Although this was only her first season, Kate Tibbitts was a standout among this year’s tree planters, as well as the cone pickers at the Parkindale Seed Orchard.

She’s modest, too.

“Everyone gets high numbers, like all the tree planters,” Tibbitts said. “Everyone is picking a lot of cones. I don’t think they were expecting everyone to get this many.”

From Saint John, NB, Tibbitts is headed to the University of New Brunswick Fredericton campus in the fall to study kinesiology. She was hired as a tree planter for the summer and offered a chance to continue as a cone picker when the summer plant ended.

“Kate joined us right out of high school. Recruiting rookies with solid work ethic and a great attitude is how we continue to build our workforce,” said Ben Lane, Operations Manager of Southern NB Woodlands. “She has shown tremendous potential and all the signs of a future leader and successful tree planter.”

Tibbitts said tree planting initially appealed to her because of the opportunity it afforded to work outside while earning for her education. After tree planting for about a month, Tibbitts said she decided to give cone picking a try. 

During August, Tibbitts, alongside the rest of the cone picking team, spent her days about 45 to 65 feet up in the air among the treetops. At the start of their shift, cone pickers don safety equipment, start up their lifts and rise to the treetops, five-gallon buckets in tow, to pick cones at the Parkindale Seed Orchard.

The cones will then be processed to extract seeds, which are in turn delivered to nursery the Juniper Tree Nursery and sowed, eventually becoming seedlings that will be planted the following year.

This season’s cone pickers collectively picked an average of 30 hectolitres – or 3,000 litres – of cones per day, surpassing totals seen in past years and coming in at 503 hectolitres – or 50,300 litres – of cones by the end of the season.

Once up in the air, cone pickers will work for hours straight. It’s a challenging job, but Tibbitts said the time flies. Her best day saw her pick 16, five-gallon buckets.

Courtney McDonald, Seed Orchard Supervisor at Parkindale Seed Orchard, said Tibbitts provided a morale boost to the cone picking team, offering “cheerful and positive competitiveness.” 

“I feel like from tree planting, we’re used to hard work,” said Tibbitts, who plans to return next year. “It’s cool being up in the lift. The people are great. It’s a really unique job.”