ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Tree Failures at WTS and Tuen Mun, and Tree Climbing to heal Suicidal)

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Attached are two sets of recent Tree News from our local media:

(A) Tree Failures at WTS & Tuen Mun

Tree Failures do not become much of any exciting news in our territory anymore with coverage in newspapers just to fill up spaces. As time went along, even our Tree Lovers & Tree Experts who advocated loudly against tree failures in the past, appeared to tone down their voices nowadays. Would it be because ISA HK/China is gradually taking over them with facts & science?

For the two reported cases of failure, in one a tree of +10m tall fell & hit a passing car, causing serious damage to the car & injured a passenger inside in Tuen Mun. Then in the second an eighty year old woman was hit by a falling branch on the back in WTS. She was injured & hospitalized.

In the WTS incident, the tree owner said that they will employ ' Tree Experts' to inspect all trees inside their premises to prevent future accidents. This Station is doubtful if Arborists would be employed since everyone else appeared to be 'Tree Experts' in our territory except Arborists for the public. 'Specialist' Contractors are usually employed in view of their 'experience'.

This Station has a long way to go to promote ourselves & our profession, despite some initial successes in our landscape industry.

(B) Tree Climbing to heal the Suicidal

This heart breaking news of a young lady jumping off the roof for 'love' is truly saddening. What a wasteful spoil of life & she is not the only one killed in this manner this month already. HK's young appeared to be losing fighting spirit to confront adversities when compared to the generation of the Station Manager in the 1970's. People would mostly commit suicide for money (or lack of it) in those tough old days.

This Station has seen research about the mentality of the suicidal when the process was actually being committed. Some research (Sorry, no quote) mentioned that over half the suicidal were actually regretting half way through their dying, but could not reverse once the process got started. Imagine how someone can try to stop herself from falling once she jumped off a roof. Wouldn't it be too late to stop?

In order for these desperate to get a second chance not to waste their valuable life due to irregular mental impulse, a process should be set up for them to try dieing, but not going to die. This Station has thought of Tree Climbing (see photo in attachment) as a possible alternative.

Vertical tree climbing is challenging death by dangling someone dozens of feet up high without touching anything except the rope. Any failure of equipment or misuse of technique will be enough to be fatal. This would give a sensation of half way from jumping off a roof but held stationery there for a chance to look back into one's valuable life. Peeping down is usually scary & any uncontrolled spin or swing by wind is enough to wreck nerves. For suicidal who wanted to try, it will be their chance for a second thought.

This Station has learned from research in Japan that Tree Climbing has medical values for the mentally depressed & suicidal. Research there has suggested that mind can be strengthened through Tree Climbing & stresses dismissed after the vigorous exercise. Any Tree Climber understands the requirement to focus while on rope. Any lack of attention will be equal to jumping off the roof.

ISA HK/China has mentioned time & time again of the benefits of Tree Climbing to the HK public. HK is a place today innovative enough to give it a try. After all, for victims who seem to be heading for a dead end & survive on medication only, what have they got to lose if they are to be put on rope under professional instruction? Tree Climbing will strengthen their muscles & mind, at a cost next to nothing when compared to conventional treatment. Why don't our doctors listen?

HK should not lose our sense of innovation after 1997.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

PS: For Tree Climbing enquiries, please contact TCHK at http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk .



The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- FAQ about SGF 2008 and Day Tour

Dear Station Members & General Public,

So many phone calls have come in since the announcement of the SGF 2008 Expo on Station Mail yesterday that a FAQ list has become necessary to answer popular enquiries to maximize efficiency in ISA HK/China:

1. It is free without cost to join the Day Tour of Nparks on Saturday July 26, 2008, if you have registered with us before July 20. Participants only have to share cost for the transport which is insignificant.

2. We intend to maintain the capacity of attendance on the Day Tour to below 20 persons. However, this is negotiable if more, or groups, would like to attend, if decided worthwhile by ISA HK/China.

3. The Day Tour will be conducted in English only. Translation into Chinese of every word is unlikely in order not to disturb the progress.

4. We would recommend people in our landscape industry to join, be they designers, practitioners, officials, conservationists, suppliers, contractors, or just anybody. However, our public is also welcomed, but they will be told in professional languages & they will have to succumb to our arrangement while in Singapore.

5. Anyone does not have to register with seminars of SGF, before joining the Day Tour on July 26. Anyone is free to go to Singapore as a tourist & just join us on that day. However, you must register with us before July 20 so that we know you are coming.

6. Anyone is free to ask questions during the Day Tour to anybody, but in an orderly & respectable manner, please. Singapore is a country giving order & discipline a priority.

7. We shall not publicly disclose the list of participants of the Day Tour in Station Mail. Those of you who are Civil Servants can rest assured of your privacy. However, you will be seen by everybody during the Day Tour although you do not have to introduce yourselves. ISA HK/China will maintain privacy of all participants whenever required & possible. Please note that while in Singapore, even your blood feuds will have to abide by the laws there. You will be protected.

8. The cheapest & most efficient way to go, if you wish to only browse SGF in general & attend the Day Tour, would be to arrive in Singapore on Friday July 25, look through SGF & then join the Day Tour on July 26, & leave on the last flight to HK in the evening. The cheapest flight now is only around HKD 1500 return & budget hotel would cost HKD 300 a night.

9. Please do not bring any person below 16 years of age along. This is not a family visit but a serious educational tour.

10. You do not have to be a Station Member to join the SGF & Day Tour. Everyone is welcomed. However, anyone joining is assumed to behave in a gentlemanly manner, or you may be requested to leave on the spot if required. ISA HK/China must give our host every respect & honour they deserve.

The SGF & Day Tour is an opportunity for anyone in our territory to clarify myths & questions about the success of Singapore Greenery. Many of our local ' Tree Experts' have delivered talks on Singapore tree planting under their own observation & opinions. However this time, ISA HK/China will be led by a high ranking official of Nparks to explain how theses successes were achieved. You are welcomed to make comparison of the Singapore system with our own, & bring it home to tell others. This will be all good for our own greenery development & this is something nobody in our territory has done in such scale before.

ISA HK/China hopes we have answered most of your queries in a bag. If not, you are welcomed to throw over further questions as we go along. By not evading questions, this is how we make ISA HK/China such an acceptable organization in our territory.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

ISA HK/China --- SGF 2008 Expo

Dear Station Members,

Some you have already learned through birds & bees that ISA HK/China will be organizing a delegation to attend the Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Expo (SGF) from July 24 - 26 this year. At least one of our Govt Depts will also send delegates to attend this regional event. Flyer of the SGF is attached in this message & further details can be obtained through the given website.

ISA HK/China will jointly participate into the SGF with TCHK, ETF, Yee Sun Garden, & MCFH by obtaining a 3m x 3m display booth in the Trade Show area of SGF. Any of you attending SGF is most welcomed to drop in for a chat, or leave your baggage there while walking around (no liabilities by anybody if lost or damaged). Messages can also be left at our display booth for liaison or any other purpose.

It is also known that greenery officials from China & Taiwan will attend the SGF by viewing the attached Invitation List obtained by us in Apr 08, although this list may be updated for addition or adjustment by now. Sentosa Island of Singapore is known to be planning to build 2 casinos & 5 hotels, & will require contractors & plant supply from around the region. ETF has already supplied two FCL's of quality trees to Singapore last year & the process has been as simple as importing into HK from China.

Besides being a good occasion for HK plant suppliers & contractors to seek commercial ventures in this land of opportunities in SGF, it will also be a good time to make contact with China & Taiwan buyers for product & service promotion. SGF will be a much easier opportunity to hook them on than for our businessmen to dive into the fierce competition of their local shows with forever price cutting. Singapore market is known for quality requirement, not the cheapest price.

In order to enhance the learning of HK participants into SGF this round, the National Parks Board of the Singapore Govt (Nparks) has very kindly agreed to organize a seminar with site visit on the development of Singapore Greenery with special focus on Tree Planting with details as follows:

Date: Saturday 26 July, 2008

Starting Time: 10am

Agenda: A one hour seminar on Singapore Greenery, to be followed by site visit to study tree planting in streetscape, parks, housing estates, roadside, Heritage Trees, maintenance, etc., & others.

Event Leader: Mr. Oh Cheow Sheng , Asst Director of Nparks

As we can all see, this is no ordinary seminar plus tour for fun, but for serious education with a high ranking official from Nparks for the benefit of the HK people. We should be all very grateful for Nparks's very kind efforts for this arrangement & it will be an event of a lifetime for our serious Tree Lovers. Our public talk so much about Singapore Greenery in community forums & discussions, & this will be an experience not to be missed by those who would like to study & compare the realities with their own eyes. ISA HK/China would urge our Station Members to join in this very special session besides visiting the SGF, & there will be so much to gain with what to lose.

Therefore, SGF this time is an event not to be missed by the serious. The Day Tour is so special that we do not think any public or official organization from our territory can arrange with ease for the knowledge & benefit of our public. Anybody, Station Member or not, is welcomed to contact us for joining.

