Frimsley

OK, here's me a couple of days ago. My team, the Tashtastic Tree Guys, has a bit of competition on for the coveted title of Mr Tashtastic Tree Guy 2012 and a great trophy carved from oak. You can vote for your favourite here

And here's the trophy. Get growing those mos guys...

Well if anyone wants to join the Tashtastic Tree Guys you'd be very welcome. Bit of a slow start on building the team this year for some reason. But we have a fantastic prize available for the best tash in the team - a wonderful solid oak carved tash trophy made from a piece of New Forest oak. So head on over and sign up: Tashtastic Tree Guys By the way, I noticed the other day Sainsbury's have Movember branded Spitfire ale on special a £1 a 500ml bottle. Well worth it, but it would be rude to take advantage without taking part in Movember wouldn't it?

Some not bad tashes there guys. Here's my effort: It came off last night in the pub - they had a barber with cut throat razor in to mark the end of Movember. The Tashtastic Tree Guy's team raised over £1,000 between the ten of us. Next step is to pick a Mr Tashtastic Tree Guy 2011. In X-Factor tradition, this is being done by a public vote, which you're welcome to join in on. Check out Judgement day: the Tashtastic Tree Guys for details.

Just been blogging a bit about my mo-tivation What’s that on your lip? Note to self

There's a "Tashtastic Tree Guys" team, so far made up of UKTC members, but any Arbtalk folk would be more than welcome to join. Check out my Mo Space Prostate cancer is a subject that is thankfully not as close to my heart as it used to be, in that until September is was about 20cm below my heart and is now sliced up in a path lab in Birmingham somewhere. I was one of the lucky ones and caught it early, but a man dies of prostate cancer every hour in the UK. How it pans out is largely down to how early you catch it, which is bad news given the blokeish tendency to ignore health issues and pretend they're not happening. Especially if they're to do with your boy bits. So if you don't join in or donate, at least take this seriously. Find out what to look for. Don't ignore it. Think it's just an old man's disease? I was 47 at diagnosis.

Well, it's a way from the main point of the thread a bit, but that's worth an answer. Timber prices saw a sharp rise prior to the recession, partly as a result of China's hunger for timber. But in the last year they have again fallen. As an example, the average price received by the Forest Commission for the sale of standing timber in England was £11.71/m3 in 2006/7, £16.35 in 2007/8 and £12.37 in 2008/9. Even looking at a short period such as the last three years, it is far from clear that prices are "only heading in one direction". Prices are volatile, and over the economic life of a woodland it's anybody's guess. Producing timber is still, and hopefully always will be, an important part of forest management. Wood as a fuel is also helping to keep that on the agenda. What I said was that forestry is no longer just about timber. It is about amenity, recreation, biodiversity, water quality, erosion and much more. The FC are having to diversify their interest and their skills. Look at the current grant offerings - they are focused on encouraging other priorities: access, woodland birds, restoration of PAWS.

Yes. If the soil is going to recover it's going to recover. It doesn't really matter how fast it recovers. All you do by recommending phased removal is prolong the home owner's agony.

A clear career structure, a single professional body with a clear entry scheme comparable to other 'professions'. And a lot of legislative clout these days. The problem is not just for arbs. The entire 'green' industry is afflicted. I need to find 'critical friends' to assist in developing a Green Infrastructure policy. Finding ecologists is easy. But GI is 'multifunctional'. Try finding a parks or recreation professional - they're just not sufficiently organised to be able to identify their existance. I suspect arbs are seen the same way from outside. Comments about lack of clear leadership and direction are certainly well founded. A few other things have struck me in this thread. What have the FC got to gain from us? Well a lot actually. Their very existence. And they know it. Forestry purely for the sake of producing timber is no longer. The FC have diversified their focus considerably in recent years to take in recreation and social forestry. The Strategy for England's Trees, Woods and Forests and its delivery plan give them a clear role in urban forestry and they are starting to move more into this area, particularly in London. The FC are showing some willingness and inclination to engage with arbs. Arbs are failing to engage with the FC, and this is a huge mistake. The FC have the remit, but they don't really have the expertise - they need arb input. This is probably more relevant to LA arbs and the professional / trade associations than it is to individual contractors, but unless arbs engage they will loose even the little influence they currently have. A big driver is the climate change agenda, and what it's driving is an increasing understanding of the importance of 'green infrastructure'. Clearly trees are a hugely important part of the GI, but much GI development is currently led by ecologists and landscape architects. We are missing a trick here. The FC, incidentally, is not a professional body, it is government agency. The main 'professional' bodies in arb in the UK are the AA and the ICF. To Tony's original questions: Sometimes. We are important, but we also one part of a much bigger picture, and too few arbs see that. No. Which is why arb input into the bigger picture is so important. However, I do suspect that a lot of arbs tend to over manage trees. That's the really tricky one. Partly professional bitching. They're wood farmers, what have they got to do with us? But more, I suspect, to do with leadership. Initial engagement needs to come from so called industry leaders, whoever they are. And that is slow. Also, the FC are really feeling their way into urban forestry. They don't really know where to go or who to ask, so the way in for us isn't clear. It has to happen, and it isn't happening properly yet. How to join that up is a really big question.

There seem to be slightly different issues coming up here. Pruning the crown is unlikely to cause roots to dieback - the tree has invested energy in creating those roots, why would it kill them off now? But it probably will reduce the rate of growth of roots - there is no need to build up such an extensive network of roots for a smaller crown and there are fewer sugars available for the job because of less photosynthesis. The OCA paper is not about root growth, it's about moisture use. A tree can have a lot of roots and still not use much water. The two are not directly related, although it would be reasonable to assume a tree with few roots isn't going to be able to use much water. I'm not clear what the context of the question is...

I like the weldmesh and EML suggestions. Chicken wire breaks too easily and then the sharp edges become a hazard themselves. We've used compounds mixed with sand in the past. Not sure about PVA - I don't think it's waterproof. A problem with an already slippery, 10 year old bridge is getting the surface clean enough for the compounds to stick to in a way that is going to last. I think weldmesh would be a lot simpler. A PROW is not generally owned by, or even maintained by the Highways Authority. Unless it's adopted as a highway maintained at public expense it is down to the land owner. As for liability, if you've spotted the problem and don't do anything, you're in trouble. If you take reasonable, practical steps to minimise the risk, you're clear. You don't have to make everything safe - just do what is reasonable and practical to keep risk down. I often find myself advising people to keep risk in perspective and suggesting that they may be over stating it. In this area though, perhaps not. A large landowner I'm particularly familiar with has had a number of accidents leading to claims in the past few years - quite a normal situation for a large land owner. Interestingly though, all of them have involved falls on slippery wooden surfaces. So this is a real risk that does need addressing.

Do you really want Google ads for potential competitors on your front page? Cost of a website - how long's a piece of string? Sometimes you get what you pay for. Sometimes you pay through the nose for complete rubbish. If you really want a site to work for you, don't skimp on it. