1. Dirk Brinkman owns the biggest planting company in Canada. Brinkman and Associates Reforestation.
2. Dirk Brinkman was one of the original private contractors to 'let' work from the ministry of forests.
3. Dirk Brinkman started planting in 1970, and was probably one of the first vagabond / hippie planters, but also a great leader / managerial type.
4. Dirk Brinkman is partly responsible for the design of the modern tree planting bag.
5. Dirk Brinkman experimented with labor organization, and is part-author of the way tree planting is currently practiced. The contemporary system of peice work, remote worksites, and people getting their own peices of land (as opposed to planting in lines) is based upon his experiences.
6. Dirk Brinkman could be considered "The Architect" of the "Highballer Era."
I met him for lunch on Burrard street Cactus club to talk about my Franz Otto Film. He ordered a salad and there was prosciutto in the bottom, so he sent it back, saying he did not eat meat. He told me he was on break from meeting lawyers, discussing a settlement for a native tribe. His current work is global and political - he is negotiating or inventing standards for a carbon offset market in reforestation across the world. This means making sure that the carbon offsets that are sold are 'actually' helping the environment.
I was very impressed with Dirk Brinkman.
He sold me this film (clip shown in video above at, a doc about a planting crew produced in 1976 by Orca Productions. Do it With Joy.
It was made by this guy, Nicholas Kendall. I will blog about Do it With Joy more later.