We wish to thank Nparks again for this wonderful opportunity for ISA HK/China to learn better on Singapore Greenery with depth. Thank you, Nparks.

Looking forward to hear from anyone wanting to come along with us.

rgds,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

Travel Information: Budget Airline to Singapore --- Jetstar Airways (http://www.jetstar.com/)
Budget Hotels --- Priceline
(http://travel.priceline.com.hk/chi/RetailAir/Select.aspx)

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Tree Planting in Tai Kok Tsui)

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Attached is a recent local news on the proposed tree planting by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in Tai Kok Tsui to 're-vitalize' the streetscape in this mature district. It was full of good intention & it proposed to plant tree species in accordance with the name of the street, e.g. Cherry for Cherry Street, Oak for Oak Street, & Pine for Pine Street. It also mentioned that studies would be carried out to check suitability of the species at the location by the designers.

Arboriculture is a scientific discipline. It is known in our profession that Arborist practises more as a scientist rather than an artist. For the above proposal, it would be known that Cheery, Oak & most Pines are temperate species which would have survival problem in our tropical summer. Tai Kok Tsui would come to a temperature of 39C in the hot summer as given by the HK Observatory only a little while ago. Also, these proposed species would mostly come from regions where there is no typhoon. HK is a typhoon country & priority may have to be placed on wind failure rather than 'flowering' or anything else. If not, it may be another case of Mother Nature makes the Rules, not any of us. Just look at the number of tree failures in our territory after rainstorms ...

If Alaska would have a street called Coconut Avenue somewhere, would the developer there choose Coconut as the 'Theme' species to green that street? After all, Alaska is more than temperate during winter time with tons of snow everywhere, having tropical palms there would add warmth & comfort to the residents when they are wearing fur coats. But would fantasies fit realities?

Former ETF carried out a lot of research on introducing foreign species for planting in Southern China. A research paper was published by the Station Manager in China in 2002 & is attached in this Station Mail for general reference.

HK people always give admiration to Singapore greenery especially when it comes to tree planting. This is heard from our local Tree Experts time & time again in community forums & discussions. Nevertheless, how many of us would understand the tree planting in Singapore is masterminded by a leading Govt agency called National Parks Board (Nparks) alone? Nparks have about 600 staff looking after over 1.3 million trees in Singapore & over 20% of Nparks staff are Arborists. Arborists would make the final decision on tree planting in Singapore from design, operation to maintenance & not anybody else, ever since Singapore has become a nation. This may be one of the untold secrets behind their success not known to the HK people.

A Station Mail will come out very soon for anyone interested to join the HK Delegation to visit the Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Expo from July 24 - 26, 2008. ISA HK/China has proposed a day tour to study the Singapore tree planting on Friday July 25 or Sunday July 27 for the delegation & anyone interested to join in. This will let the visitors see with their own eyes how & why Singapore tree planting has become so successful.

Looking forward to anyone joining us to visit the SGF 2008 in July. We already have over 13 going even before the announcement.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

引种的艺术

欧亚园艺有限公司 欧永森

作者自1995年开始，在广东省广州市花都区建立了占地200亩的引种试产基地，从事引进国内没有或是稀有的花木品种，计有棕榈科、苏铁科、绿化乔木灌木、洋兰类、草花类、鲜切花类、阴

生植物类、仙人掌和多肉植物类等等。算至2003年中，累积已被引种试产的品种已超过1800

种，90%以上是从种子引进，其他的有小苗、插条或成品引进。

总结过去八年时间的引种经验以后，众多的所引品种到今天还在批量生产的占不到全部引进品种总数的3%，个中原因可分为商业考虑和技术设施。本文现只集中讨论作者在引种过程当中所涉及的技术设施问题，不对市场策略方面作出考虑。

作者过去所引进的品种大部份是采取‘异地引种’的手法，也即是并非从中国境内取种，而种苗来自世界各地，当中很多品种来自热带雨林，例如棕榈科；但也有许多来自乾旱沙漠，例如仙人掌科。其中有可耐寒至零下22C的耐寒品种，例如 BUTIA CAPITATA，也有可长时间可耐40C高温的PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA。有长期喜欢泡在水里的RAVENEA RIVULARIS，也有下一

个晚上大雨就会产生根腐病的YUCCA ROSTRATA。有天天喜欢强烈暴晒的CARNEGIEA GIGANTEA，也有晒上一天就产生日灼症的SPATHIPHYLLUM FLORIBUNDUM。它们其中有的1克重量的种子就超过80,000粒，例如ACHIMENES HYBRIDA，也有1粒种子可达20KG重量，例如LODOICEA MALDIVICA。在引进的种苗当中，有的是从国外苗场购进，也有部份是作

者自己到国外苗场或郊野采摘。

对于大部份所引品种来说，作者经常缺乏文献去追查该品种是如何催芽、育苗和栽培。除了某些商业化品种以外，大部份的引种技术都要靠作者自己研究试探，自我寻找方向。在这不断探索的过程中，作者厘定了一套‘引种八点’作为指南，这八点是光、温、湿、水、肥、植料、病虫害、和风力。作者发觉如果这八点都能够全部符合，则所引品种便能正常茁壮长大；但只要其中任何一点达不到，则那次引种注定失败。

现将此八点作较为详尽讨论如下：

(1) 光

这里涉及的主要是光强、光质和光照时间。每一种植物都有它本身喜欢的光强，而同一种植物在其催芽、育苗和成品种养的阶段都需要不同的光强来配合。以龙舌兰科为例，很多人都认为它们必须强光照才能发育正常，但实践证明它的催芽和育苗都喜欢在50%遮阳的情况下才能生育正常，如在缺乏遮阳条件下会出现发芽率偏低和小苗生长不良，而只是在小苗一般达到30cm高以后才可以接受全日照。

光质是指日光的不同频率波段。一般来说，短波段的紫外光对很多植物的生长有制造短茎和枝叶紧密的效果，而长波段的红外光则会产生徒长效果。懂得利用不同遮光度或反光性的材料可以控制植物的生长速度或造型，也可以间接性的导致防虫目的。很多昆虫的导航系统是依靠紫外光，增强或减弱光线便可令它们盲航。

光照时间会对很多所引品种的花芽制造有决定性的影响。举例说，短日照才开花的圣旦红在长日照的情况下会继续其营养生长，而不会进入生殖生长，从而不会变色开花。相反地雁来红则只会在日照超过10小时的情况下才会制造花芽，不然的话怎么给水催肥打激素都无补于事。

明白了光线对所引品种的影响之后，便可评估自我设施能否配合，然后才决定引进。

(2) 温

每种植物在其催芽、育苗和成品栽培的阶段都有一个特定的适温范围，超出了这个范围会导致各种生理病或死亡。从热带雨林所引种的产品，一般它们的最高至最低的适温范围只有8C，因为这是热带雨林的每日的平均温差。如果把此等品种放在广州地区一个没有加温设备的钢架薄膜大棚里自然越冬，换来的是严重生长不良或死亡。

有些人认为持续高温就必然带来快速生长，其实这是一种错觉，而必须看所引品种来定。举例说，许多商用草花都来自温带地区，它们的开花适温普遍在15C - 25C之间，在华南地区如果生产设施没有控温设备的话，在夏天便完全不能控制开花期，或是花量七零八落，不能达到生产目的。

从催芽角度来看，某些种子或种球是需要一段低温休眠期才会发芽，例如百合和朴树，它们都必须放在5C阴暗的环境里两个月左右才能打破休眠期，否则发芽率很低。如果引种前不先搞清楚这点，千辛万苦才得到的种子，最终也是徒劳无功。

(3) 湿

每种植物都有它本身喜欢生长的湿度范围，如果长时间超越这个范围，它会生长不良或死亡。举例说，叶片宽大而稀薄的阴生植物例如竹芋类就非常害怕低湿度，往往在相对湿度50%左右就会出现叶片卷曲的自我保护情况，如果不即时加湿，到25%相对湿度时，便会出现叶缘枯黄，不到几天它的地上部会慢慢枯萎。当在加湿的时候也要同时小心真菌的发生，否则只会导致顾此失彼。

如果所引种的植物是来自沙漠地区的话，情况就刚好相反。作者的经验是在没有全天控的生产设施里，降低湿度比提高湿度往往是更加困難，而在大田生产的话，只得听天由命。广州地区的春夏交替间，相对湿度可达99.5%，而一个晚上可下900mm的豪雨，相等于美洲沙漠的几年雨量，这就是为何某些仙人掌产品例如金琥在华南地区是引了又引，没有办法生产出来。

(4) 水

这里指的主要是水质和给水量，而水质里面又涉及pH、EC值、含菌量、含矿量和有机物成份。

水质对某些热带雨林品种的生产非常重要，例如洋兰类和凤梨类。这两种产品只能供给象天然雨水般水质的水，才可避免发生种种生理病和菌害。对大部份阴生植物的生产来说，水质要求是pH接近6.5，EC值在0.5以下，含菌量低于1%，含矿量在0.1%以下，有机物含量在1%以下便可算是好水质。如此水质在广州地区的河涌很难找到，一般较为有规模的生产商都会自行挖井抽取地下水，因为地下水的水质较为稳定。作者对自我生产的用水每三个月都会送到检测部门去检查水质，以确保生产用水达标和能够即时作出调整。

