Alex Shigo, father of modern arboriculture, burst on the arboricultural scene in the early 1980s with his theory of compartmentalization of decay in trees, CODIT. With this he changed our collective thinking about trees. He created a revolution in our field of arboriculture. That revolution is continuing today with new generations of researchers helping create new knowledge of trees and moving the bar ever forward. Dr. Thomas Smiley is one of these folks.

It seems there have been articles and writings by Smiley or involving him for many years. Sometimes it seems as if he is everywhere! He is a man of high energy and ideals. For 47 years, he has submerged himself in all aspects of arboriculture and its organizations.

There are at minimum eight areas (in no specific order) Smiley has significantly contributed to and through which he has changed our arboriculture industry:

1. ISA’s Best Management Practices: Initiated and helped develop and write this extensive series of publications that are in widespread use throughout the industry.
2. Soil management:
   – Developed better ways to utilize the soil space under pavement for root and tree growth.
   – Established a workable system for providing commercially viable prescription fertilization programs.
   – Determined the best ways to reduce sidewalk damage from tree roots.
3. Lightning protection: Developed and demonstrated more cost-effective ways to protect trees.
4. Tree support systems: Worked with others to develop small-tree cabling systems, optimizing anchorage of the support cables (clarifying the optimum locations for cables and brace rods).
5. Tree risk assessment: Developed a new way of assessing tree risk and providing essential industry education on tree risk, leading to TRAQ (Tree Risk Assessment Qualified) credential.
6. Root invigoration: Developed and patented a process for using high-pressure air to break up soil compaction and incorporate organic matter and other amendments into the rooting area of existing trees.
7. Standards development: One of the longest-serving members on the ANSI A300 committee; actively and continuously working to enhance and improve arboricultural industry standards.
8. Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA): “I was in the right place at the right time to be entrusted by then-chair of the ISA Certification committee, Jim Ingram, to lead the development of the BCMA program,” says Smiley.

At a Glance

Thomas Smiley, Ph.D.

Name: Thomas Smiley, Ph.D.
Job title: Senior arboricultural researcher, Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories – Pacific Northwest
Company/organization: The F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company
City/state: Stamford, Connecticut
Years in the industry: 47
Credentials: B.S., Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin; M.S., Plant Pathology, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado; Ph.D., Urban Forestry, with minors in Soil Science and Park Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Affiliations: International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) since 1985; ISA’s Board of Directors since 2019, current Board president; American Phytopathological Society since 1977; ISA – Southern Chapter member; Registered Consulting Arborist, American Society of Consulting Arborists; Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers (CTLA); American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 committee alternate member, 29 years; Arboriculture Research and Education Academy (AREA); Editorial Committee, “Journal of Arboriculture/Arboriculture and Urban Forestry,” nine years; host of ISA ArborPod, Science of Arboriculture podcast series, 23 years
Area(s) of impact: Research and education, plant health care, safety, standards and best practices

Tom Smiley, left, in the field with a pair of Bartlett Tree Experts co-workers. All photos courtesy of Tom Smiley.

Smiley has authored or coauthored 188 articles in professional journals since 1977. He has given 493 lectures in 37 states and 13 countries outside of the U.S., including Canada, Brazil, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, China and Malaysia. In addition, Smiley has two arboricultural-related patents to his name: a tree-root invigoration process and a plant-injection tool.

Since 1988, Dr. Smiley’s primary occupation has been as an arboriculture researcher with the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories, and is currently senior arboricultural researcher at the Bartlett Laboratories Pacific Northwest branch, residing in Anacortes, Washington, where he focuses on tree issues of the Pacific Northwest. He has been responsible for providing support to arborist representatives, teaching arboriculture classes, providing consulting services to property managers, doing tree appraisals and conducting arboriculture research.

Somehow, squeezed into this very full agenda, Dr. Smiley served two stints as a college professor, currently as an adjunct professor of forest resources management at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and formerly as an adjunct professor of forestry at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

Why do you share your skills/knowledge with others? What is your motivation?
“Driving me throughout my career has been my insatiable love of urban trees and the desire to promote their survival, growth and health; trees make me smile,” Smiley says.

