“Tree planter” and “sparkling clean” are not phrases that one normally expects to see tied closely together. Indeed, the job involves a deep dive into the dirt, where we bathe in the glow of the earth’s microbiome for hours upon hours every day.

Evidence supports relationships between exposure to dirt and positive health outcomes, and in some cases, our immune systems do become stronger after exposure to certain pathogens. However, there are limits to these relationships, and too much of anything can become a problem. With some pathogens, no amount of exposure is safe or healthy - you won’t find any reputable doctor telling you that just a little bit of giardia or a minor staph infection is good.

At the same time, it is not possible to plant trees without getting dirty, and one cannot expect to dance through the clear-cuts in a white suit, keep a dirt floor shiny and clean, or maintain the immaculate fingertips of a concert pianist. So where do we draw the line on cleanliness, and when do dirt and personal hygiene become a problem?

Well, a reasonable standard of hygiene may entail "when your cleanliness or lack thereof poses a risk to yourself or others." When you work in a camp or share a truck with four or five people for several hours each day, hygiene is no longer merely personal; it is shared. Things can spread fast in a work camp, and something like a simple cold or a seemingly minor skin infection can spread quickly and result in multiple people missing work. During my thirty years in the woods, I’ve seen numerous situations where a lack of hygiene resulted in scores of people missing multiple days of work as they coped with the impact of viral gastroenteritis spread by dirty fingers.

I would like to talk about four different places where hygiene matters when planting trees and working in the woods. Hopefully, the ideas shared here can help prevent a few people from a round of antibiotics, missing work due to illness, or being patient zero for a sickness that wipes out half the crew for a whole shift.

Hygiene in Public

While the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is largely behind us, the potential for nasty viruses to disrupt a camp has always posed risks to forestry camps. The key thing is that the virus (be it cold, be it flu, or a nasty stomach bug) has to come from somewhere. Several years ago, an outbreak that impacted nearly half the people in a camp near Edson was traced to workers using an unclean gas station bathroom that was also tied to a busload of tourists affected by the same virus. Practicing good hygiene in public, particularly on the way to a new contract or the start of the season, reduces risks for you and others. A key vector in this regard is public bathrooms. One of the more common groups of viruses impacting camps is viral gastroenteritis (VGE). This is sometimes called “stomach flu” although it has nothing to do with influenza or the actual flu. Those of us who have seen the virus close-up may refer to it as the zombie apocalypse. VGE spreads through an ugly process called fecal-oral contact, which is exactly what it sounds like. Fecal matter from one person, through one route or another, makes its way into the mouth of another. After 12 to 48 hours, they experience nausea, cramping, diarrhea, aches and chills, and then potentially spread the contagion to others. If you have ever been in a camp where multiple people have the runs or throw up at work, you have likely seen VGE in action. The primary way to stop VGE is simply by washing hands with soap and water after using the bathroom (lather and scrub for 20 seconds!), before touching or preparing food, and before entering shared food facilities. This is why your employer should have handwashing sinks immediately adjacent to the bathrooms AND right outside the dining tent or lunchroom. Importantly, alcohol-based gels DO NOT prevent the spread of VGE. They simply spread the dark matter around while the virus remains protected inside its protein shell and ready to wreak havoc on the next unlucky body. Curiously, VGE almost disappeared from planting camps entirely during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, as fastidious handwashing banished it to the sidelines. However, we learned about the air-borne droplets nature of COVID, and as life returned to normal, more workers ceased thorough handwashing or reverted to the use of alcohol gels, and VGE made a messy return. There are a lot of unpleasant viruses that a person can bring into a camp, and we should all strive to arrive in the best health possible and take a few extra days to recover before showing up in camp if something is ailing us.