给水量对某些草花的生产至为重要，以洋凤仙为例，其植物体内98%左右都是水，如果生产过程中三天缺水，差不多可以肯定会造成大量植株死亡，而这种情况在广州地区会因为仃电或水井缺水而出现。相对来说，如果把多肉植物的成品生产安排在大田里面，例如仙人球类，则一周间的雨水已足够催毁整个生产，导致血本无归。

(5) 肥

适当施肥是保障快速生长和抗病保质的关键所在。在引种以前，引种者必须先弄清楚所引品种的施肥要求。肥料主分有机和无机两大类，而两种都有自身的优点和缺点。一般来说，催芽的阶段应该不施肥，小苗阶段以施无机肥为佳，而成品生产则以施有机肥为好。

无机肥的优点在于肥力猛，使用简便，但缺点在于肥效短，重覆使用会造成地下水源污染。虽然市面上有各种各样的号称缓解肥，又声称肥效在三个月以上，但作者的经验并不苟同，因为施了三个月以后，很多植株根本看不出有明显的生长效益，有可能是实验室的环境跟大田生产是有所不同吧。

有机肥料是近年在欧美地区大力推荐的施肥方法，目前也有袋装的商品肥出售。作者则喜欢利用植物废料和动物粪便自制有机肥，因为可以自我控制品质。一般来说，热带雨林的附生植物和沙漠植物是不喜欢施有机肥，因为有机肥会招致大量的泥土微生物活动。很多棕榈科、苏铁科和绿化工程花木都可以直接施用未经腐熟的新鲜有机肥而不会出现烧根现象，只要在用量上面小心和配合生长季节进行就可以，并不如很多书本所写有机肥非腐熟者不可用那么绝对。

(6) 植料

这里指的是种植栽培用的介质，大概可以分为带土和无土两大类。国际上采用无土栽培的生产商主要是为了通过进口检疫这一关，因为无土栽培的成本效益远远低于带土栽培。无土栽培的另一个缺点在于介质里微生物活动的减少，例如缺乏蚯蚓、线虫和共生菌等微生物去增氧或制造养分，同时又会缺乏微量元素和令到植物根部缺乏物理缎炼，从而在生产上需要采取补救手段。在植物世界里，可能唯一在大自然环境下适应无土栽培的植物是附生性植物，例如空气草类、洋兰类、凤梨类等等，如果引进的品种属于这一类的话，无土栽培是无可避免。

带土栽培是目前华南地区花木生产的主流，许多从国外引种的无土栽培植物在抵步后都会重新被改为带土栽培。目前带土栽培的手法五花八门，有用纯泥土的，有用泥土渗进泥炭土、珍珠岩、蛭石、石棉、沙石、陶粒、木屑、有机肥料等等的，很难说那一个配方是特别好，必须对症下药。

合适的植料对引种生产来说是非常重要的一关，因为植物摄取水份营养都是依靠植料，选用错误的植料配方去进行栽培是注定引种失败的主因之一，然而正确的配方必须依靠经验和不断尝试去找出，别无他法。

(7) 病虫害

如果不能控制所引品种日后所产生的病虫害，则一番辛劳的成果只会白白送给病虫去瓜分。在引种以前，必须先考虑到所引品种在现有生产条件下的抗病抗虫能力，也要考虑到日后如果真的发生病虫害之时，自我条件下有否药物和其他手段去治病治虫。

某些植物在其原生地点可能有很高的抗病抗虫能力，但是引到中国以后，由于气候、泥土、光温湿度的改变，其抗病抗虫能力也可能有所改变，所以必须预先研究调查清楚才可引进。在决定所引品种可能会发生什么类型的病虫害时，必须同时考虑环境因素和水肥问题，必须全盘考虑真菌、细菌、线虫和害虫同时的综合性影响，因为在实际生产过程中，病和虫是经常相互影响，绝少单一行动。此外植株由于缺素症所引起的生理病状，很多时候被错误判断为菌害，以一般生产者都缺乏实验室设备或学术水平去详细分析病源时，只得靠自己的经验或国外文献去尝试找出原因和对付方法。

对于已知的某个品种容易发生的病虫害，例如海枣类的红棕象甲虫，引种者是最好不要引进如此品种，但这个也要考虑栽种地点。红棕象甲虫在粤西和海南岛发展很快，但在广州北部和福建沿海却很少听到，这个有可能与虫体越冬的能力有关，如果虫体不能越冬，那么它的繁殖能力肯定有限，也等如说在粤西和海南就不应引进海枣生产，而在广州北部和福建沿海就可以作出尝试。

(8) 风力

风力对在大田生产的所引品种会有一定的影响力，某些怕风的品种，例如棕榈科里的阴生品种，如果整天放在大田里的阴网下吹风的话，肯定造成叶缘枯黄和长势缓慢，从而丧失商品价值。如果生产基地是在海边的话，海风里面的盐份会对许多植物造成伤害，特别是所引的品种的原产地是热带雨林。

普遍来说，草花、鲜切花、洋兰、阴生植物、仙人掌和多肉植物的生产风力不应超过4级，否则会导致各种弯曲变形、植株矮化的生理变异。与此同时，此等产品又不能在零风力的条件下正常生长，不然会导致病害发生。此等品种的最佳的生产场地是在一个能够控制风力的密封温室里，如果自己没有这种条件就最好考虑避免引进。

广东沿海地区每年夏天都受到台风吹袭，风力可以达到12级，而且夹杂著豪雨，到了冬天又括起东北季候乾冷风，湿度可低至20%。由此可见，引种到广东沿海大田生产的品种必须能够敖过这两个极端，而并不是许多被引品种的原产地是具备象广东沿海这种特殊气候条件的，所以在引种前应该小心考虑。

* * * * * * * *

结论

引种是一种艺术。要成功引种一个品种，引种者需要冷静的科学头脑、耐性、时间和不怕屡次失败的好奇心。目前香港的绿化项目很多都要求采用国外品种，例如迪士尼乐园内外就设计下大量的澳洲和美洲品种，当中有不少从未踏足香港，这可说是引种的另一种表现。

本文希望对有兴趣从事异地引种的人仕有所帮助。

ISA HK/China --- Comparison between ANSI and HSE for Arboricultural Practices

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Historically, tree climbing & chainsaw operation in our territory were educated by the British, Australian & lately, US systems. With several systems in place, it has become necessary to study between them, so that myths can be clarified with regard to common belief in our territory whether one system is superior in ways to the others, since it appeared that our Civil Servants were trained in the British system by tradition whereas the public were trained by something else.

In this aspect, ISA HK/China has spent a considerable amount of time to research into the British system & US system, since it is these two systems that our territory frequently refers to & their information is accessible to this Station.

In the US system, the national standard to govern arboricultural work is ANSI z133.1 (2006). This ANSI gives requirements for safety, electrical hazards, vehicles & equipment, power hand tools including chainsaws, hand tools & ladder use, & work procedures including tree climbing, pruning, & rigging. This one set of standards governs all major operations for tree work in the USA & ISA practices would mostly refer to this ANSI for guidelines besides observing local regulations.

In the UK system, it appeared to be the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) which is governing the standards & practices for tree work. HSE has a subsidiary called Arboriculture & Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG) which produced guidelines specifically relating to arboriculture & forestry. HSE & AFAG would provide nearly all the information required in practising arboriculture in Britain.

Upon our studies, it appeared that both ANSI & HSE place similar emphasis on safety & practices in many ways. However, there were also major differences as noted by this station as follows:



Notable Differences between ANSI z133.1 (2006) & HSE Guidelines for Arboricultural Practices

Topic ANSI z133.1 HSE

1. PPE

Helmet, Eye Protection & Safety Boots mandatory All recommended but not mandatory
(See AFAG 401 Tree climbing Operation)

2. Tree Climbing

a. Work positioning System

A climber must be secured at all times on a tree.
Tie-in point should be well above work area.
Do not climb more than 250mm above anchor
point. Slack must not exceed 500mm (see
AFAG 401)

b. Climbing Ropes

Minimum diameter not less than 11mm. Minimum diameter of 10mm (see AFAG 401)

c. Ladder Use

Arborist shall not work from or leave the ladder
until tied-in or otherwise secured. Normally used as a means of access into crown
of tree. Once climber is secured by
ropes/strop & hardness, ladder should be
removed (see AFAG 401)

