Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat W.H.I.P. development

I must be some kinda dope. I don't know what I was thinkin'. I've been down this road more than once, yet I let it slip right by me. I didn't pre-order any of the planting stock that I need for this spring's WHIP plase II. I should have placed those orders last October...but I didn't. Yeah, I've been bustin' my butt straight thru the winter with other projects at the pond (my little shed/shelter), but that's no excuse.
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So, I got busy yesterday and made phone calls.
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Here is my estimate for the scope of work. We need to plant 400 Norway Spruce seedlings and 1200 shrubs of various types. This will occur, divided amongst the 5 planting zones on the map above. Whew...that's alot of planting. Since I am absentee and we don't yet have a place to stay overnight (maybe soon with the shed/shelter?), I owe it to my hard workin' wife to see what it might cost to pay someone to do for us. I reviewed the NRCS-supplied list of state foresters, narrowed the list to services that are closest, and called the one guy with the best match of credentials to our needs. He says he specializes in smaller projects like ours. He says he does them by hand; manually. After reviewing our maps and scope of work, he shot from the hip; $2500 - $3000 to do the work and return for maintenance round up applications. WHOA! I told him the flat-out truth...it's not in the budget. He spent alot of time discussing the project and offered some alternatives for knocking down the price, but I just can't see it happening. So...I called my neighbor farmer pal that has been my strongest support and ally. He is the guy that did all our grass/forbes planting last spring. He was shocked by the price, also. He manages a very large private hunting preserve in the area. He said that he just had a guy out recently to plant a bunch of seedling trees, and he used a mechanical planter. He couldn't remember the exact volume in a day, but it was alot. He is going to reach out to see if the planter is available. I think it has something to do with Pheasants Forever; not sure.
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What he did mention, and that is my curiosity, is that he wasn't sure if the planter would also plant shrub seedlings. He thought it would, but was only familiar with the tree planting ability. Heck...it's gotta plant shrubs, too....right? If not, and we have to plant 1200 seedling shrubs with a dibble bar, I'm gonna have to hide all the frying pans in the house or start wearing a helmet.
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(EDIT) Jeesh....I just did it again! I forgot to 'splain the seedling ordering issue. None of the state nurseries in our region are sitting on strong inventory of what we need. I might have to piece-meal from a couple different sources, and even then, might not get the shrub selection we want. Fortunately, the Norway Spruce inventory is still available. I have a call into our NRCS guy to have him explain the details of the timing on the WHIP thing. I need to know if I can bail out for this year and try again next year. I'm pretty sure that my committment, which is tied to our beginning last year, has got to be executed this year. Assuming this to be the case, I have a number of contingencies to line up...and quick! Jeesh....I really hope that we can get that mechanical planter this spring! I think I'm going to go ahead and order all the seedlings we need on Monday (it's Saturday am right now). This way, I can lock them in while we negotiate lining up the planting. If it completely falls apart, I should be able to call these state nurseries back and cancel the order, providing I do it early and timely.