Pruning Standard--Reaffirm, or Revise?

[treelooker]

The best-kept secret in the US segment of the tree care industry is this announcement that the A300 committee is attempting to reaffirm the current 2008 version of the A300 Pruning standard. The text is below, with the odd statement that "no comments or suggestions for improvement for the Pruning standard were received by TCIA since 2008."

This must be a typo. We've seen many calls for changes to this standard in TCI magazine, and also presented at Expo. Now's the time to check your 2008 copy and think about how it works, or doesn't work for you. Compared to the standards in advanced countries like Germany and the UK, the text is obscure, and lacking guidance and information. The A300 committee has no working arborists participating, and recently floated a change in its Bylaws that, unlike the Z133 committee, for instance, does not allow any input from Observers at its meetings. So it's up to us to review this and submit comments to Mr. Rouse and your committee reps, listed below.

May 8, 2014
ANSI A300 (Part 1)-2008 Pruning Standard Reaffirmation Notice

ANSI A300 (Part 1)-2008 Pruning standard is in public review for a proposed reaffirmation of the
standard. Reaffirmation means the standard is reaffirmed for up to an additional 5–year period as is,
without substantive changes. This decision was reached since no comments or suggestions for
improvement for the Pruning standard were received by TCIA since 2008. Once the reaffirmation is approved, the A300 committee will begin working on the next revision of the Pruning standard (projected for 2016).
The public review period runs May 9, to June 23, 2014. Since this is a reaffirmation of a
standard, your public review draft copy is your copy of the ANSI A300 (Part 1)-2008 Pruning standard,
to order call TCIA at 800-733-2622. Send questions or comments on the reaffirmation to Bob Rouse,
rrouse@tcia.org

Secretary
Bob Rouse
Tree Care Industry Association
136 Harvey Road, Ste 101 Londonderry, NH 03053-7439
(603) 314-5380
rrouse@tcia.org

Producer (Vote)
Warren A. Quinn
American Nursery & Landscape Assoc.
1000 Vermont Ave, NW Ste 300 Washington, DC 20005-5979
(202) 789-5980

Producer (Alternate)
Craig J. Regelbrugge
American Nursery & Landscape Assn.
1250 I St NW Ste 500 Washington, DC 20005-5979
(202) 789-2900
cregelbrugge@anla.org

User - Private Sector (Vote)
Peter J. Becker
Bartlett Tree Experts - Mid-Atlantic Division
2950 Industrial Pk Dr Ste C Finksburg, MD 21048-2339
(410) 861-8312
pbecker@bartlett.com

User - Private Sector (Vote)
Geoff Kempter
Asplundh Tree Expert Co.
708 Blair Mill Road Willow Grove, PA 19090-1701
(215) 784-1362
gkemp@asplundh.com

User - Private Sector (Vote)
Christopher A. Klimas, CTSP
The Davey Tree Expert Company
218-B South Main St. Mount Airy, MD 21771
(301) 829-6915
chris.klimas@davey.com

User - Private Sector (Alternate)
Dave L. Johnson
Asplundh Tree Expert Co
708 Blair Mill Road Willow Grove, PA 19090
(215) 784-4384
djohnson29@asplundh.com

User - Private Sector (Alternate)
Grant Jones
The Davey Tree Expert Company
1500 N Mantua St Kent, OH 44240-2399
800-445-8733 - x344
gjones@davey.com

User - Private Sector (Alternate)
Thomas Smiley
Bartlett Tree Experts
13768 Hamilton Rd Charlotte, NC 28278-8213
704-588-1150 x 123
TSmiley@bartlettlab.com

User - Private sector (Observer)
Wayne Dubin, CTSP
Bartlett Tree Experts - Metropolitan Div West
98 Ford Rd Ste 3E Denville, NJ 07834-1356
(973) 983-7511
wdubin@bartlett.com

User - Trade Association - Tree Care Industry (Vote)
Thomas J. Mugridge
Forest City Tree Protection Co., Inc.
731 Beta Dr Suite E Mayfield Village, OH 44143-2358
(216) 381-1700 ext.14
tmugridge@forestcitytree.com

User - Trade Association - Tree Care Industry (Alternate)
Steven R. Mays, Jr.
Carroll Tree Service, Inc.
74 Gwynns Mill Ct Owings Mills, MD 21117-3532
(410) 998-1100
smaysjr@carrolltreeservice.com

User - Trade Association - Planet (Vote)
Alice Carter, CTSP
ValleyCrest Companies
7039 Commerce Circle Ste B Pleasanton, CA 94588-8006
(40 406-5622
acarter@valleycrest.com

User - Trade Association - Planet (Alternate)
Tom Delaney
PLANET
504 Cole Drive Lilburn, GA 30047
(770) 925-7113
tomdelaney@landcarenetwork.org

User - Trade Association (Observer)
Tim A. Johnson
Artistic Arborist, Inc.
4519 N 7th Ave Phoenix, AZ 85013-2754
(602) 263-8889
tim@artistic-arborist.com