3. Chainsaws

a. PPE

Helmets, Eye Protection, hearing Aid, Safety Boots
& Chaps while on ground are mandatory. All recommended but not mandatory (see
HSE INDG 317 Chainsaws at Work)

b. age

To comply with local, state or federal regulations. Should not be operated by anyone under
minimum school leaving age or near the age
of 16 years (see HSE INDG 317)

c. Use of chainsaws in tree work

Units shall be operated or maintained only by
authorized & qualified personnel in accordance
with company policies & federal, state or local
laws. A worker should have received appropriate
training & obtained a relevant certificate of
competence or national competence award,
unless they are undergoing such training & are
adequately supervised. (see HSE INDG 317)

d. Refresher training

No specific requirement. Occasional users --- every 2 - 3 years
Full time users --- every 5 years
(see HSE INDG 317)

e. Chainsaw guide bar

Manufacturer’s operating & safety instructions
shall be followed unless modified by this
standard. Choose a chainsaw with the shortest possible
guide bar suitable for the work. (see HSE INDG
317)

f. working from ladders

Prohibited Should only be done by an Arborist trained in &
equipped for tree climbing. (see HSE INDG 317)

g. Chain brake

When a chainsaw is being carried more than two
steps, the chain brake shall be engaged or the
engine shut off. Apply chain brake when walking on site, or if the
saw is not being used for short intervals
(more than 15 secs.) (see AFAG 301)

h. Felling

The crew leader shall determine the number of
workers necessary for tree removal. Felling is a one-person operation. (see AFAG
302)

i. Cuts

Notches shall be used on all trees & trunks
greater than 5 inches (12.7cm) DBH. Always make a sink cut. (see AFAG 302)

j. Chainsaw position to body

Chain saws should be operated away from the
vicinity of legs & feet. Keep the saw close to the body & support the
weight of the saw on the tree or right thigh. (see
AFAG 303)

k. One handed use of chainsaw

The arborist or other workers shall hold the saw
firmly with both hands, keeping the thumb &
fingers wrapped around the handle. Should be restricted to circumstances where one
hand is required to maintain a stable position &
the saw is used at extended reach with the other
hand. (see AFAG 308)

l. Felling size

No specific requirements Require LANTRA Awards if cutting material
under 200mm diameter. Require NPTC Cert. of
Competence if cutting material over 200mm.
(see AFAG 805)


Besides the above major differences listed above, this Station has found that both ANSI & HSE are using very similar principles & practices for tree work & safety. Both are excellent standards to conduct proper arboricultural procedures in our territory. Further studies would be necessary to pick the best practices among them to perhaps merge to suit our local condition, weather & sites.

TCHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk) will conduct its 2nd Chainsaw Operation (On Ground) on Sunday 29.6.08 to the public. This module will follow ANSI z133.1 (2006) for safety & practices. Anyone interested please contact TCHK for booking at their convenience.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (www.isa-arbor.com)

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Tree Failure on a local celebrity)

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Tree Failures during rain storms these days would hardly make headlines in our territory anymore, since they are nearly as common as traffic accidents to an extent. However, the one below has damaged & nearly killed a local celebrity, & this one might possibly draw attention in local tabloids & gossips among housewives.

This incident may help bring better public awareness on regular Tree Inspection & careful Risk Management for our mature trees which we have many in our territory. After all, if our mature trees are not properly cared for by properly trained professionals, they would simply become Time Bombs in our city. In our opinion, Independent Arborists working impartially without Conflict of Interest with anybody should be involved with the job.

Therefore, enjoy the message below & maybe think of our mature trees at the same time when you are reading it.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (www.isa-arbor.com)

塌樹壓座駕 楊千嬅嚇呆 (星島) 06月 12日 星期四 05:30AM

(星島日報報道)

歌影天后楊千嬅，昨凌晨返回赤柱住所途中遇險。當乘坐的七人車，在黃麻角道停下等候燈號時，不到五秒，路旁一棵二十呎高巨樹突然倒塌，將車壓個正，擋風玻璃爆裂，楊千嬅及司機一同被困，司機被玻璃碎片濺傷，警方趕至協助兩人由車尾爬出脫險。楊事後發出書面回應表示：「很害怕……媽咪話要還神……咁都平安無事真係好好彩！」
　　
本報突發組

　　曾參演電影《新師妹》、演活出生入死女警的楊千嬅，昨凌晨在現實生活中亦經歷死裏逃生一幕。驚魂甫定的楊千嬅，在書面回應中親自講述事發經過及感受，她慶幸自己得以逃過大難，全因當時坐在車尾：「停了下來不到五秒，我只廳到『轟』一聲巨響…….一些玻璃碎片擦傷了我的司機。我坐在後座，所以沒受傷。」
　　
玻璃碎片濺傷司機

　　她又說：「下車後回望自己的車，感覺十分震撼，比發生意外時更驚……棵樹大得幾乎壓住了大半架車……我當時沒打電話回家，我怕嚇親媽咪……我個司機受少少傷……他不肯去醫院……但我命令他一定要去……檢查一好。」
　　綜合楊千嬅及警方提供資料，昨凌晨一時許，楊千嬅（三十四歲）與朋友吃飯聊天後，乘坐由姓林司機（五十五歲）駕駛的銀灰色七座位明星保母車，返回赤柱富豪海灣寓所，保母車沿黃麻角道行駛，至聖士提反灣對開，因該處進行路面工程，放有臨時交通燈，改為單行車，當時剛巧紅燈亮起，楊的保母車遂停下等候。
　　詎料路旁圍網內一棵高約二十呎、樹幹直徑約兩呎、枝葉茂盛的大樹，突連根拔起塌向馬路，壓落保母車的車頂及車頭，大半車身被樹冠覆蓋，僅露出車尾，車頭擋風玻璃被樹枝擊中爆裂，玻璃碎片濺入車廂，司機首當其衝，被碎片割傷手部，兩人同被困，不敢冒險爬出車外，即致電報警。
　　
警打開車尾門救人

　　警員趕至打開車尾門，協助楊千嬅與司機爬出車外，楊飽受驚嚇，幸無受傷，司機則受輕傷，但拒絕送院，楊致電富豪海灣的管理處，派來一輛私家車接她回家，楊為免母親擔心，只輕描淡寫交代車被樹壓，故乘大廈的車回來。
　　
說會遵慈母命還神

　　警方通知有關部門人員將倒塌大樹鋸斷放回樹叢內，司機將保母車駛走，現場交通回復正常，經初步調查，懷疑近日天雨令泥土鬆軟，致大樹倒塌，壓毀楊千嬅的座駕。
　　楊千嬅九五年加入娛樂圈，曾多次在拍戲及舉行演唱會時不慎跌傷，但從未經歷昨晨驚險一幕，她不諱言感到驚慌，但會遵從母命還神。向來孝順的她，在事發後擔心母親受驚，沒有即時告知母親，只致電屋苑管理處派車來接她，其母亦是昨晨才知此事。
　　

ISA HK/China --- Independent Arborist vs. In-house Arborist

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear xxx,

Thank you for your phone call.

We are repeating our reply to you in an open Station Mail because your enquiry may serve as a good example for other Certified Arborists (CA) in our Station. On the other hand, we do carefully protect your identity with possible memory loss of the Station Manager during your phone conversation. It is also true that we can not tell who you genuinely are over a phone call anyway. Any person can always claim he is somebody over the phone.

Your enquiry reflects the Conflict of Interest in your work for your employer who would put you into a situation against your professional knowledge of a CA to act on company's behalf. This is always true anywhere in the world if the CA is working for somebody & the employer may not always understand why Arborist would make decision against common commercial interest. In an event as such, our advice to you would be not to put down your CA Certification Number in any formal reply to anybody, so that you would not be using your professional status to represent yourself in a response.

Please note that in any Arborist Report with a signature & CA Certification Number on it in our territory, it would be deemed to be legally binding & may have lawful consequence if anything would go foul afterwards. Both the victim(s) & ISA HK/China may be required to induce investigation when pursued, & disciplinary action may follow if findings would substantiate such necessity. Therefore, please use your credential with care.

In this open reply to you, ISA HK/China would also urge Contract Administrators to consider the employment of an Independent Arborist to act impartially in place of an In-house Arborist to avoid any Conflict of Interest of the latter, since the In-house Arborist would be under pressure to work for the employer's commercial interest. Forcing the In-house Arborist to go against his/her professionalism is not fair, & can lead him/her into mishaps.

Thank you for your enquiry & ISA HK/China hopes by openly addressing your concern, can also inform the Contract Administrators to take necessary actions to protect & develop this new profession for the benefit of our community.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (www.isa-arbor.com)

ISA HK/China --- China Tree News (Restricting Mature Trees in Beijing and Repairing Cavities)

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Attached are two recent sets of tree news from China media:

1. Restricting use of Mature Trees in Beijing

Beijing, the capital of China, has recently issued order to restrict the use of Mature Trees in view of the many past failures to waste money & time in the Forbidden City. Beijing has learned it the hard way & now would not approve in general principle to use any deciduous trees over 20cm DBH & evergreen tress taller than 6m. This would serve as a reference to our local designers in Southern China.