Hygiene on the Job

Each day, you go through your morning routine, jump in the trucks at 7am, scarf down the breakfast burrito on the drive, get to the block, plant or brush or whatever for 9-10 hours, get back in the truck, get to camp, rinse, repeat. Working hours generally occur from when you get in the truck in the morning until you get out after work (portal to portal), and there are key moments in this time when hygiene is important. First of all, the truck is one of the main vectors for spreading illness in a camp or crew. Ventilation is limited, bodies are close together, and snacks are being eaten. Based on the previous points about VGE, you absolutely should wash your hands thoroughly before getting in the truck if you just went to the washroom. Washing your hands before getting in the truck is a routine that should be followed in the morning AND the afternoon. Chances are that if you spend 10 hours on the block, you will answer the call of nature at some point. Therefore, it is appropriate to wash your hands properly with soap and water before you rejoin your crew for the drive home. Every handle, nob, latch, and armrest is a potential playground for VGE, and if you’re digging into your best mate’s bag of trail-snacks, you want to be sure you’re not adding something personal to the mix. While debates remain about the efficacy of wearing masks in preventing specific illnesses, and the COVID-19 pandemic stoked many disagreements in this regard, medical masks remain an important consideration in many settings and have been used in other cultures for decades as a way of reducing the chance a person will spread sickness to others. Your employer may even have rules in place about using masks inside trucks under certain conditions. However, you can always take it upon yourself to don a mask if you feel a little tickle in your throat or a slight sniffle coming on. Chances are it’s just irritation from dust or the sinus drip resulting from the shock of moving between the 2C° mess tent and the 21C° truck cab, but on the off-chance it’s the start of something worse, you can help protect others by reducing the droplets you spread around. Even more important is that any worker that feels truly ill should stay home from work and rest rather than risk infecting others and prolonging their recovery. Once you are on the block, how can you wash your hands in the woods you may ask? Some employers may provide a water caddy and soap on the tailgate. When I planted, I always brought an extra bottle of water and a small vial of camp suds and squeezed the bottle between my knees while I scrubbed my hands clean. I generally warn against using block-water (i.e. streams and ponds), as there is a potential for other pathogens to be in the water. Still, they can be relied upon for removing gross contaminants (i.e. large chunks). Baby wipes can also be helpful, and I found them to be a nice luxury when I wanted to make sure certain parts of my body were clean during a long day, or if there simply was not enough time to shower. Honestly, baby wipes were a revelation for me…and that was before I became a father. They don’t replace handwashing, but it’s nice to feel fresh. Of course, we can’t talk about clean hands without talking about gloves. Some planters use them, and some planters don’t. As mentioned before, I maintain a low level of concern regarding pesticides and fungicides on trees, given that these are only residues that are largely rendered inert due to the time that passes from the last application, picking and packing at the nursery, freezing, and transport to the site where they finally reach planter hands. Nonetheless, I prefer to keep my exposure as low as possible and prefer a good nitrile glove to protect my skin. Gloves not only provide a chemical barrier, but a physical barrier against soils, rocks, and other debris that cut, irritate, and dry out planting hands, weakening the ability of the skin to function as a barrier to pathogens. It is not uncommon to see planters who don’t use gloves develop a nasty crack between their thumb and index fingers that drys out and deepens through the season, inviting infections and strange looks from people when you go to shake their hand. While I do see some planters using duct tape on their fingers, I have to wonder how they properly wash their hands after using the block-toilet, and I gag a bit when I see rolled-up balls of tape discarded on the floor of the truck. Returning to gloves, I do find it is important to find the right size and a durable yet supple coating to maintain nimble fingers. I have seen many veterans successfully convert to glove-use after years of bare-handing or duct-tape without any dips in their production. My personal favorite block-hygiene hack was my shirt in a bag. At the end of each day, I like to take off my dirty planting shirt, wash my hands, put on a clean shirt, and stick the old one in a bag. This way, I get into the truck feeling, smelling, and looking better, and immediately begin my ritual of recovery from a long hard day. I would occasionally be asked how I stay so clean, to which I would often reply, “Oh, I had a pretty clean piece.” While I do not tend to be overly worried about the chemicals on seedlings, I also take comfort knowing I can reduce my exposure to pesticides and fungicides even closer to zero (along with any other irritants or hitchhiking insects) by removing my dirty clothes quickly, and not stewing in them for hours after work. A final note on block hygiene – don’t drink the water. Even if a mountain stream looks crystal clear, like something out of a beer commercial, the potential impacts of a water-borne illness can be devastating, and any water you drink should be properly purified.

