Wednesday, April 2, 2008

ISA HK/China --- Arborists are just Tree Men?

*** 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 enquiry & we are broadcasting our reply to you in an open Station Mail so that some of our Station Members can also understand the knowledge contained. Please note that it is our Station Policy that any communication coming in can be circulated within our channels for our internal discussion. However, it is customary that we would hide your personal information so that your identity is not disclosed, unless the attack is malicious.

Your claim that Arborists are just Tree Men only can be right to a certain extent in that Arborists would usually deal with trees in urban landscape. However, the Arborist profession would usually go beyond that to study only trees & would branch out into the following disciplines as recently demanded for research in the Arboriculture & Urban Forestry Journal of ISA as follows:

1. Entomology --- The studies of insects, since some insects attack trees.

2. Social Issues & Economic Assessment --- Trees in community affects quality of living & residents' behaviour

3. Soils / Fertilization / Irrigation --- Trees need a good medium to grow well.

4. Biomechanics / Safety / Hazard / Risk --- Mature Trees can be Time Bombs if not properly cared for.

5. Pathology --- Trees, like animals including humans, can become sick.

6. Horticulture / Transplanting / Construction Damage --- the cultural practice & knowledge in keeping trees in good condition.

7. Tree Biology / Physiology / Genetics --- Arborists are Tree Doctors & Tree Detectives.

8. Urban Forest Management / Modelling / Assessment --- Like how human population is managed in a city, tree community would also require management to avoid competition, risk & undesirable growth.

9. Utilities Forestry --- Many parts of the world would have trees, be they wild or landscaped, growing underneath power lines to touch the high voltage above. These tress would need to be managed to reduce risks.

10. Ecology / Urban Interface --- Without trees, the wildlife we know on land may disappear. Trees impact the image of a city & quality of living of a community.

As you can now see, you are correct in the sense that Arborists are Tree Men because we deal mainly with trees, like doctors would mainly deal with humans & not animals. However, the knowledge of an Arborist may stretch far beyond that of just identifying trees & talking about 'flowering' like what you would anticipate. We do not & can not ignore the environment surrounding trees to help them grow well. Arborists are generally practitioners to solve problems on site.

It is also rather unusual that any single Arborist would be expert in many fields, since each field has its own depth & speciality. That's why in many quality Arborist training or discussion, usually the Arborist specializing in one field would focus on his own subject, & would leave the other areas to different experts. I personally do not know of any Arborist who is a master of all.

Arborists in our territory do not have the intention to take over the greenery as you may have hinted, but we would like to be part of the team to provide our knowledge to help bring a better tree community for the benefit of our society. Arboriculture is new to our territory, but ISA is already 84 years old, & is strongly established in many western countries including Singapore. Just compare our trees with that of Singapore & ask yourself whether Arboriculture is doing good or not for the community. Trees in Singapore are designed, installed, maintained, inspected, risk-assessed & preserved by Arborists in their community.

To become a Certified Arborist (CA) is like obtaining an entrance ticket to the Hall of Arboriculture & would not usually make you an instant professional, unless you already are, as demonstrated in many parts of the world. CA is a credential to ascertain a level of knowledge. CA exam also does not test a candidate for communication skills & practical knowledge like in-situ pruning. Many of the topics mentioned above would require research & self-study for personal development after being a CA. Around the world, most CA do not actually go into practice because practising involves legal liabilities. Practising Arborists (PA) frequently go to Court, for one reason or another. CA may not be the equivalent of PA, & that's something you may wish to understand & consider before you wish to obtain the credential.

I hope my information above can be of help to you.

Thank you for your enquiry again & please do not hesitate to contact us anytime for any question you may have.

Yours faithfully,

Sammy Au
ISA HK/China Station Manager
Professional Nurseryman, Practising Arborist & Landscaper

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/)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Wong Tai Sin Tree Failure)


*** 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 recent Wong Tai Sin Tree Failure has been causing havoc in the media as per attached & on the internet. This Station really felt sorry for the Govt Depts handling it & could only wish the media can be placed in the same shoes sometimes to enjoy the criticism.

From verbal reports of Station Members who have visited the site, the problem appeared to be Erythrina Gall Wasps which had weakened the tree to the failure point. Then wind & rain catalysed the failure like everywhere else for tree failure in the world. What were seen as decay & pest attack appeared to be secondary to the primary initiation.

If the case would go to Court with the tree owner sued for Negligence by the victim, the plaintiff lawyer with the help of an experienced Arborist could possibly point out many accounts of lack of care in the maintenance of this tree. The chance of winning a hefty damages may be promising.

Besides monetary compensation, what would happen if this Chinese visitor went home & told his folks that the trees in HK are killers & he nearly kicked the bucket for it? Would our brothers & sisters up north with their thirsting media not enlarge the event to out of proportion for one reason or another? Yet in HK we are supposed to have an advanced landscape.

Possibly this Erythrina was selected for ' flowering' during the design & at that time, maybe we did not understand enough about trees to be careful. Since now that we have so many trees selected for ' flowering' without much consideration for Structure & Wind Stability, we may have some worries indeed to tend our trees.

Famous Arboricultural sayings passed down from experts would include:

1. If a tree is not designed, installed, maintained, inspected & risk assessed properly, it is likely to become a liability rather than an asset.

2. Mature Trees can be Time Bombs if not attended properly.

3. In any Tree Selection, it is always Mother Nature makes the rules, not us.

Only if experienced & qualified Arborists would have regularly inspected & risk-assessed our many Mature Trees in our territory, & to produce Arborist Reports to ascertain recommendations & responsibilities, then event as such in Wong Tai Sin would possibly fall upon the liabilities of the Arborist, not that of the Govt Depts.

For future planning, tragedy like Wong Tai Sin may be proportionally reduced by getting Arborists involved in the design, installation, maintenance, inspection & risk assessment of trees in our urban landscape. This is what western countries including Singapore would do. They have City Arborists & Urban Foresters to look after their trees. Why should we not?

Our typhoon season is about to come & one rainy night has already seen major incident as such for our Mature Tree Failure. What would happen if we get another mini-typhoon like Prapiroon of 2006 to visit us later on? Are we still able to claim the subsequent tree failures, damages & disruption all ' Acts of God ' ?

Only if HK can put Arborists back on stage to look after our trees like western countries, then maybe our trees would become safer, better looking & perhaps even happier in our territory?

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/)