From memory of the Station Manager in his landscaping experience since 1984, the use of Mature Trees in landscaping appeared to kick off in HK with some designers favouring large trees for their so-called ' instant effect', without regard to whether topping or miniaturized rootball would be a consequence during transport. This practice appeared to spread into China with HK designers penetrating this market to expand business. Guangdong appeared to be the first to adopt Mature Trees in her cities during the rapid urban development in the 1990's. Many of these cities then demanded ' instant landscape' to green their many of Mature Trees new communities.

Nurseries in Guangdong saw this as a commercial opportunity & frantically dug out Mature Trees in natural reserves & countryside to exchange for quick dollars. Any eventual death would be deemed Act of God or poor species adaptation, never the ability of the Mature Trees to survive transplanting mal-practice.

Now with Beijing waking up to ban the use of Mature Trees in Govt landscape, a revolution in design concept has quietly begun in China. What the capital would do would affect the rest of China, & who would like to challenge the experts there with their own interest?

If any more of it is turning into the right direction for tree design & tree care in Mother China, it might be time for ISA HK/China to go into China eventually. It appears to be not for long too, with over 100 Chinese 'experts' from various cities to meet us at the Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Expo in July 24 - 26, 2008.

2. Repairing Cavity with Fillings & Artificial Bark

Here is another yet wonderful invention from 'experts' in China.

Some geniuses have experimented to put fillings composing of polyester, woodchip, wire mesh & non-woven geotextile into tree cavities. It was said that the fillings would occupy the void within, be plastic enough not to damage tree body during wind & were waterproof to fence off decay development.

The true magic came with the artificial bark to put on as cover on the fillings to ' repair' the tree to its original form. The material so used as bark would be Glass Fibre, with colouring to match the natural colour & marked grains to resemble the natural appearance. It was also said that cavities so repaired in this manner would appear to be so real that only trained eyes could tell the difference.

If this practice would work, these China ' experts' should be invited to publish a research paper in ISA to teach the world why others could not. Maybe the theory of CODIT would need to be re-examined & decay could be stopped by meticulously filling in. The world may be at lost when seeing what these 'experts' had claimed to do.

Can ISA HK/China really be able to communicate with 'experts' as such ??

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China ---2008 research on 'The importance of trees and nature in community'

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Attached is an article of a collection of recent research on the benefits & importance of trees for community development. Very rarely do we see so many research put together from international contribution to emphasize the social & psychological needs of humans on trees to improve the quality of living in a community. This article can establish to be a good reference point indeed.

In HK, it appears that when trees are preserved, it is out of respect for maturity & mostly out of sentiment, although sometimes for requirement of ecological balance & pollution control. When these mature trees are preserved by retention or transplanting, consideration on tree structure does not appear to be a critical factor. As long as the trees can be there, it would satisfy public demand. Then when the preserved tree would fail in a storm, it was just a matter of bad luck & nobody's fault.

On the other hand, when trees are selected for planting in our urban landscape, showy flowering appears to be a major consideration by many designers, which would appear to defeat the objectives of pollution control & ecological protection, since not too many flowering species so used at present would grow to the point of providing these benefits.

The Station Manager has been visiting tree planting in Singapore many times & would hesitate to say it with HK which would turn out to be a world of difference. On the other hand, if anyone would ask where the Station Manager would like to stand amidst the hottest days in summer in an urban area, the answer would be a definite 'yes' for Singapore & not HK, for all the big spreading trees they have over there. These trees would also give a feeling of home, besides one can feel peace & tranquillity under them.

Can HK create a similar effect in an overall scenario? Haven't we tried for years with sizeable funding & many committees already? Would anyone like to say that we are now near Singapore, or even comparable to Shenzhen?

There must be explanations for why we are at our current state & many of us appear to understand the problems. On the other hand, how many of us would actually try to propose solutions & are those solutions practical & feasible? Then if we want to stay on our current course without deviation, would we be able to satisfy the taxpayers & politicians in the longer run? Or do we tell the pubic that we should not compare our tree planting with anybody? This may be something we need to find out answers for those who are in the industry.

Maybe we can try to study why others have achieved success to compare with our own as a possible start. It would be from design, administration, execution, maintenance, regular inspection, risk management to preservation, & may be other areas. It may become a major overhaul for our existing system if we decide to look at it carefully. It appears that success does not come without a price tag.

Then how should we begin? Should ISA HK/China organize another Study Tour to Singapore by a joint Govt & Private Sector delegation for a 3rd time? There will be a Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Expo from July 24 - 26 over there. Should we form a big study group & go?

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- Chainsaw Training (Ground Operation) in June, 2008

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

By now, anyone in our Station would have understood the power & danger in operating chainsaws to carry out pruning &/or removing trees. Yet in HK, hardly any institute would offer his kind of training to the private sector. On the other hand, it is our private sector most frequently using chainsaws day in day out in contracting work & routine maintenance.

It is understood by this Station that hardly any landscape worker in our territory, be they woman or senile, has the opportunity to receive proper chainsaw training in accordance with international practice in operating this high speed cutting machine. Then when accident would happen, the incident would hardly came out big in the media & would be classified as an ordinary industrial accident in the injury categories.

In view of this, TCHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk) had gathered resources locally to open up the first chainsaw training for our private sector in HK on 25.5.08. It was tested to be a genuine success with first timers & experienced workers, reviewing their practice & knowledge in accordance with international practices. In the longer run, this will save them perils to stay long & healthy in the industry.

TCHK is now planning to offer the 2nd chainsaw training to its members as well as to the public with information attached. In this round, it is designed to target landscape workers & their supervisors, or anybody interested to learn chainsaw from scratch. The training is suitable for anyone who can speak Cantonese & it is in most parts practical work in the field rather than power point in the classroom. It is aimed to train someone to operate this dangerous tool in the field rather than just talk, talk & talk.

Since the training session can only accommodate 15 candidates (Tutor to student ratio is 1 : 5 for safety reason), it is likely to run full very soon. TCHK is currently the only institute locally which can provide training of this kind to our private sector, & there must be hundreds of workers requiring to operate chainsaw in our landscape industry on a regular basis. In accordance with OSHC laws of HK (CAP 509), every employer is required to provide suitable training & equipment for their workers to carry out a designated duty. This Ordinance would cover chainsaw & any violation is liable with insurance discharge & penalty by Dept of Labour.

For work safety & efficiency, investing time & money for chainsaw training is absolutely necessary. Typhoon season is here & there will be fallen trees requiring chainsaw cutting. Accidents would likely to follow if no training is to be provided. Legal action may follow after that. Therefore, why not prevent it before happening?

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued by TCHK to any candidate completed the training. This Certificate can be shown to Site Safety Officers for acknowledging appropriate training has been given to the candidate in operating a chainsaw on ground in accordance with international practice. It is also an evidence in Court by employer that appropriate training has been provided to staff to use chainsaw in the event of an accident.

TCHK looks forward to help our landscape industry by filling in vacuum with offering local training in arboriculture, starting from tree climbing & chainsaw.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

攀爬一族 基礎鏈鋸訓練班 (地上用鋸) 通告

各位親愛嘅族人同埋社會大眾：

本族繼5月25日成功舉辦‘基礎鏈鋸訓練班’之後，其後不斷收到查詢，問幾時再會開班。雖知係本港林林種種嘅所謂‘職業安全訓練班’裡面，乜野都話要去上堂考證書，但唯獨鏈鋸一種咁高危嘅搵食工具反而係無人去教（見圖），你地話搞唔搞笑.

以香港日日都有幾百人係全港各地做綠化護飬嚟計，全港每日至少可能有幾十把鏈鋸係度用緊，而當中又有幾多个操作人員係受過正統訓練丫？咁唔通鏈鋸就唔危險？梗係唔係喇，只不過勞工處無專項統計，而傳媒又唔重視，有受傷嘅就當係一般工業意外處理，無手指腳指咪叫保險公司照賠蘿，係個工人唔好彩之嘛。

其實罧都罧到，一把鏈鋸一分鐘轉成萬下，點到邊度就切到邊度，而條切割鏈往往離開身体部份最多一呎，中招嘅机會可以話大過中‘六合彩’幾千倍，反而唔中招果個先至係高手。係西方國家，絕無可能好似香港咁係工人都可以唔使學就去操作鏈鋸，唔係嘅話中左招果陣，個老板就可能要罰到破產兼夾坐監，唔會好似香港咁落後咁而凈係賠錢就算數嫁。

但係香港果D所謂‘職安机構’，滿口‘工業安全’，而一提到爬樹同埋操作鏈鋸，佢地就保持沈默，有D重話修樹果陣重一定要搭棚，而七成嘅樹會跌死人添 ... 唉，你地話失唔失禮死人丫！佢地夠膽係自己人面前聲大氣粗，但係又敢唔敢係洋人面前照唱爽口丫？

