It’s the hot smell of dirt that gets me most.

The snot in my nose bonding to rock dust and building a cast.

Sometimes I think I could puke from the feeling of my nostrils closing in.

Next comes the feeling of it in my throat as it cracks too.

My brow is a ledge for sweat, my clothes permeated with salt and moisture.

Water escapes everywhere, indifferent, not pausing to clean me off on its journey away from me.

It only leaves a sticky mat of fabric and human mud as my suit for the day.

I’ll drink more, every hour or so, to keep up the dress.

For many people, October means crisp fall days and explosions of colour among many of our favourite deciduous species.  For reforestation contractors in British Columbia, it also means “viewing season,” as the provincial government, through the Ministry of Forests and BCTS, releases contracts for tender for the following spring and summer planting seasons.

Originally published in The Forestry Source, September 2013. © 2013, The Society of American Foresters.

Soil science may soon double the size of forest carbon sinks that foresters can manage.