In 1994, I attended a meeting of the American Society of Consulting Arborists; ASCA. I met great people, listened to fabulous speakers, and discovered the world of consulting-as-a-profession. It did not hurt that it was held in Aspen Colorado. Even then, at my peak of climbing skill and while gainfully employed as a botanical garden’s arborist, I knew that I wouldn’t always be able to prune trees for a living.
I jumped in. I kept up with ASCA, bought a couple of books, and did a few consulting tasks for the Honolulu Botanical Gardens, where I was employed, and later for clients in Hawaii, California, and Oregon. I found that consulting felt a lot like being a climbing arborist. There were problems to solve, a timeline in which to do it, and usually some aspect of intensity. Projects were often considered urgent by the people paying for them.
One important component in my growth as a consultant was ASCA’s report writing classes, which required attendance in person, purchase of a couple of books, and a test in person-followed by sending in another report/test. It was a comprehensive way to understand report writing, and it helped with what I was doing at the time: writing municipal reports for land use in the Portland Metro area.
I took the report writing class 14 years later, and it helped again. The book(s) had expanded, changed, and still helped me to understand the process. Nothing like a little retrieval and repetition to solidify what you want to learn.
I haver re-located and am currently setting up my business in Santa Barbara California. I have roots here, family and friends. I like to think I am semi-retired. But wasn’t I always semi-retired? Working for yourself is alternately working for the worst and best boss you can imagine. One who gives you time off whenever you like-and who overshares how much he needs you to finish a project!
I am currently remembering and learning how to use new tools in consulting. One is a resistance drill with such incredible calibration and recording that it can actually count rings in the tree. The Resistograph ED 650- I use it to discover what is actually inside the tree where I suspect there is a problem. It is a very small diameter drill, that leaves a 3mm hole in the tree. The instrument comes with software.
No I do not drill every tree. There is seldom a need. Its a help with trees which I already suspect to have certain defects. With it I can map weak areas of a tree and keep track of these over time.
I am also obtaining an elegant mapping system from PlanitGeo. This is the Tree Plotter platform which can help with inventories and appraisals of trees in real space. With it I can walk up to a tree, instantly geo-locate it with the help of a device, and add its identification, characteristics, defects if they are important, dbh - the diameter at a height above mean grade- 54” high on most trees. I can send ouyt a map that is helpful to a client, in layman’s terms and for my own records as well.
I can also input other salient facts. Consulting is about what you can give a client from your experience and ability, not merely the tools you have at your fingertips. But in today’s world, the computer and ability to send and receive information are ubiquitous.
And even as a climber, I was always a bit of a gear head. No one but me cared whether I had the latest equipment. They just cared that I could prune well, or remove a tree without damage to other components in their gardens. The more things change, the more they remain the same, or as the French say, Zut, alors!