有見及此，本族依家決定再舉辦一班地上用鋸班（搞清楚唔係樹上用鋸阿！！樹上用鋸要識爬樹嫁），詳情如下：

日期：星期日2008年6月29日

時間：9am – 4:30pm

地点：上水鳳溪中學大草地

人數：15人

導師：歐永森、吳志雄、李國文

費用：HK$1000/人（族人）或HK$1100/人（非族人）

指導標準：ANSI Z133.1（2006）

課程內容：

1. 為何要使用鏈鋸去進行切割樹木？
2. 鏈鋸的種類及選用方法
3. 如何購買質量好的鏈鋸？
4. 鏈鋸使用前需要注意的地方 ---- 添加燃料、添加鏈油，檢查風、油格及火咀，檢查鏈剎及切割鏈鬆緊度、等等
5. 鏈鋸起動前必須穿戴的个人防護裝備（PPE）
6. 鏈鋸起動方法及制動方法
7. 切割前現場檢查及風險評估
8. 基礎地上切割技術及安全 ---- 直、橫、背切、跳鋸、夾鋸、等等
9. 平地及斜坡上切割技術
10. 鏈鋸搬運及儲存

目標學員：日常操作鏈鋸的園藝工人，需要現場監工的管理級人員，地盤安全監督人員，任何對使用鏈鋸有興趣人士。

教導語言：廣東話

報名方法：請與李國文副族長聯絡，電話 81000895 ，電郵：lkman@netvigator.com

教埋依一班之後，可能有牌都唔再開同類型嘅班，因為其他事忙呀。所以，各位有興趣嘅人士，敬請及早報名，額滿即止，專請留意。

此致

攀爬一族 族長
歐永森
敬啟

ISA HK/China --- Station Blog's Country Share

Dear Station Members,

You may be interested to note the Country Share as reported by Sitemeter on our Station Blog recently as below. HK visitors rank only about 56% of the total visits, with the rest of the world taken up the other 44% in many countries.

Station Blog is also viewed by an average of 22 visitors a day internationally & this does not include internal circulation by visitors after gaining access to our Blog. We also do not know the volume of circulation within our + 640 Station Members to their friends or contacts locally or overseas. All we know is that we do receive feedback from unknown sources from time to time on various subjects.

Station Mail is for sure circulated to many countries around the Asia Pacific Region & our neighbours are watching keenly in our development. ISA HK/China will continue to improve ourselves with the attitude of Integrity, Professionalism, Participation, Fact-finding & Truth-telling, & hopefully we can influence our greenery development in a similar manner.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager
http://isahkchina.blogspot.com

ISA HK/China --- Nursery Accreditation Scheme in Australia

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

During the trip to the ISA Brisbane Conference in Australia 2 weeks ago, the Station Manager has picked up information on the Nursery Accreditation Scheme of Australia (NIASA) as per attached for reference.

The NIASA is a guide for Australian buyers to find plant suppliers of guaranteed & reliable products produced under best management practice guidelines in their landscape industry. It helps bring their landscape industry to a professional level with quality plants produced in an acceptable environment, notably without pollution & pests & with quality meeting national standards, to install the landscape in Australia. NIASA is also a recognition of quality & service to meet designated requirements at a national level. It gives buyers the peace of mind & justification of expenditure in using products produced under the NIASA scheme.

In HK, we have a similar scheme for picking landscape contractors & material suppliers in Govt projects. We also have similar scheme for vegetables, animals & fisheries supply, but apparently not for landscape plant suppliers. Certain projects would sometimes create a short listing for plant suppliers, but would usually base it upon nursery size, species & varieties, & hardly upon production method, plant quality to meet international requirements, packaging & transportation mode like under NIASA. Plants especially trees arrived on site would hardly be compared with the same so seen in the nursery, & detailed arrival inspection before planting is rare. Then if we compare our plants & trees from China so installed immediately on site with that of NIASA, or even against the image drawings at the design stages, ever common housewives can tell the difference.

Can HK propose a similar scheme like NIASA for our landscape plants & trees supply? If so, this will require a revolution in concept & practice from production, packaging, transport mode to site arrival inspection at both nursery level & site administration. In the opinion of this Station, this will be harder than hard at present if we demand our brothers & sisters up north to change their production practices from current to that of the advanced world. Our contractors would also advocate for the China suppliers since changes would bring uncertainties in contract bidding & execution. Livelihood could be at stake. Additional workload can also be foreseen for the project management team as well. Therefore, if things would carry on the same old way, everybody would be happy & there will be no rocking of the boat. After all, how often would HK try to compare our landscape with that of the advanced world these days? We might not even win that of Shenzhen nowadays ...

Therefore, with hardly any nursery willing to take up the challenge in China (let's take away ETF for a moment), the introduction of NIASA there may be viewed as an ' Violation of sovereignty of the Motherland ' by a lot of interest groups. HK would carry on the same old way to use the same old plants for our landscape, & may we stay happy & never try to compare ourselves with the world.

Some say HK is being ' marginalized ' after 1997 in many areas & is slowly dropping away from the ' 4 Little Dragons ' , & may we wish this would not be true for our trees & landscape as well.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Bonham Road Church Tree Failure and Mongkok Police Station Topping)

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

Attached are two sets of recent HK Tree News for your interesting reading:

1. Bonham Road Church Tree Failure

As can be seen from the newspaper cuttings attached, this massive Ficus failed without warning, crushing a passing HKCS minibus & injured two innocent passer-by on 21.5.08 afternoon. As property damage & injuries have incurred in this unfortunate incident, legal action will be likely from the victims, & from Govt since Govt Property is involved, against the tree owner which happened to be a Church.

The Station Manager was actually invited to carry out Tree Inspection for this tree & a few others in the premises nearby on 21.3.07 upon the request of a Station Member who was a member of this Church. Since it was a House of God, the Station Manager had waived the HK$6,000.00 inspection fee laid down by ISA HK/China Professional Fees Guidelines normally charged for a site visit of this kind. Pictures of the tree at that time are attached in this Station Mail for anybody's inspection.

During the examination on 21.3.07, the Station Manager had stated very clearly that this was a Hazard Tree & should be removed immediately to avoid possible failure. However, the Church appeared to await for advices from other ' Tree Experts' & apparently did not accept the comments of the Station Manager for over a year. Then the tree failed tragically on 21.5.08.

In arboriculture, we have a famous saying that ' Mother Nature makes the rules, not any of us.' This incident has proved this sentence, & very sadly on a House of God.

2. Mongkok Police Station Topping

No matter how the public would outcry against Topping which is the next malicious act to tree felling, it would always happen for one reason or another in our territory.

A mature Delonix was topped to beyond recognition in Mongkok Police Station recently, leaving a bare skeleton to stand to possibly decay in time to come. Tree of this age & growing in condition as such would have a hard tome to recover after serious topping. The only fate awaits may be a final removal to be replaced by another tree, if future tree failure is not desired.

It may be also true that no Arborist consultation has been sought before the topping & the contractor might have never been trained to prune a mature tree by any international standard. This would be like asking a meat butcher to operate on human to remove bodily organs. Would any human be same enough to do that? If not, then why on a mature tree? Do trees have no dignity in our society? Trees were Gods in our territory only less than a hundred years ago!

It is unlikely that any penalty would finally be imposed for an event as such, as seen in many other similar or even weighted events in the past (Leung King Estate, Wu Kai Sa YMCA, Nam Cheong Estate, former ETWB office building, etc.) in our territory. HK appears to have the heart to protect our mature trees but with limited strength. If the same thing would happen in Singapore, it may have been a very different story.

The imminent way to protect our mature trees against malpractice such as topping would be requiring an Arborist Report before approving any pruning on a mature tree over a certain size or age. This is the most simple administrative measure & practical way to protect our mature trees. The Arborist should first carry out a detailed Tree Inspection, preferably with Tree Climbing to inspect the tree canopy, & to produce an Arborist Report with legal liabilities to state the reason why a tree is to be pruned, where to prune & how much to prune with what pruning method, with justification. The pruning type should also be stated & site supervision should be provided. Photographic record before & after pruning should be filed for any future Court enquiry or investigation by this Station, should it ever be required, e.g. tree failure after pruning resulting in legal action.

If we want to protect our trees in our territory, Arborists must be involved, or Mother Nature will make the rules. Arborists are Tree Doctors & Tree Detectives. Let them make the judgment, take the responsibilities & also the liabilities.

Is HK ready to truly protect our trees with action rather than with words?

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- 2008 Wind Loading Analysis (WLA) research for Tree Assessment

Please note this Station Mail is split in transmission in two parts to facilitate printing by Station Members to read the attachment.

Dear Station Members,

ISA has recently published the latest Wind Load Analysis (WLA) protocol in Arborist News April 2008 edition for yet another method to carry out Tree Assessment & Pruning currently practised in some parts of Europe. The mathematical formulae & calculations contained may please the engineers in our Station in which we have dozens.

The information given in this article is well beyond the knowledge required for the current Certified Arborist (CA) exam & it is really targeted for serious Tree Assessors with adequate scientific background to understand how to use mathematical tools for detailed analysis. On the other hand, this WLA process has stated very clearly that it can only be used for single, open-grown trees with a single trunk. Most of the ' flowering species' in our territory would fall outside this category & any expert would hesitate to use this method for a lot of decurrent ' flowering' trees planted like dense forest in our territory. This system is also based on the European Standard of Beaufort 12 windspeed, for which most typhoons in our territory would exceed the required windspeed easily in a most situation. The wood property values of a lot of our ' flowering species' are also unknown & not published anywhere at present, & this will leave ground of speculation when this WLA model is to be used.