Hygiene in Camp

With viral gastroenteritis (VGE) already clearly on the radar, the importance of washing your hands in camp or at your shared crew accommodation should be obvious. Additional steps you can take, if you prefer, include wearing a thin plastic glove or sandwich baggie when using common utensils (such as tongs or ladles where you pick up your meals) in order to limit touch-points shared with others. While this may seem excessive to some, it is common practice in some operations, and even more important when you hear that someone in the camp has been ill. One of the limits of camps is that water temperatures can vary. Don’t let this stop you from scrubbing though, as research indicates that a vigorous soapy lather scrub-athon before a thorough rinse is more important than water temperature. Hey, hot is nice, but bubbles reign supreme. Now, most of us have met that planter…you know the one…the one that brags about how they only shower on days-off, or perhaps even less than that. Well, different strokes for different folds, but there are plenty of valid reasons for having shower each day – or perhaps a dip in the lake if you’re prescribing to that Wim Hoff method. Firstly, it feels good, and feeling good and relaxing are important for the psychological and physical process of recovery in a grueling job. Second, it helps prevent avoidable skin infections and rashes. You will end up planting a lot fewer trees if you have to stop every hour to apply ointment in inconvenient places. Third, showering immediately after work helps remove potential hitchhikers, such as ticks, which can be the vector for all sorts of other pathogens, including Lyme disease. The professional camp veterans will demonstrate many tricks that enhance their shower experience. This includes having shower flip-flops to keep their feet clear of any unidentified stuff on the shower floor. Your employer should clean the showers regularly, but sometimes things build up. Sharing your loofa sponge or fingernail brush? Um, nope, never, uh-uh. You probably don’t share your toothbrush, so don’t share those other things either. My favorite shower hack was to pack a bag of fresh clothes in the morning as I got ready for work. Then I could go direct to the shower when I get back at the end of the day, and avoid those lengthy shower line-ups where we talk about pieces and prices (unless you want that of course). Remember, the more dirt you leave in the shower, the less you bring back to your tent, or your camper van, or the air-mattress in the back of your station wagon.

Hygiene in the Laundromat

Okay, hear me out here. I’m not actually talking about the laundromat, but rather the general domain of washing clothes, and maintaining the fabrics that touch our skin. First off, I prefer fresh clothes every day of work. That’s less dirt, fewer chemicals, and fewer ticks being taken up by my fabrics and carried against my body day-after-day. Wear it once, and then into the breathable fabric laundry bag at the end of the day to be washed on my day-off. While you may have a favorite shirt, lucky underpants, or special wool base layer that doesn’t start to smell until after a week of use, fabrics can actually wear out faster if you don’t wash them often enough as the dirt particles act like sandpaper between the fibers and accelerate the process of deterioration. I admit that I don’t always separate my whites from colors, or synthetics from natural fibers. But I sure as heck separate my gloves from my other clothing, and wash those filthy-fingered mud-mittens on their own with a special setting. Yes, that may mean an extra load of laundry, but I save money by bringing my own detergent instead of spending three dollars for a tiny box of caustic lemon-something from a laundromat vending machine that leaves a lingering odor that burns my eyes. A couple of final tips for managing laundry. Powder your socks! If you’ve ever experienced athlete’s foot, trench foot, foot-rot, or good old tinea pedis (real name), you know it’s not pleasant. Sprinkling some Gold Bond or other easily available foot powder into each sock can help keep this affliction away. It also prevents that embarrassing moment when you take off your socks and people run away screaming. Perhaps my favorite laundry trick that also supports good hygiene is using a sleeping bag liner. Be honest. How often do you really wash your sleeping bag during the year? Does it have a nice patina? Well, a cheap cotton or silk liner can not only be nice against your skin, but can also preserve the life of your sleeping bag, add extra warmth, and keep your sleeping area cleaner throughout the year.

---

There are probably many other ways to maintain hygiene at work, but hopefully this helps identify some new ideas and practical reasons. Being clean does help prevent infections and sickness, but it also helps maintain feelings of well-being and reminds you that you deserve to feel good sometimes. I hope everyone reading this takes something away to make their work season more healthy and enjoyable.