A life among trees and shrubs: Man finds passion in arborist training.
Published in: The Beaufort Gazette (Beaufort, SC)
Date: 9/4/2006
By: Sandra Walsh
Arborists know a lot about trees. They know tree anatomy and physiology, proper pruning practices and can identify several trees and tree diseases. They should probably also know the difference between trees and shrubs — a concept Preservation Tree Care foreman John Clark, 26, doesn’t yet have a firm grasp on. “I should probably know that,” Clark says apologetically while climbing and pruning a crape myrtle, a shrub, on Port Republic Street. “Like I said, I still have a long way to go.” Clark is studying to become an arborist.
His boss, Preservation Tree Care owner Mike Murphy, is an arborist involved with the tree care industry for more than 30 years. Murphy says that becoming a certified arborist involves passing a rigorous test conducted by the International Society of Arboriculture. It also requires passion. “The tree care field is easy to get into,” Murphy says. “Anyone with a pickup and a chain saw can be a tree cutter, but an arborist learns how trees are put together before they take them apart … You have to be consumed by arboriculture, it’s a passion — you have to want to learn more about trees.” There are three certified arborists out of Preservation Tree Care’s 16 employees, but Murphy says all of his employees have a glimmer of what it takes to become an arborist. “If they didn’t — I wouldn’t hire them,” he says. He thinks Clark has what it takes. Clark has big hands at the end of his gangly arms that swing gently at his side when he walks. When he looks up at tree tops, he throws his head back and opens his mouth in contemplation. His long slender body is always relaxed while he thinks in this almost organic pose. “See, we want to remove that right there, you know?” Clark says looking up and pointing out branches on a mossy oak to be trimmed by his two-man crew. “That part right there can stay, you know?” Clark has been working with trees since eighth grade. For $50 on hot afternoons, he’d help his friend’s dad, Colin Carpenter, drag brush into a chipper.
Carpenter, an arborist with Preservation Tree Care, landed him a job at the company after high school, but two years later, a 20-year-old Clark went off to live in Crested Butte, Colo., to snow board and find himself. Two years ago, after a slew of service industry jobs and a brief stint on keyboards, guitar and vocals for a local band, Clark returned to trees. “I never paid attention to trees before I started working here,” Clark says while drinking coffee out of a mug and driving a bucket truck to his first job on Lady’s Island at 7 a.m., just after an hourlong staff meeting. “There’s so much to notice when you’re up there in a tree.” Kyle Watkins, a 21-year-old from Biloxi, Miss., and Auner Barrios, 22, from Chiapas, Mexico, follow Clark in a chipper truck to the job site. The job requires some pruning and branch removal. Clark uses a pole saw, a long fiberglass rod with a saw attached to the end of it, and a handsaw to do the job.
Watkins, who has worked in the industry for less than a year, gains climbing experience by ascending a tall oak to prune a few branches. Watkins says he climbs trees anytime he gets a chance, for practice and because he loves it. Clark explains that much of tree climber’s equipment is specialized but that most of the gear is derived from rock climbing — such as spikes, metal points strapped to the feet used to climb dead trees, and a figure eight, a metal loop shaped like the number used as a tension device for descending on a rope. Clark cuts a part of a branch from a pine tree and carpenter ants crawl frantically from the hollow remainder of the branch still attached to the tree. The homeowner, concerned that the tree is infested, looks worried. Clark explains that the carpenter ants are not like termites, in fact, he says, carpenter ants living in dead wood are helpful because they consume harmful moisture that could result in rot. “What is this — Forestry 101?” the homeowner jokes heading back inside. “You know your stuff — I’ll let you be.” Two hours later, the job is complete and all the brush is chipped in an industrial machine. Since September, Preservation Tree Care has chipped more than 8,460 tons of brush and logs, most of it used for community projects.
The rest of the day consists of removing a small cherry oak from a downtown front yard that was beginning to uproot a fence, pruning a 60-year-old dogwood, and pruning a very tall mossy oak and a palmetto tree in an Old Point backyard with the bucket truck and a hand saw.
Most of the jobs the company does involve pruning, fertilization and basic maintenance of trees and pre-construction and construction tree protection. Clark says basic maintenance of trees is important for homeowners because healthy trees improve property value. Planting a young live oak, for example, can cost upward of $3,000. And removing a dead or diseased tree costs hundreds of dollars, depending on tree size and location. At about 4 p.m., covered in sawdust and sweat, Clark heads back to the shop. “It’s hard work, but it’s rewarding,” Clark says. “There is a satisfaction in doing a job right.” By the way, most botanists would say there is a lot of gray area when it comes to the difference between a tree and a shrub. Basically, trees are generally more than 12 feet tall and shrubs are less than 12 feet tall, although some shrubs can reach more than 20 feet tall.
And generally, trees have one central root stem, whereas shrubs have a number of stems usually produced from near the soil line of the plant. So really, it’s just about how a plant grows.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Beaufort Gazette, S.C.