Our Role as Arborists

TreeMuggs

Treehouser
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
198
Location
Southwestern Ontario, Canada
One of my readers asked me to write something about my own personal philosophy of arboriculture. Intrigued by the idea, I decided to keep it short and sweet, since my philosophy is actually very simple:

'An arborist's career is centered around maintaining the health and beauty of trees.'​

In my opinion, our role as arborists is to be committed to all aspects of tree conservation, preservation, and environmental stewardship.

I believe that the benefits of trees to the urban landscape are unmistakable, yet trees take so long to grow that they cannot simply be replaced if damaged or removed. I believe that any 'tree service' can cut trees down, but it takes a true professional to provide for the long-term health and well being of our cherished landscape trees. Our role as 'Green Industry' professionals is to help educate homeowners on how best to preserve and protect the natural heritage of our modern urban ecosystem.

Since finishing my own apprenticeship, my business has been built around helping my customers make more informed decisions about their trees and landscape. Nowhere is this more evident than in my own commitment to helping customers visualize solutions to tree issues and being able to provide workable compromises to tree removal. Yes, sometimes trees will be need to be removed, but in my experience, pruning and other measures can often be used systematically to save trees from removal. In this way, we both, accomplish the goals of those involved, while also acting as good stewards of the urban environment, our natural heritage.

Look, let's be honest. I do a lot of removals. That is just part of the trade. There is a very real concept of 'wrong tree, wrong place'. I get it. All I'm saying, is that our primary focus as professional arborists, ought to be on trimming and preservation, rather than on removals. There are untold numbers of 'tree guys' out there, who go around cutting trees down for cutthroat prices, with no consideration for the future of the neighborhoods that they operate in. But the reality is this: trees take an incredibly long time to grow. You can lose your entire lawn, call a sod guy, and within a few hours, you can have a brand new lawn. It just doesn't work that way with trees. Trees are a long-term investment. Trees are the elder statesmen of the urban landscape. They are unlike all man-made structures, and different than all of the other aspects of landscape design. Trees are unique, and they deserve our utmost respect and admiration. I love trees, but I'm not a tree-hugger. If you can understand that contradiction, then you can start to understand how I see our unique role in the community at large, both as professional arborists, and as business and thought leaders.

So, there it is. Thoughts? Opinions? Let's continue the conversation.
 
Well put, I agree.
I especially like your line, 'I love trees but I'm not a tree-hugger'. Ditto
 
'An arborist's career is centered around maintaining the health and beauty of trees.'


In my opinion, our role as arborists is to be committed to all aspects of tree conservation, preservation, and environmental stewardship.









I agree with a lot of what you said, Patrick.

I might say that an arborist's work centers around the knowledge of trees. A lot of my arborist work is not around preserving the trees, but knowing about diseases/ defects/ damage/ pests and how they interact with trees, and then working with finding a compromise between trees and people. Other parts of my arborist work is definitely working around tree health: mulching, structural pruning, supplemental support systems, RCX, SGR pruning, air-flow and sun-penetration pruning for foliar fungally-affected trees, etc.

Then there is the tree worker part. Killing trees that are known to be hazards based on evidence an arborist knows, pruning for house clearance/ power line clearance/ protecting property.
Large dead branches over a house...Trees Don't GAS.
 
I often find my role as an arborist is to talk HO's/PO's out of doing stupid shit. Like I wanna remove that 12" caliper Jap maple and plant a yew. Luckily I was successful in that battle.
 
An arborist is a perfect merger of the good guy and the bad guy from the lorax! Advocate for the trees, but cut em down when necessary
 
Fine line betwix condemming a tree and then bidding on it's removal....
 
If you walk onto a property and recommend that a tree needs to have some dead wood removed or some weight needs to be taken out of the canopy, would you not give a bid due to ethics or a perceived conflict of interest?
 
I don't see the supposed conflict of interest.

When you are sick, do you go to one doctor to get diagnosed and then go to a different doctor to pay for your treatment?
 
No. but unscrupulous arborists are quick to condemn so they can make that stump and get paid.

Not saying docs don't do the same thing, but just saying is all.
 
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