Knowledge

dstimber

dstimber

TreeHouser
Joined
Jul 5, 2015
Messages
590
Location
NW Tennessee
If there is another thread similar point me in that direction. I am a book/knowledge junkie i guess you could say. Ive tried several things and done pretty good with them but I always come back to sawdust, sawmilling, trees, etc. I just cant get it out of my blood. I have more than a few books on tree climbing, knots, tree felling, and others. I find I learn and retain knowledge better if I am tested some how.

The local colleges don't offer much as to classes retaining to horticulture, forestry or arboriculture. I have been in arguments before wanting to take a few classes that are somewhat related and was unable to do having to have prerequisites. And I am not going to pay 3500.00 per classes like english literature, bowling, guitar, or any other none realted topic simply for wanting to learn more about a topic that already relates to my current job. So traditional college is kinda at the bottom of the list!

So... I guess my questions are in your professions who all as a college degree of some type?
Have most of you just done your time under someone else and learned on the job and advanced your careers that way?
Any one just started from scratch on your own?
Any good classes for a beginner to take?
I noticed ISA has an intro to arboriculture cd course. Has anyone used is and is it worth the money?

I suppose you could say I want to know how to be a tree doctor. I wanna know any thing and everything pertaining to trees, defects, diseases, repairs, anatomy, u name it.
So what are the must have books, dvds, programs or classes to take?

I agree the best and only way to learn any job or profession is on the job training under an expert that knows what they are doing. And I hope to one day start that even if it is a part time thing. So I want to get the med school for trees on my own, then intern, residency, then a fellowship.( I think thats the order it goes for people anyway:/: )

Thanks for any and all input guys.
 
This could be a very interesting thread...good start for one, for sure.

Not sure my path will help much but here is how I got here...I have only worked for one bona fide tree company ever. I learned just enough about climbing trees from my buddy who was a chopper pilot in Viet Nam. He learned to use pole climbers in Nam and help install commo wire in the bases he was at. He came home, we had a big ice storm in Atlanta in the early 70's and he taught me what little he knew during that storm. We bought a 1953 lineman's belt, spurs, 3 strand rope and got busy. Me being more agile and dumber than him, he had me doing the climbing. I survived that and signed on with a local tree company and worked for them while going to college. The boss let me work my schedule around classes.

I learned some good basics from them (tautline, chunking out spars, some very basic rigging..."always flood the saws when filling them or it's never really full"...at least that was what Fred, the groundsman taught me :lol:, etc.). Also learned they didn't know it all...it was standard for us to climb with no top rope until we either got scared enough to use the lanyard or until we had to make a cut. When you got to a limb you had to pass you just held on real tight, took your lanyard off, put it above the limb, clipped in again and kept climbing.

I was about 20 feet up one day on a 4-5 foot diameter very dead oak and get scared enough I felt like I needed a lanyard. When I started putting it around the tree the pro climber, Mike McHugh, a great guy, great climber, said, "hey, go up 3 more feet and you can get over that first limb and not have to dink around a lot. I sucked it up, took one more spur step up, spurred out, slid down the trunk about 10 feet, encountered a hump where a big limb used to be and it projected me away from my death grip on the trunk. That made me land badly and I broke my wrist. I didn't know it was broken but the boss told me I didn't look to good and said to go rest under a bush awhile. I recovered enough to climb again after a few minutes, cut that first big limb and when the limb fell I couldn't hold onto the saw from the broken navicula in my wrist...the lanyard saved the saw. I climbed down and spent the rest of the day waiting to go home...had to drive one handed, right hand wouldn't work. X-ray confirmed I had fubar'd it...took 3 months in a cast, all's good now. It was a good excuse to drop Accounting 201 :D

Anyway, however you proceed, be it books mainly or apprenticeship (which I highly recommend!!!...get a good teacher, they know more than they know they know)..whichever course, always listen to YOUR inner voice. It should be louder than someone who is not in your situation at the moment.

Then I graduated from college, looked for "real work" and let trees take a back seat. I kept up my minimal skills in the 80's but was in a vacuum of leanring about trees...no one I knew cared about trees. I finally discovered tree forums in the 90's when I got busy on the internet and learned LOTS more in a few months than I had learned in years before.

The web has been a major way I have progressed any at all with trees. I still have a big gap in technical knowledge about proper tree health and care...I know squat about tree injections, air spading, can recognize "disease" but am loathe to really ID it properly...much less know how to treat it. I tap into the knowledge base of these TreeHouse guys when I get in over my head.

I have heard really good things about these guys: https://natstraining.com/

I'll probably be taking one of their courses locally in October. Some of their instructors are contributors here at the House.

I'll be curious to see how our members direct you...it will help others of us choose some paths, too.

Good thread....looking forward to watching it.
 
One reason why I came to the treehouse was the knowledge and wanting to keep that fresh perspective. Online tree school of peers, I'm in:) no reason we couldn't do some Q&A here.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I love reading as well. Way back when I was married my ex and I were at Lee Valley tools, they had a book on trees and wood, it was a huge book, expensive too, around the $200 mark, it had photos, drawings and detailed information of many, many trees around the world, including how the wood looks wet and dry, end grain, young wood, old wood, etc etc. I passed on it, figured money would go to the family would be better..... kickin' myself now. I'm just a hack up here, would love to get some more knowledge, however in my area people don't really care much about trees, unless it bothers them for some reason, even then they tend to overlook it.

I've been looking at courses, but the time and money elude me, so a good book would be nice.
 