Internationally speaking, any CA wishing to become a competent Tree Assessor would have to seriously educate himself/herself with profound Tree Biology & Tree Biomechanics before going into this area of practice. The former consists of mostly Tree Pathology & the later Wood Science & Mathematical Models. There are currently very few competent Tree Assessors willing to stand up in Court to testify a Tree Dispute with legal liabilities in our territory. There is indeed much more to learn & develop for a CA to enter into this specialist area of Tree Inspection & Risk Assessment, after obtaining the CA credential which is viewed upon as an entrance ticket to Professional Arboriculture around the world.

It may be perhaps true that over 90% of our Station Members & most of our current CA's reading the attached article may not understand what is going on in there, since not too many of them have been trained with such relevant scientific background. However, this Station wishes to show our territory that Modern Arboriculture is not just all about simple pruning & climbing like some have anticipated. Arboriculture is vast, profound & deep, well worth a life time of studying to not be able to master it all. The attitude of forever learning must persist if an Arborist wishes to stay & do well in this specialist profession, especially if wanting to go into practice. Becoming a CA should be considered a beginning, & not an end to learning.

Arboriculture has been developed as a practical need in western countries over the years & not out of hobby like some sectors of greenery industry. Practising arboriculture as a profession involves legal liabilities much more easily than a lot of landscape disciplines. Facts & reports in arboriculture are frequently challenged in Court & Practicing Arborists must arm themselves for legal challenge at all times. Continuous education appears to be the best defense.

May our territory now respect the Arborist Profession as an unique discipline to serve our society, & would regard Arborists as more than just 'Tree Men' pruning & climbing trees after seeing some of our research.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- ISA Australia e-news no. 42

Dear Station Members,

Please find below the latest e-news from ISA Australia about the ISA Asia Pacific Conference & Tree Climbing Championship held in Brisbane last week.

When the current Sichuan Earthquake mourning is coming to a close, ISA HK/China will produce a more detailed account of our participation in the Brisbane Conference with a call for an Informal Dinner to show videos & pictures so taken during the event. Some of the information can be very educational indeed.

Thank you for your kind patience & God bless all those who are working hard to help the victims in Sichuan.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager


----- Original Message -----
From: ISAAC E-news
To: enews@isaac.org.au
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 7:29 PM
Subject: ISAAC Enews #42

Visit the ISAAC Website http://isaac.org.au - Now with live tree news from around Australia!If you're not a member of the ISAAC E-news mailing list, you can join it at http://isaac.org.au/news/news.htm. It's free and you don't have to be a member of ISAAC.

****** BREAKING NEWS ******

ISA Asia Pacific Conference:

The ISA Asia Pacific Conference in Brisbane was a fantastic success. 396 registered participants and 63 ATCC climbers and officials participated in the largest and best arboricultural event ever in the southern hemisphere. The conference received lots of positive feedback, while the Tree Climbing Championships got some excellent coverage on Channel 9 and the Courier Mail, as well as turning up our first ever event winner from Hong Kong. Congratulations to LEE Kai Wang for his triumph in the Head to Head Footlock, as well as ISA Asia Pacific Champions Gerard Reynolds and Chrissie Spence, and Australian Champions Richard Kenyon and Jessica Knott.Apologies for the earlier error - Richard Kenyon is the Australian Men's Champion for 2008.Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, and particularly to all the volunteers, that allowed these events to runs so smoothly.

Passport to prizes:

Congratulations to Paul D'Hondt for winning the ISA Asia Pacific Conference Sponsors' Passport to Prizes. It just goes to show that is worth getting around to all those sponsor tents! Paul will be receiving his Tomtom GPS and $150 ISAAC book voucher in the mail soon. Thanks to all our sponsors for their fantastic support in Brisbane, in particular Platinum Sponsors Active Tree Services and Aerial Access.Remember to forward this to other tree care professionals that may find this useful. ISAAC's Internet policy prohibits spam so please only distribute ISAAC E-news to those with a genuine interest.

ISAAC MembershipMembership of ISAAC links you to the professional world of practicing arborists and tree managers in Australia. As a member you get discounted entry to ISAAC events, discounts on books and business insurance, as well as the locally produced newsletter 'The Bark'. Full ISA Members also get the ISA's publications 'Journal of Arboriculture' and 'Arborist News'. Membership supports the continued growth in professionalism of arboriculture in Australia. Now is the time to join. If you already are a member, now is the time to recruit someone else. You can download a membership form right now - http://isaac.org.au/members/join.htm"join online.

If you're looking for great information to pass on to your clients, check out the ISA's new website, Trees Are Good, dedicated to providing tree care information for the general public http://www.treesaregood.org

Do you have a question or comment? You can send your query online at our http://isaac.org.au/contact.htm If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe, please see the instructions on our website http://isaac.org.au/news/news.htm.

Contents of this newsletter are provided for information only and the International Society of Arboriculture, Australia Chapter takes no responsibility for loss or damage resulting from its use. ISA, ISAAC and associated logos are for use by members of the ISA and ISAAC only. (c) 2008 International Society of Arboriculture Australia Chapter Ltd. ABN 77 090 873 644.
_______________________________________________enews mailing listenews@isaac.org.auhttp://isaac.org.au/mailman/listinfo/enews_isaac.org.au

ISA HK/China --- Announcement of CTW exam on July 1, 2008

Dear Station Members,

It is the pleasure of ISA HK/China to announce that an ISA Certified Tree Worker (CTW) Exam will be arranged in our region of HK, Macau, Taiwan & China as follows:

CTW Exam :

Date: Tuesday July 1, 2008

Time: 8 am - 5 pm

Venue: Student Activities Room & Sports Ground, Fung Kai No. 1 Secondary School, 17 Sheung Shui Jockey Club Road, Sheung Shui, Hong Kong

Maximum number of seats : 20 candidates for the written exam, 12 candidates for the climbing skills test, on a first come first served basis.


Deadline of Application : June 6, 2008 (All Candidates MUST apply on-line to ISA HQ at www.isa-arbor.com . Those who are re-taking the exam must follow the instructions stated in the ISA exam result letter).


Please kindly note the exam may be cancelled or postponed for unforeseen events such as the hoisting of typhoon signal no. 8 or higher, Black Rainstorm Signal in force, or for any other reason. The candidate can always call the Station Manager at 9090 6719 on the exam day to make sure, if in doubt. Please kindly note ISA exams in the HK/China Region are run by volunteers without pay at their own time & expenses for the benefits of Station Members & public. Please understand their limitation & have pity on them.

For those of you who are not yet ISA HK/China Station Members, we encourage you to join us for update in local tree affairs & ISA activities including exams & training in our region of HK,Macau, Taiwan & China. ISA HK/China organizes activities qualified for CEU after you have become a CA & CTW. CA & CTW are valid for 3 years & all CA/CTW will need to collect enough CEU during this period to renew their credential. Alternatively, you may wish to visit our Blog of http://isahkchina.blogspot.com or http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk for additional information.

Thank you for your kind attention.

best regards,

Sammy Au
ISA HK/China Station Manager
ISA Chief Proctor for the HK/China Region

ISA HK/China --- How Arborists can help in an earthquake situation

Dear Station Members,

Upon his jubilant return from the 2008 ISA Asia Pacific Arboricultural Conference in Brisbane to HK yesterday evening, the Station Manager has only got to learn in grief of the Sichuan Earthquake which has killed thousands of innocent people on 13.5.08. The news was heart breaking indeed.

On the other hand, ISA HK/China has been thinking of what we can do to help the situation with us having no funding & practically without any tangible resources. We have been thinking of how Arborists can deliver our service to meet emergency of this kind.

One idea has come up. We think our tree climbers, especially our Certified Tree Workers (CTW), can get involved positively with the in-situ rescuing work.

To begin with, it is a pre-requisite requirement in ISA that any CTW has to become a qualified First Aider certified by a mandatory institute such as the Red Cross or St. John Ambulance, as well as passing an Aerial Rescue Training, before any of them is allowed to take the CTW exam. In a nutshell, any CTW is also a recognized Fist Aider & has been trained to rescue somebody from height, e.g. on top of a tree.

In an earthquake situation where the rescuers would have to run through rubbles with risk of falling anytime, it is noticed that most of the rescuers do not carry a Fall Protection device, like tree climber has to do at all times while on a tree with rope & hardness. In reality, walking through rubbles is no more difficult than to manoeuvre among branches on a tree & the contact between the tree climber & the tree may be even less than that of the rescuer with their feet on rubbles. Tree climbers would sometimes just dangle on rope to do there work on height.

