David McQuaid’s long career spans local tree work to large line-clearance operations.

Every once in a while, as you journey through life, you meet other people with the same ideals and loves that you have. It does not happen often, but when it does it’s wonderful. I’ve met many such people through the Tree Care Industry Association who have become great associates. With no small help from them, I’ve been able to touch others in education through my CTSP certification. And now, as I face retirement and that chapter in my life is closing, and as I relinquish my CTSP credential, I want to reflect a bit on those relationships.

First, let me fill you in on my journey through life in the trees.

Early start
It started when I was 16 and working for a local man who had a small tree business. Art was basically self-taught and fearless. He had minimal skills, but he blessed me with priceless lessons. He never treated me like a kid.

When I showed up at the end of the third 16-hour day of helping out, after almost all the older men had quit, he offered me a full-time job. By the time I was 17 and leaving high school early with a work permit, I was in charge of operating the International 4-wheel-drive truck equipped with our crane.

We had many great times together, and some wild stories ensued. Taking on the big jobs many others did not want to tackle was a daily occurrence, as was a good amount of drinking after work.

Then I met a girl who would become my wife of 50 years and counting, and I needed things my friend could not offer. (Something should also be said for the faithful spouses who stand beside – and put up with – the hardy and oftentimes raw souls who do this type of work!) So I left his employment and went to work for the Davey Tree Expert Company.

It was at Davey Tree that I learned the proper ways to trim and care for trees. Through their training, as well as the tutelage of other mentors, I became a crew leader at 19 years old. Time marches on, and in 1976, I was offered the opportunity to switch from tree care to line clearance. It was a financial decision for a young, growing family. You may laugh reading this, but at the time it was a 25-cent-an-hour raise, and I no longer needed to provide my own saws. That 25 cents was huge.

David McQuaid

Training
As I went from that small private tree company to a wonderful tree-surgery operation, and then through many companies in the occupation of line clearance, my life changed again in many ways, and I learned many things. One of the most important things I learned – and this is something I’ve tried to instill in everyone I ever had a hand in teaching – was that everyone should teach someone just coming into the trade. You need to train your replacement. You will never be the best person in your craft if you don’t train the person who will one day replace you in your current position.

There was probably a time when you showed someone else the best way to use a rake. Simple, yes, but true. As you went from one job task to another, part of the progression was training the people around you. You were teaching them the skills you have while at the same time you were learning more yourself.

And so it was that on the line-clearance side at the IBEW Local 1919 tree-trimming union hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we decided to elevate the profession by establishing line-clearance apprenticeship as a trade under the U.S. Department of Labor. We had to sit down and think of every particular task that had to be encompassed within our occupation, the same thing that some of my TCIA brothers and sisters in the trade have done in their training modules. So I became one of the first certified Line Clearance Journeyman Tree Trimmers in the United States. And my task then became to teach others.

TCIA
In my pursuit of learning all the skills I could, as well as the different ways to pass them on to others, I became an OSHA outreach trainer, attended various colleges for specific courses, then discovered TCIA. I believe Local 1919 was one of the first unions to become affiliated with this great organization. I can still remember in my earlier days, walking down the halls to the next class at one of the TCI EXPO conferences, and having someone reach out and stop me because I was wearing a union tree-trimmer T-shirt – they thought it was a joke.

Through this organization, I was able to expand my training and bring others in and allow them to be trained, and they, in turn, are now training still others, their replacements. As a union, typically you stay in your lane and work with others in the same operations you’re involved in. My Local 1919 decided they didn’t want to keep all the instruction and knowledge needed for a safe career to themselves. So I was allowed to take our lessons “on the road” to people outside our jurisdiction, all because we wanted other trimmers to be safe.

I was invited to write two previous articles for TCI Magazine. One was about staying safe on the job through the eyes of a crew leader and a first-day employee. The other was about training your replacement. I was even invited, one year when TCI EXPO was in Pittsburgh, my hometown, to do a segment on the trade-show floor about the evolution of the line-clearance tree trimmer and show off some of the old photos I’ve collected over the years.

I’ve met wonderful people through TCIA, and I’ve been impacted by some of those people to think a little bit differently, to reach out in a slightly different way. And I have gathered many new skills from them and a different viewpoint on some old skills.

On the EXPO floor, I was able to meet some of the tree techs who showed me how they were able to calculate and plot different aspects of rigging by using graphs and charts and computer profiles – the very same concepts I had learned through trial and error and broken equipment and snapped ropes. Some of the knowledge they provided is now within the manuals at the IBEW Local 1919 Line-Clearance Apprentice School in Pittsburgh.

CTSP
The impact of the technical training from TCIA became apparent when I started looking into the Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP) program. Having already been involved in putting together the training parameters for the Line-Clearance Apprentice School, it became immediately apparent to me how valuable this information was.

Many of the experts I met through TCIA, Dr. John Ball among them, actively encouraged the sharing of information they had put together. If you’ve been around nothing but TCIA, you may not understand how different that is. Many organizations function on the money they can get for the information they promulgate, and while this is true to a point for TCIA, these people, these experts, freely discuss and share expertise with others. That was special.

As a line-clearance journeyman, I was able to share information on electricity with many of my TCIA acquaintances. I’ve spoken to people in different groups about the need to have the training, and I was very well versed on the OSHA requirements for these conditions. CTSP training helps provide the connection between the knowledge in your head and the skill in your hands.

Another thing I like about the Association in general is that it raises the level of the craft and offers help for businesses to reach that higher bar. Anyone can see how many fly-by-night operations are out there. They increase the accident rate, inflate the cost of insurance, lower the trade to a dangerous level and allow untrained workers to be mistreated, underpaid and, far too often, maimed and even killed.

Retirement
I decided to end my journey with TCIA and allow my CTSP to expire quietly, now that I am 70 years old with almost 45 years in the trees. But that was not to be. Some of the friends I met over the years contacted me and said, “Hey, your certification is about to expire.” They were worried and concerned about me, and when I explained to them that I was retiring, many of them shared how much they enjoyed our time together over the years, and they asked me to write one last article. And so here it is.

I hope you all consider your career and its limitations, because we only live so long. I hope you can look and see how wonderful a life in the trees can be, and I pray it remains a blessing and a wonderful thing for you all. I don’t climb a lot anymore, but I still occasionally pick a tree, especially in the woods, and climb it just to sit up there for a different perspective and enjoy God’s creation from an elevated perspective.

I hope a little bit of that different perspective comes your way, that you will be blessed, that you will be healthy and that you will recognize your unique position in this career path. Through the training offered by TCIA, and especially the CTSP program, people looking for a great trade are given that avenue to become better, to manage their businesses better and to become arborists and even trainers themselves.

In all things, you need to train your replacement and realize that this life we love, as well as the life itself that we cling to, has an expiration date. I am leaving with nothing but great memories. Next time TCI EXPO is in Pittsburgh, you might just see me again.

David McQuaid is a training instructor with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 1919, a 16-year TCIA corporate member organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.