As a child I lived in Sudbury and I remember sliding down
hills in the winter and not hitting a single tree, and making forts on rock
edges and using old tree roots for “phaser” guns.
Now I am all grown up and I
am the foreperson for the City of Greater Sudbury's Land Reclamation Program.
This will be my 19th year and in this time I have helped contribute
to the planting of 4,822,903 trees and shrubs, limed 195 hectares of barren
rock and laid 1.84 hectares of
forest
floor transplants. I also have had the privilege of supervising over 800
workers all who have all taught me something along the way. I can tell you that
this job isn’t easy, dealing with all the outdoor elements (bugs, rain, cold,
wild life and of course the physical part of the job). It is not uncommon to
walk 5 to 10 kms a day over rough terrain, it is also not uncommon to laugh at
least 5 times day and smile more times than I can count. I have formed lasting
friendships with my co workers and my superiors past and present. But the
greatest accomplishment of course is the end result. One of my first liming
sites was the typical black rock with patches of dry dirt and the odd stunted
birch tree here and there. The long hot summer of liming and fertilizing came
and went and we returned to plant trees in the spring. Imagine our amazement when we topped the hill
to see an endless landscape of green grass and a deer off in the distance. I could tell you many stories about the life
and times on “Land Rec”, but I sure would love to hear yours!
