US Pruning Standard draft revision

[treeseer]

2008. topping: Reduction of tree size using internodal cuts without regard to tree health or structural integrity. Topping is not an acceptable pruning practice.

 

2015 (proposed). topping: Excessive reduction of tree size by cutting live branches and leaders to stubs, without regard to long-term tree health or structural integrity. Topping is not an acceptable practice.

9.56 stub: Portion of a branch or stem remaining after an internodal cut or branch breakage.

 

So there's the committee's DRAFT revision of the definition of topping. If anyone knows what "Excessive" means, please tell the rest of us. See http://tcia.org/files/A300Part1-Pruning-D1V1-20151109.pdf for more legalese, punctuated with unusable terms like "excessive" and "appropriate".

An interesting exercise is to highlight the SHALL 'requirements'.

 

For actual guidance, US folk will wait 2 years until the bmp comes out, or look to other sources. Where should they look?