What Is a Certified Arborist?

An arborist specializes in the care of trees. Arborists are knowledgeable about the needs of trees and are uniquely trained and equipped to provide proper care. ISA Certified Arborists submit to a certification examination and must also continue their education to maintain their certification. Therefore, they are more likely to be up to date on the latest techniques in arboriculture. More importantly, Certified Arborists carry the insurance coverage required for this often risky specialized work which sometimes involves climbing above the tree line with chainsaws.

Why Hire an Arborist?

Expertise

Pruning: Your trees are an investment and they require proper care in order to maintain and increase their value. Arborists are trained to determine the specific type of pruning necessary to improve not only the beauty of your trees, but ensure their health and safety. Some of these techniques include:

• eliminating branches that rub each other
• removing limbs that interfere with wires, building facades, gutters, roofs, chimneys, or windows, or that obstruct streets or sidewalks
• removing dead or weak limbs that pose a hazard or may lead to decay
• removing diseased or insect-infested limbs creating better structure to lessen wind resistance and reduce the potential for storm damage
• training young trees removing limbs damaged by adverse weather conditions
• removing branches, or thinning, to increase light penetration
• improving the shape or silhouette of the tree

Safety

Tree Removal: An arborist can help decide whether a tree can be salvaged, or if it should be removed. They have the experience and equipment to safely remove a tree if it cannot be saved without a causing a detrimental effect on the remaining landscape.

In an emergency situation, like a major storm, trees often fall and land on other trees, homes or other structures. It can be a dangerous job to remove or trim a storm-damaged tree which has landed in a precarious position. Arborists are trained and experienced in performing this type of removal in a safe manner, while reducing further risk of damage to property.

Pruning or removing trees, especially large trees, can be dangerous work. For this reason, tree work should be done only by those trained and equipped to work safely in trees.

Advanced Knowledge

General Tree Care: An arborist can also recommend preventative maintenance and ongoing care that will help you maintain your tree investment.

• fertilization
• cabling or bracing for added support to branches with weak attachment
• aeration to improve root growth
• installation of lightning protection systems
• spraying or injecting to control certain insect and disease problems