clean G-Class driver’s license with minimum 2 years of driving history.
• Experience driving work vehicles or pick-up trucks.

Contract Timing and Payment Details

Daily Hours: Approximately 7AM to 7PM (varies daily). Average 10-12 hours per day, 7-8 hours planting.

Weekly Schedule: Work 5 days per week, Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday off.

Dates: Start April 23, 2025, finish May 29, 2025.

Mandatory Classroom Safety Training: April 23, 2025. Includes orientation with the Bartram Woodlands Safety Program and all aspects of outdoor worker safety.

3-Day South Ontario Treeplant Training: Beginning on April 24, 2025, all new and returning seasonal staff must complete this training and orientation to Southern Ontario planting techniques. All work during field training period will be paid hourly at $20.00 per hour for new/inexperienced planters, and $22.00 per hour for experienced planters with at least 1 previous season of experience.

Piecework Compensation: Where possible, Bartram Woodlands will pay workers by piecework to improve productivity and provide opportunity for efficient workers to earn higher wages. Higher rates may be paid on selected projects based on difficulty of work.

A) Bare Root Seedlings: $0.30-$0.50 per tree.

B) Potted Stock: $1.00-$3.50 per tree

C) Mulching: $1.00-$2.00 per tree

Hourly Compensation (occasional): Hourly compensation is only paid for projects that cannot be compensated by piecework. Regular forestry labour is paid at $22.00 per hour (new planters) or $24.00 per hour (experienced planters).

Travel Time Compensation: Expect 1-3 hours travel daily. All travel time from the company yard to the worksites and back paid at a rate of $18.00 per hour. All transportation to the worksites is provided. Note: Employees who cannot travel to the company yard can arrange to be picked up in Guelph (at the loss of a ½ hour of travel time per daily).

Bonuses: Seasonal treeplanters will be eligible for all bonus payments listed below:

1. Contract Completion Bonus (5%): Receive an additional 5% bonus on all accumulated wages for the successful completion of the entire seasonal contract period.

2. Quality Bonus (0-5%): 1% of bonus payment for each percentage above 90% quality, up to 95% - maximum available bonus of 5%.

Statutory Holiday pay and Overtime: Employees will be paid for all Statutory holidays and regular “time-and-a-half” overtime after 44 hours per week.

Average Daily Pay (all payments and bonuses): $200.00-$300.00 per day

How to Apply

Complete the application steps and submit your cover letter and resume. If you are selected, you will be contacted with next steps to set up an interview.

Interviews

Date 1: February 25, 2025

We will contact you if selected for an interview. Thank you for applying!
• Applications will not be considered without a Cover Letter and Resume

Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract, Seasonal
Contract length: 5 weeks

Pay: $200.00-$300.00 per day

Additional pay:
• Bonus pay
• Overtime pay

Schedule:
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:
• Guelph, ON: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Education:
• Secondary School (preferred)

Language:
• English (required)

Willingness to travel:
• 100% (required)

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 2025-02-24
Expected start date: 2025-04-23