It has been nine years since Jonathon Long had his photo taken by The Working Forest while on his first silviculture contract. Since then, Long has spent every summer working for Haveman Brothers Forestry Services in and around the Thunder Bay region.
From a nervous novice on a backpack herbicide spray program to a confident and knowledgeable tree plant supervisor, Long has used the past nine years wisely to hone organizational and people skills that will help him succeed in his chosen career path of civil engineering.
In 2000, the Living Legacy program was awarding contracts for a variety of silviculture projects. Several contracts were let in the Thunder Bay region and a bunch of young recent high school grads carried out the projects. The Working Forest was in the field the day the team started (see inset photo) in 2000.
Asked what lead him to work in the bush that summer Jonathon said "the harder you worked - the more you were paid."
He said that was much better than other jobs he had where it didn’t matter how hard he worked he still was paid the same as everyone else.
That lesson has stuck with him and although he now supervises he still encourages his tree planters to seize the opportunity to find out what the rewards of hard work can provide.
2009 is Jon’s first year as a tree plant supervisor having spent the previous 4 years as a crew boss following a few years as a tree planter.
Long said he followed his two older brothers footsteps into the treeplanting business. His brother Mike was a part owner in the forest company for a few years before deciding to sell his share and head off to Medical school.
Long said that what draws him back to summer silviculture work every year are the people he gets to work with. "Being with ambitious hard working people is very satisfying," he said. "I enjoy the camaraderie of camp life. Being around people who want to work hard is important to me."
When working he is constantly finding ways to help his treeplanters find ways to achieve those same goals that he discovered nine years ago. "By removing downtime and barriers, I can help the treeplanters achieve their maximum each day."
Long loves the bush environment. He wants the outdoor life - not being chained to a desk. Interestingly, that is one reason he choose not to follow forestry as a career feeling that foresters have to spend too much time at their desks because of the vast amounts of paperwork.
When he is not spending his summers in the bush Long spends the winters: taking courses in welding; upgrading his high school marks and trying his hand at Chemical engineering. He finally opted for Civil Engineering at Lakehead University. With two years to go he has achieved his technologist status so this may be his last year in the bush as next year he may consider looking for summer opportunities in his chosen field.
Wherever his future decisions take him one thing he knows for sure his time with Dave Haveman has been an inspiration to him.
"The company has high moral and ethical standards," says Jonathon. "Dave (Haveman) instills strong ethical values in his crews. The camps are clean and well run. Hard work is a must and camp life is well organized and well disciplined."
For later this year Long hasn’t decided whether to go treeplanting in BC or stick close to home doing silviculture work in the Thunder Bay area.
Whatever he decides, he takes with him a ‘hard work – high reward’ ethic that will serve him well in his chosen career path.◊