One significant advantage of the tree climber to carry out Search & Rescue in an earthquake situation would be that the tree climber would understand how to tie himself in at all times against falling with a central & high Tie-in Point. Rescuers would not be trained in this manner. Their body weight on rubbles may crush the victims below since their weight is supported by the rubbles only. The rescuers are also always in danger of falling if he would try to tackle height without Fall Protection, whereas the tree climber would first tie-in on a designated height, such as the hook of a crane or some secure protruding object of a structure, before going in with full body hardness. The tree climbers can certainly help to search & rescue in places where ordinary rescuers can not reach with their tree climbing skill. Also, all tree climbers especially our CTW's, are physically fit personnel with First Aid & Aerial Rescue knowledge. If not them, who else better?

ISA HK/China does not know how to relay this message to the Chinese authorities & maybe they are receiving mountainous help from all around the world already to do their existing work. However, this proposal is here to advise our Station Members that our CTW's are there to help save our victims in dangerous situation. May also the world see the other benefit of our tree climbers & to use them whenever they are required besides climbing trees.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

ISA HK/China --- Arborist opportunities in Singapore

Dear Station Members,

The Station Manager has learned while in the ISA Brisbane Conference that Singapore is currently in need of experienced Certified Arborists (CA) to conduct Structural Pruning, Installation & Transplanting, Tree Inspection & Risk Management for their 1.3 million urban trees. Singapore can not produce enough CA to satisfy their own demand at present & this is an opportunity for our young CA's who are looking for greener pastures elsewhere to make an adventure of their life.

On the other hand, it was told frankly to the Station Manager that Singapore would only require CA with suitable experience as Practitioners in the field, not designers. Those CA's who are credential collectors & have not gained experience after obtaining credential may not fit the requirement. The Station Manager will do preliminary screening on behalf of our Singapore partners in this aspect. This is because Singapore would hesitate to get someone who is not well versed in carrying out instructions & there is no time to further train overseas CA's for the job never mind their own. Those who are willing to take on the challenge must be ready to go to battle instantly upon employment. Slobs will not be welcomed.

Rather than practising throat-cutting price competition on their contracting work, Singapore would mandate fair prices with on-time payment to their project team to ensure efficiency & quality. Contract dispute is uncommon in Singapore & harmony is much emphasized. This is something that our candidates have to pay attention upon.

The initial arrangement for our CA's to work over in Singapore would be by liaison of the National Parks Board of the Singapore Govt (Nparks) to appropriate employers in Singapore for direct negotiation with the candidates. The contract would be between the Singapore employers & our CA's to work primarily for Naprks projects. This system has worked well in the past for overseas employees & flexibility can be improvised for contingency.

ISA HK/China intends to organize a special dinner to form a delegation to attend the Singapore Garden Festival 2008 Expo (SGF) on July 24 - 26, 2008 with plant suppliers, landscape contractors & tree climbers who are all needed intentionally to boost competition in the Singapore greenery industry. Those CA's who are interested to work in Singapore are also invited to come along for consultation with the Station Manager in this special dinner. Anyone interested please contact the Station Manager by e-mail to reserve a place. This special dinner will be held some time near end May when further information can be collected from Singapore with regard to the visit.

Please view upon this proposal as a special offer to change your life, if you are willing & capable.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

ISA HK/China --- Winning at the 2008 ISA Asia Pacific Tree Climbing Championship

EXTRA !! EXTRA !!

To all Station Members & HK People,

By the least expectation & overall surprise to everyone, one of the two tree climbers representing ISA HK/China to compete in the 2008 Asia Pacific Inaugural Tree climbing Championship, won the 1st place at the Head to Head Footlcok Event among the other 40 tree climbers from UK, Australia, New Zealand & Singapore. At least 5 of the competitors were former world champion of one kind or another & this is the first time ISA HK/China, & our climbers, ever competed in an international event. We also shocked the organizers by winning at an amazing 16.71 seconds, breaking the Australia record of 17 seconds, & closing in for the world record of 13 seconds, for the Men's 15m Footlock Climb.

Now who can say ISA HK/China can not climb?

The winner of the event is the Mr. LEE Kai Wang of the Fung Kai Climbing Team trained by the Station Manager & TCHK. He is currently 19 & a student of IVE, not a very good academic but has exceptional quality as tree climber to bring pride to the HK people & our community. It is not known before that HK tree climbers have ever entered into an international tree climbing competition & won anything. This is our first time & has written history for HK in tree climbing & arboriculture.

Now after all the efforts to train these young men & women, they have flowered & rewarded our society with an honour respected & surprised the international community. The sponsorship of Sam Chun, Fung Kai School & others is not wasted & well rewarded. HK has created yet another miracle & fulfilled history in our tree care mission. The Station Manager did not sleep for 3 nights already before coming to Brisbane & stood to attend the event for 7 hours before the competition in preparation fighting a running stomach all the way to await for the moment. It turned out to be all worthwhile. If anyone was there to listen to the cheers & applause of the crowd, tears will come to their eyes, because HK has won against all odds. ISA HK/China has achieved yet another HK Miracle without adequate funding & proper instruction, & we did it.

Attached are some pictures of the climb in the dark & the award ceremony. Do feel proud & be part of it when you view them. May they bring aspiration & hope to our territory in our current sinking political sentiment. May they raise the spirit of our community again & give hope to our young men & women.

ISA HK/China looks forward to give you a better report in an Informal Dinner after our return on May 15.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager from sunny Brisbane, Australia

ISA HK/China --- Visit of ISA Directors on May 1 - 3, 2008

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

The visit by ISA Certification Director Mr. Derek Vannice, ISA Membership Director Mr. Eric Duchinsky & ISA Certification Board Member Mr. David Glenn from May 1 - 3, 2008 to ISA HK/China has been like whirlwind. During their 3 days of stay, a meeting with CA family Members, a CA exam, a CTW Evaluator Training, a CTW exam & an Informal Dinner held in their honour have taken place. Anyone can imagine how busy their schedules were in HK for the benefit of ISA development in our region.

Summarizing their visit, there are two major points of discussion that ISA HK/China would like to put forward to our Station Members for public participation:

1. Setting up a Board of Directors in ISA HK/China

As all Station Members have known for years, ISA HK/China did not have much of a staff structure & the Station Manager has been Jack of All Trades in the Station. This may work when our Station is small, but as we expand (+620 Station Members by now & growing), we need to consider better organization.

Discussion has taken place among CA Family Members with ISA Directors on how to formalize a proper structure in ISA HK/China, e.g. with President, Board Members, Committees, etc. so that workload can be shared & positive progress can be made. A time span of 1 year was proposed to set up this structure. However, no conclusion has been reached on how to bring in Board Members, such as by election with an Annual General Meeting or by nomination from Station Manager to be approved by public voting. Each has its own merits & careful consideration will take place within the next 12 months to agree on a strategy.

It is paramount in our future structure that SIA HK/China can maintain its present course of promoting tree care by research & education only, & not turned into an Activist Group or an attachment to any political or religious party. It has been agreed with ISA Directors that Station Membership like it is now, will not be publicly disclosed no matter how the future structure will become, to be in line with the open promise to anyone joining ISA HK/China that Station Membership will be guarded by the Station Manager alone. Successive Station Manager will hold Station Membership & this person must continue to safeguard Station Membership as an oath. On the other hand, anyone communicating with future staff of ISA HK/China will naturally link up with that particular channel in a natural way & be known.

Even in the meeting with ISA Directors on May 1, Station Membership was not disclosed by names, but only by categories. No one's personal information has so far been leaked.

Therefore, ISA HK/China now is keen to look for suitable candidates to fill our future posts, no matter how they may turn out to be. We are looking for personnel who can keenly participate into our activities & development, & not someone collecting title & sit back. This has been the ISA tradition. ISA HK/China will follow the 84 years of ISA history in forming our future structure, & will refer to the laws & constitution of ISA for our own development.

2. Future ISA Exams

People in our territory appear to love exams & credentials, partly out of tradition & partly out of habit. ISA HK/China will do our best to accommodate that.

We are now looking at ways to increase our CA exam from 2 regular one to perhaps 3 this year. For CTW exam, we are hoping to increase from the present 2 to 4 in a year, & increase the number of intake every time. In doing this, we shall need more Proctors & Evaluators. As certification runs independently from Station administration, the Chief Proctor in our territory is setting a very high standard to recruit our Proctors & Evaluators. We shall need someone actively participating in our activities as a priority, rather than someone with merely academic qualification or social influence. Our Proctors & Evaluators must also demonstrate a higher standard of Integrity & good Moral to maintain exam security & independence at all times. The Chief Proctor will be responsible to select these good men & women in our territory, before passing them over to ISA HQ for final approval.


ISA Directors have been generally satisfied with the development of ISA HK/China in the past 3 years. ISA HK/China is also constantly evolving & advancing to gradual recognition in our Govt & public sectors. In our development, ISA HK/China wishes to remember the words of our HK Senior Mr. Li Ka Shing that we should " maintain stability in our development, & maintain development in our stability". This appears to be the correct path to go.

Wise men have gone through our track & can advise. Then should we not listen?

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)