July 2020

After 35 years with Brinkman, Rainer Korn has officially retired! This week, he packed up his trailer and, together with his partner, Cathy, and child, Jordan, they headed to Hay River, NWT, for their summer gig monitoring/ treating mine effluent. Ben Bradford will finish the Fernie project which is expected to run until July 6th.

Rainer’s exceptional career adds up to some truly astounding numbers:

First day with Brinkman: May 26th, 1986 – 35 seasons
Trees planted: 2,736,259
Project Management: April 2006 – 15 seasons
Trees managed: 40,000,000+

While none of those totals (years, trees planted, trees managed) are a record in themselves, we are confident that the combination has not been outdone by any in the silviculture industry. This is fitting, because Rainer won the BC Provincial Decathlon in 1981 – highest combined score on multiple events.

Although he spent most of his years bouncing between Woss and the south east Kootenays, Rainer put in long seasons planting trees all over BC and Alberta – starting early and finishing late. Many people met him for the first time on an end of season combined crew project, or when he joined up for a summer plant. He was a notoriously fast planter right from the start and inspired many a would-be highballer to try to keep up - and learn a thing or two in the process. His orange ex-CP Rail 2-wheel-drive Chevy was a welcome sight for Project Managers throughout the early 90’s as a sure sign that production was about to go way up and the contract would soon be finished. Rainer’s highly-focused, gold-medal efforts on the block were offset by his laconic smile and easy-going mannerism around camp, ever quick to lend a hand, share his experience, or lead the way on some day-off hot spring adventure.

After many seasons on the shovel, Rainer seized the opportunity to manage our long time Kootenay work and purchased Fred Schutter’s camp along with a fleet of trucks. We have been working in the Elk Valley continuously since the late 70’s and Rainer has been there longer than anyone. He eventually bought a house in Fernie where he and Cathy raised Jordan while managing projects in the area. Rainer says he was set to retire 20 years ago, but when he met Cathy and she took to planting he decided to “stick it out for a bit longer”.

Thanks Rainer.

We are honored to have had the benefit of your strength, wisdom, and leadership for so long. You are the consummate silviculture professional - the Dean of Planting.

A short article about Rainer in the The Free Press from 2019

Rainer Retires