User - Trade Association (Observer)
Myron Laible
Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc.
1850 M Street NW Ste 1040 Washington, DC 20036
202-833-5566
mlaible@oaaa.org

User - Public Sector - SMA (Vote)
Nolan Rundquist
Seattle Department of Transportation
PO Box 34996 Seattle, WA 98124-4996
(206) 684-4134
nolan.rundquist@seattle.gov

User - Public Sector - SMA (Alternate)
Gordon Mann
Mann Made Resources, Consulting Arborists
12661 Torrey Pines Drive Auburn, CA 95602-8028
(650) 740-3461
gordon@mannandtrees.com

General Interest - Professional Society - ISA (Vote)
Richard Hauer, PhD
University of Wisconsin
2100 Main Street Stevens Point, WI 54481
(715) 346-3642
rhauer@uwsp.edu

General Interest - Professional Society - ISA (Alternate)
Sharon Lilly
International Society of Arboriculture
P.O. Box 3129 Champaign, IL 61826
(217) 355-9411 x 208
slilly@isa-arbor.com

General Interest - Professional Society - ASCA (Vote)
Torrey Young
Dryad, LLC
35570 Palomares Road Castro Valley, CA 94552-9631
(510) 538-6000
torrey@dryad.us

General Interest - Professional Society - ASCA (Alternate)
Stephen W. Miller, CTSP
Bartlett Tree Experts
119 Brush Creek Rd Irwin, PA 15642-9504
(724) 863-8951
smiller@bartlett.com

General Interest - Professional Society - ASCA (Observer)
Beth Palys, CAE
American Society of Consulting Arborists
9707 Key West Ave Ste 100 Rockville, MD 20850-6246
(301) 947-0483

General Interest - Professional Society - PGMS (Vote)
Gene Pouly
E. F. Pouly Company
9088 Back Orrville Rd Orrville, OH 44667-9554
(330) 683-8733
gpouly@efpouly.com

General Interest - Professional Society - PGMS (Alternate)
Michael Bova
Professional Grounds Mngmt Society
720 Light St Baltimore, MD 21230-3850
(410) 752-3318

General Interest - Professional Society - ASLA (Vote)
Ron Leighton
American Scty of Landscape Architects
636 Eye St NW Washington, DC 20001-3736
(202) 216-2338
rleighton@asla.org

General Interest - Professional Society - UAA (Vote)
William Rees
Baltimore Gas & Electric
1068 N Front St Baltimore, MD 21202-4129
(410) 291-3633

General Interest - Professional Society - UAA (Alternate)
Matthew Simons
Utility Arborist Association
5100 Harding Hwy C/O Pepco Holdings Mays Landing, NJ 08330-2260
(609) 625-6021

General Interest - Environment - USDA (Vote)
Keith W. Cline
USDA Forest Service
1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20250-0002
(610) 557-4183

General Interest - Environment - USDA (Alternate)
Ed Macie
U. S. Forest Service
1720 Peachtree St NW C/O Usda Forest Svc-Southern Region Atlanta, GA 30309-2449
(404) 347-1647

General Interest - Consumer/Community - ACT (Vote)
Carrie Gallagher
Alliance for Community Trees
6856 Eastern Ave NW #150 Washington, DC 20012
(301) 277-0040
carrie@actrees.org

ASC A300 Liaison - NFPA 780 Liaison
Richard Roux
National Fire Protection Association
1 Batterymarch Park Quincy, MA 02169-7484
(617) 984-7476
rroux@nfpa.org

 

[squisher]

No offence but no wonder no working arborists are involved.

Each tree/situation is unique

I often tell customers a hundred different treemen could trim/remove this tree and it'd happen a hundred different ways.

 

[vharrison]

There is not one representative from Florida. The one beef I have with ANSI 300 is that it says it should not spike coconut palms. I don't agree with that position at all. I think anyone that trims coconut palms for a living would agree that spiking does not hurt the palm tree. You may notice ANSI 300 says should not it does not go as far as saying shall not, however, the City of Key West is now requiring permits to spike coconut palms. The permitting process is quite time consuming, every palm has to be photographed, documented and each individual owner must submit the permit. I don't know if you can imagine how many coconuts there are in Key West, but there are thousands!

Also, the permit is only good for 6 months, then you have to re-apply. Pain in the butt.

One client, upon learning that he would have to permit the trim, has opted to remove the palms in his yard. There goes 3 sources for coconuts.

(No permit needed unless spiking)

 

[vl2007]

Wow, permit for spiking? First time hearing that! I spike palms for safety.

 

[ClimbMIT]

Hey V maybe check with your local ISA chapter?

 

[treelooker]

V you're right; A300 says we *should* not spike, then gives several exceptions. If it ain't a 'shall not', it's not verboten. Spiking makes them ugly imo but who am i to say?

Yes every situation is unique, but having good guidelines can really help when in unfamiliar territory. The German Standard is a lot better than A300; it has info on cabling and roots and contracts too and only costs 20 euro (~$28.00)