From the Field

Being born and raised in Minnesota, I know how rough winters can get. Growing up, I never imagined I would find a career outside. I love winter, but I did not love it that much. A few years ago, I found my way into the tree care industry, and winter is now my favorite time […]

A number of years ago, I met a beautiful red-headed university professor. We went out to a favorite Mexican restaurant for chicken enchiladas, seated at a tiled outdoor patio under resplendent Modesto ash trees (Fraxinus velutina). We took majestic hikes in my favorite state park, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, in Calaveras County, California, which […]

What will my memorial tree be? It’s a question that has been on my mind more often after completing an often-overlooked but necessary project: cataloging dedicated campus trees. As a world-class arboretum, the University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden has a collection of 15,000 trees and woody plants, with many of those being dedicated […]

I was on the Arborists Online Facebook page a while ago and came across postings from a couple of young arborists. They had just received their copies of Dr. Alex Shigo’s books, A New Tree Biology and Modern Arboriculture. I could sense the excitement in their posts, and it brought back a flood of memories […]

I have lived the life of an athlete. I have lived for the climb. I am a climber. When I started my training in the early ’70s with my father, he told me that as long as I could climb a tree, I’d have a job. Inevitably, age and injuries have caught up with me. […]