Our Team

Rick Ness

Owner

Meet Rick Ness. He started planting in the mid 80’s and hasn’t looked back since. Over the years he has worked through the ranks as a planter, crew leader, quality checker, supervisor and area coordinator before starting Windfirm in 2005 with his wife and three young daughters. Most times now you will find Rick behind the scenes organizing all things related to planting and entertaining Zap with his curated selection of sub-par dad jokes. In the off season you can find him playing hockey, pickleball, zipping around on his ebike and drinking vanilla lattes!

Kevan Leach

Supervisor

Where to start, well first, I am definitely not the scary guy smiling in the middle (that’s Crew leader Russ Degraaf) … am the other one and we have Crew leader Dominique on the left. It will be my 6th season with Windfirm and my second season being Supervisor. In the past, I had the opportunity the work under great supervisors, Kyle, Alexis and Zap, where I truly learn lots from them. I also had the opportunity to work in the Forestry Industry in New Zealand, which I can tell you BC silviculture has top quality standards.

In all its simpleness, tree planting brings a variety of true learning experiences. I am looking forward to work hard for my crew leaders and their planters for safe, inclusive and fun season.

Jesiah Orr

Supervisor

After 3 years of planting and 2 years crew leading, I’ve gained much experience in the planting realm. Even so, my first day of planting feels like it was just yesterday. Every rookie comes into the job just like I did; wide eyed and confused, like a fish out of water flopping around in the cut block. That’s why my favourite part of the job is without a doubt training my rookies. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing all that flopping turn into a high efficiency machine, pumping out perfect trees with ease.

Planting has given me so much. It has funded my BS in Finance, tonnes of world travel, purchasing land, and now it has also provided the capital and expertise for me to start my own tree plantation company where I live in Uganda. The company has just planted its first 10 acres of eucalyptus with the goal of hitting 2000 acres/year by the year 2030. This will help quench the massive supply shortage in Uganda, and limit the rapid deforestation of natural high canopy forests. Because of my experience with Windfirm, I am uniquely positioned to bring that incredible efficiency and professionalism to an emerging industry in a developing country.

Jake Stewardson

Supervisor

It all started about eight years ago when I heard about treeplanting through a few of my friends. I was a student studying Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier who was following the typical steps through life. At the time, it sounded like a great experience and a way to put some extra cash in my pocket while I was not at school. I packed my bags, tied back my embarrassing “man-bun”, and headed across Canada. The moment I first saw the beautiful west coast mountains I was in awe. It lit my adventurous spirit and made me wonder what else was out there. I instantly fell in love with the job. Well, not specifically planting trees, but the lifestyle and community. I continued coming back each season for the challenge and the unforgettable memories I’ve shared with others. The job helped me grow and reflect on how I wanted to live my life. I realized I did not need to rush into the conventional career, and it was time to explore. For years I continued to plant to support backpacking through parts of Europe, Central and South America and Southeast Asia. After four years of planting and three years of crew leading, I am taking on the role of a supervisor. The passion I have for the industry inspired me to return to school and study forest technology at Vancouver Island University. My goal this year is to have a safe but fun season, where everyone achieves their goals and creates amazing lifelong memories like I had over all these years.