Veteran Trees Initiative: Specialist Survey Method

[Gary Prentice]

Agreed.

 

I will have a word with the maestro himself and see what can be arranged.

 

I can only say 2 Thee and me, guaranteed at the present will all willing to pay a deposit to show commitment say I

 

I'd be interested Tony, in pursuit of further:thumbup1: knowledge

[Paul Barton]

I'd be interested in this too if the cost is reasonable for a day.

[Alinicoll]

I`d also be interested with one other as well

[Verena]

Hi all,

 

it's a while ago since I posted here first, but I remember getting in touch with Treeworks and they quoted £750 for a day's training, no matter if it's one taker or five. I think they said there may be a maximum number they'd want to take on, but at that time I wasn't worried about that.

 

Tony, is it okay for you to speak to Neville and let us all know?

 

Verena

[Gary Prentice]

Hi all,

 

it's a while ago since I posted here first, but I remember getting in touch with Treeworks and they quoted £750 for a day's training, no matter if it's one taker or five. I think they said there may be a maximum number they'd want to take on, but at that time I wasn't worried about that.

 

Tony, is it okay for you to speak to Neville and let us all know?

 

Verena

 

Yeah, come on Tony:laugh1:

[jwade]

I'm sorry but I don't understand all the fuss. Is this a training course on how to use the VTI Specalist Survey pro formas - and what to look for features of 'veteran trees'. I may be sounding a little ignorant - but whats it for? enlighten me. There are notes with the survey form.

 

I used this (the SSM) in a recent study I conducted and it is quite straight forward and anyone with a keen eye and some survey equipment can use this methodology.

[Paul Barton]

I'm sorry but I don't understand all the fuss. Is this a training course on how to use the VTI Specalist Survey pro formas - and what to look for features of 'veteran trees'. I may be sounding a little ignorant - but whats it for? enlighten me. There are notes with the survey form.

 

I used this (the SSM) in a recent study I conducted and it is quite straight forward and anyone with a keen eye and some survey equipment can use this methodology.

 

Good point actually - I have had a skim through the SSM handbook and it doesn't look like rocket science. I probably can't justify the cost of 'training' for this.

[jwade]

For my third year dissertation project in arb i did a SSM on veteran trees in Blackmore Park nr Malvern and used this survey form. It's really easy and you can assess all sorts of detail such as sap runs, dead wood units, scars/tears etc. But the pro forma has different levels of expertise, if in doubt just use a slightly simpler version of the form, the 'tree form' category is illustrated so you can't really go wrong in assessing even basic info (in my particular study i was mainly recording lapsed pollard or maiden oaks. You can do allsorts of fancy stats afterward by entering it digitally... I really like this form, the way that even laypersons can use it and I think it should become more standardised in recording of veteran tree populations. It's definitely a good idea to digitise the findings, as eventually the paper copies either get lost or tatty. I laminated a set of these (pages 7-15) for use in the field. Good stuff all round.

[jwade]

Ok, at the risk of sounding a bit dim (wouldn't be the first time anyway!) how would me getting in on this open new doors for work? Or is it a purely personal quest

 

This is of use if you geek out on ancient/veteran trees, as I know alot of people that frequent here do....(myself included) But I don't think it really needs a 'proper' specialised course - a bunch of arb mates could get togethor in the field one day and do a survey. it's fun!

 

It is interesting conducting this sort of survey, as it picks up on habitat niches and also means you can calculate a habitat score, it basically looks more in depth at associated flora eg bryophytes, invertebrate activity, previous management, tree context and can be used to inform future tree and site management.

 

Have you seen some of the example studies that treeworks have conducted abroad? Highly recommended reading and really interesting if you like Oak woodland.

[Adam M]

How do you use the data after you have taken it? it would be massively beneficial to have a central place to upload it to and for there be a way to use the data to assign importance to each tree, another way of valuing trees. say a landowner has 30 trees that may or may not qualify as veteran (or indeed ancient), how could the surveyor say tree a.b c and d are the best and most worthy of the allocation of limited budgets to protect them?

also it could do with an additional field, who does this tree currently benefit? perhaps a way of zoning vets like zoning hazard trees could be used? ps. I am aware that some trees should be highly invested in despite being visible to noone, but how.do.you justify that?