Do you have a “legend” or role model you learned from?
“I am who I am today because of the really great people who have been in my life, who have mentored, inspired and helped me along my career path. There are so many, but I have to humbly consider the great influence of 11 folks:

• Dr. Wayne Nishijima, University of Wisconsin and Colorado State, an excellent plant pathologist and mentor in my early career.
• Dr. Jim Kielbaso, Michigan State University, a great example of achieving leadership in the arboriculture industry. He showed me the industry and what was possible to achieve.
• Dr. Gary Watson, retired from the Morton Arboretum (in Lisle, Illinois). He was one of my earliest friends in the industry and showed me how much a researcher can accomplish and pass along to others.
• Bob Cool (deceased), city forester in Lansing, Mich., consultant and entrepreneur, always passionate about trees, trying to improve the quality of urban trees and passing his knowledge along to others.
• Sharon Lilly, retired director of educational products at ISA. We worked together to transfer knowledge throughout the industry. Her tireless commitment to arboriculture education has continued long past her retirement and has inspired me greatly. We continue to work on the TRAQ program, Best Management Practices and other projects.
• Dr. Jim Clark and Nelda Matheny, who are visionary and hardworking and have been at the forefront of the industry, always providing great advice.
  Patrick Brewer, vice president and division manager of the Bartlett Tree Expert Company, has been a forward thinker and innovator who has collaborated in the development of new cable and soil-decompaction methods.
• Dr. Bruce Freadrich, former director of the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories, an incredibly knowledgeable scientist who accomplished major changes in the company and tree care industry through quiet competence.
• Jim Ingram, CEO of the Bartlett Tree Expert Company, an outstanding leader who can achieve what appears to be the impossible. He empowered me multiple times during my career to move the industry forward with the BCMA program, the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, the ‘Guide for Plant Appraisal, 10th Edition’ and other projects.
• Robert Bartlett Jr., chair of the Bartlett Tree Expert Company, a great leader who truly cares about his employees and the future of the company and tree care industry.”

Smiley in the lab in his earlier days at the Bartlett Laboratories.

What do you hope your lasting legacy will be?
“Very few people are remembered past their retirement. I suspect I will be one of that group. Not because I didn’t accomplish a lot, but because I took the small steps that are necessary to build on the achievements of predecessors and move the evolutionary process of science in arboriculture forward.

“If I am remembered at all, it will be for root invigoration, because it is truly innovative; lightning protection and support systems, because no one else is working on them; and tree risk assessment, because we created a paradigm shift, and their incorporation into tree care standards and practices, which are anonymous, consensus-driven processes that will continue to evolve under the names of the people who will have picked up the flag and continue to move it forward.”

What is your favorite thing about the industry?
“Arborists are a great group of people to work with. Their dedication to quality work and what is best for trees and their clients amazes me on a daily basis. The most neophyte among us can achieve almost anything in this industry with hard work and dedication to learning!”

Conclusion
So who is Tom Smiley? We know he is a respected authority on tree care and management across the U.S. and around the world. But let’s have some of those who know and have spent time with him share his personal side.

Tom Smiley is joined by an orca, or killer whale, while paddling in the waters off the Washington coast.

“Tom Smiley is a very approachable fellow who very much likes to have a few beers with the fellows after a lecture or speaking engagement,” says Terry Raby, soils specialist and consultant with Airtech Tools Inc. “He really likes folks who go out and try things, seeking new understanding. He is a good conversationalist! He has a wonderful, personable smile that is full of joy in what he is doing and saying.”

“I was attending a symposium on trees, ‘The Landscape Below Ground,’ at the Morton Arboretum a few years back,” says Randy Cyr, consulting arborist, Greenville, S.C. “Dr. Smiley gave a lecture there. He was the last one to speak that particular day. Everyone prior to him stood behind the podium to give their talks. Dr. Smiley, refreshingly, left the podium and walked among us attendees while giving his lecture. Many years later, I still remember this as a really nice, common-man touch to a rather technical conference.”

Brian Pickett, Certified Arborist with Bartlett Tree, Knoxville, Tennessee, says, “When you think of the godfather of modern arboriculture, many may think of Alex Shigo or G.F. Beranek. For me, I think of Tom Smiley. The contributions Tom has made to our industry are innumerable and immense. On top of all that, he remains a very sincere and humble being.

“I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with Tom throughout my career, from listening to his training talks and engaging in research committee meetings to going out to dinner with him after events,” adds Pickett. “He could not be a nicer individual, and I feel proud to be working in the same industry and at the same company as him.”

W. Jim Cortese is a mostly retired consulting arborist, transitioning to full-time writing. He was an ISA member since 1977, is a retired ASCA member and Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA). He was founder and owner of Cortese Tree Specialists Inc., an accredited, 40-year TCIA member company prior to its sale to The Davey Tree Expert Company in 2013. He is founder and former CEO of TIPCO (Tree Injection Products Company) Inc., a former TCIA corporate member company, also based in Knoxville.