Joining the Tree Climbing Championship Community
Back in the late 1990s, I was a young man with a fresh degree in psychology looking for a career. I took a job dragging brush for a small tree care company, and my boss started teaching me to climb trees. In 1997, he took me to my first Midwestern Tree Climbing Championship (TCC), in […]
ANSI Z133 Update: Electrical Hazards Proposed Guidance for Arborist
In this article, we will look at pending revisions to the ANSI Z133 Standard for Arboricultural Operations – Safety Requirements (ANSI Z133-2017), Section 4 – Electrical Hazards. I had the pleasure of speaking at TCI EXPO ’21 in Indianapolis, Indiana, about the work being done at the time on Section 4 – Electrical Hazards for […]
Three Scale Amigos in the City: Who They Are and Why They Outbreak
More than 55% of the world population now lives in cities, according to an October 2022 report by the World Bank. This percentage is expected to increase to nearly 70% by the year 2050. As once-natural areas become developed and forests and grasslands are turned into the homes, businesses, institutions and attendant infrastructure that comprise […]
What Is Tree Biomechanics and Why Should I Care?
Biomechanics is the combination of two sciences – biology and physics. It’s the study of biological organisms from a mechanical perspective. Mechanics is the study of objects’ motion and is based on Newton’s three laws of motion. Those three laws are: If we want to understand how a bird flies or how a tree fails […]
Modern Organic Amendments: A Practical Approach to Urban Soil Health
In my December 2022 article in TCI Magazine, “The Plight of Urban Soils,” a majority of the content focused on the issues with urban soils and how they are notably different from natural forest and prairie soils. There is mention of modern organic-matter (OM) products and how organic-matter inputs can help improve urban soils. (Photo […]