Forest Gardeners part 2

A story about Tree and men.

The boreal forest is the largest forest ecosystem on the planet. Three nurseries located in Saguenay specialize in the growth of tree species that will be used for the reforestation of the most important forest region in Québec.

The volume of softwood from the forest is mostly composed of black spruce (85%), a tree essence that is highly sought-after for its qualities of resistance not only for lumber intended for construction, but also for pulp and paper production from shavings.

For the second part of the series, the photographer focuses on the workers who take part in the reforestation, more specifically on those who plant, with their own hands, more than 22 million trees, year in, year out, in the forests of Québec.

The Petit-Paris cooperative, located at Ludger de Milot in Saguenay, is one of the largest forestry company in Québec. Right from the start, the factory benefits from a strategic position which is really profitable since it is located at the entrance of Chute des Passes Road, a forest path that goes deep up north of the territory. The workers stay several days a week isolated in forestry camps in the middle of territories inhabited by wild animals for miles around. They work more than 10 hours a day, rain or shine.

My intention is to pay tribute to the forest and to those who take care of it. Undoubtedly, the management of Québec forest experiences several issues. My angle of approach demonstrate some of those issues, without explicitly naming them. Combining poetic images with descriptive ones, I wanted to show the beauty of boreal landscapes whether they’re untouched or decimated. I also wanted to share the daily life of the workers, « the tree planters ». Those men who, for the most part, live during several months with the changing temperature and the « dirty » lands. Men from different backgrounds, each of them with their own reasons to come back, year after year, and to immerse themselves over again into these forests that we garden in the hope that future generations too will be able to harvest trees from.

Thus, these planters are the « forest gardeners ».