I'm sure there are some Butch. But not me. Lol

I think the isa(international society of arboriculture) is a good place to check out for resources, I swear I have most of the books they sell and if you become 'certified'(which basically consists of paying and sitting a 2hr exam) it opens many doors, Atleast up here it did.

But if you're just learning the ropes the end all and be all for acquiring the basic(and some not so basic) skills and knowledge of the trade is Gerald Beraneks book 'The Fundamentals of General Treework'. Jerry as he's known here is a great contributor to this forum and the trade as a whole. I don't know how to post links, but check out his site 'A Tree Story'.

I repeat. Fundamentals is the must have book.

There are many ways to learn the trade and everyone's journey, past experiences, and abilities are different so what works for one may not work for others. I had over a decade of logging experience, mostly highlead, that lead me to believe that I was gods gift to killing trees. Residential work was a steep learning curve for me still and I already knew how to cut and the basics of climbing.

Good luck with your journey man. I love the excitement of learning and accomplishing knew things.
 
Fundamentals for sure. That is such a treasure trove of knowledge. . . There's nothing else like it.

I also loved the little Tree Climbers Companion book. That's the one I took out in the woods to learn to climb, or rather, to learn how to use the gear. There's blood on more than one page. . .

The ISA compendium of CEU articles is a great resource as well. Not just for Cert guys, but in general, it's pretty comprehensive.

I've got my degree Butch, from Northern Michigan University, in English and Journalism. Money well spent that. haha. :|:
 
Tree Climber's Guide shows a lot, for about $60.

Fundamentals is sooo full of info, too much for a beginner climber, maybe.

I've got my Bachelor's in Recreation, with an Outdoor Leadership emphasis.
 
Bachelor of Science here in Behavioral Sciences...and a teaching certificate (taught HS for 2 years...science)

But I'm not a full-on tree guy...part-timer.
 
SouthSoundTree- said:
Fundamentals is sooo full of info, too much for a beginner climber, maybe.
Click to expand...

I'm not a religious man but Fundamentals is the bible of treework, it's not something to be just read, it needs to be studied. Will a newb glean everything from it the first go through, or even understand all of it? No they won't, so read it again.
 
I would say the tree climbers companion is more useful than the Isa tree climbers guide. I have both and like Grendel i found the companion very useful for having in the field as a quick reference.
 
10-4 on Jeff Jepson's book...a lot of good info there. It made a big difference in how I changed the way I worked in trees.

And a BIG 10-4 on Beranek's books. His "Fundamentals" is on my bedside table...looked at it two days ago when I was planning a speedline setup for a big gum tree. I have some video of the speedline that I'll eventually process and share.
 
I have one BS degree.....going for second...then masters....hopefully.

You can pass isa test if you study for a week.....pretty damn easy.

I gave up tree work
 
BS in Forest Resource Management, MS in Park Administration, 48 years OTJ in tree work. Still teach some classes from Dakota College at Bottineau in Soils, Arboriculture, Pathology, Turf online. Might look there. All my classes come with a lifetime subscription to my opinions.
 
And no better teacher have I found anywhere, than Bob Underwood......Underwor here. Give Bob a chance to help get you started on a career path in Aboriculture. His background in this subject is too vast to pass up.

Joel
 
Awesome suggestion!!

Bob has been a great contributor here...he endures a lot of dim-witted questions while he waits for the bulb to light up on the other end.:D

Sometimes we have a two filament bulb and only one filament is glowing.
 
Yup, Fundamentals. The bible.

I have a college degree, haven't let it hold me back.
 
I'm excited about what On Line learning will turn into. The world will learn things (and for free) at the top end of a subject that yesterday only a priveledged few could afford to experience. Stanford did an advanced physics course and 117,000 people were enrolled. It was pass/fail and about 11,000 passed. Ha, 11K in one go.

At any rate back to you. Ed Gilman is going to teach Pruning online in the spring of 2016 through University of Florida. His book, Pruning, is on Amazon for right at $100.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #21
Great input so far! I believe I have 3 of Jeff Jepson's books. I have read the tree climbers companion 3-4 times and am constantly studying it. Mr. Beranek's Fundamentals of General Tree work is the book I am on now and it is outstanding! I plan on ordering the rest of Beranek's books as well.

The Dakota College online courses look very interesting as well. I will definitely have to check that out. I will check in to Ed Gilman's class as well.The North American Training Solutions Courses seem to be a good hands on training course.

I prefer a apprenticeship type of situation, but I am currently unaware of anyone close enough to beg to let me train under them. And I am not sure if any of them do much climbing anyway. The few local guys I have seen to mostly do a lot of utility work from bucket trucks. But I haven't asked around or contacted them directly yet either. Ill have to dig up the local phone book and see what I can find in it and call the guys behind the tree service ads.
 
Denver,

It does seem strange to me that the least forested State in the Union.....North Dakota......would have one of the nation's best forestry and arboriculture schools. The Bottineau School of Forestry........located just 10 miles south of the Canadian line in central North Dakota, just happens to be located in the largest forested area in North Dakota. Bob Underwood was employed at the school for many years, and served as head of the Forestry Department there.

My first experience with the Bottineau school of Forestry came in 1975, when I attended a tractor safety school on the campus. It was a fantastic course, and I still rely on my training there during my daily tractor operations.

Bob Underwood recently discussed some of the changes that are taking place at the school. He may be able to help you get enrolled in the new program, once it is up and running again. They are actively seeking students.

If I can help in any way, please give me a shout. However, I believe you'd be in better hands by contacting Bob Underwood (Underwor) directly via the Private Messages tab on this board.

Joel
 
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