Workforce Development

PHC technician Matt Parker treating an ash for emerald ash borer.

Education Is Key at Teacher’s Tree Service

Greg Ranallo’s company name, Teacher’s Tree Service, may allude to the years he spent as a public school teacher in Minnesota, but it still applies to his and his employees’ current arboricultural work. Teacher’s is a 17-year TCIA member company based in South Burlington, Vermont, and its crew members take the “teacher” part seriously. “I’d […]

Scotty Olson at TCI EXPO ’23 in St. Louis, Missouri. Photo by Pete Senor, Clogger, New Zealand.

Scotty Olson Values Learning How to Communicate With the Younger Generation

The Legends of the Geezers is an annual tree-climbing competition held in January in Florida for those still agile over the age of 40, and it just celebrated its 21st birthday. Next January, three climbers who were 18 when they started helping out with the competition now, 21 years later, will be competing. “So it’s […]

Amber Lloyd 2 Web

WITC Scholarship Winners: No Holds Barred for Amber Lloyd and Margaret Gardner

TCIA offers two $1,000 scholarships annually for travel and related expenses for women in the industry to attend TCI EXPO and take part in the Women in Tree Care (WITC) Pre-Conference Workshop held there. The opportunity has garnered great interest in the past, and this year was no different. “This past year, for the 2023 […]

Photo of a section of wall on the U.S./Mexico border

USCIS to Increase Fees for Immigration and Naturalization Benefit Requests

On January 31, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit-request fees. Effective April 1, 2024, these changes increase fees for employment-based petitions postmarked on or after this date. Specific to the tree care industry, these changes will increase program-use […]

Champion climber Krista Strating instructing at a Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop.

Breaking Through the Tree Canopy with Nicole Benjamin

One community in tree care work is increasing, and that would be the league of extraordinary women. “It’s definitely growing, we’re not so much an outlier anymore. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a boys’ club, but at the same time it’s not weird to just be with all guys,” says Nicole Benjamin, tree climber, […]

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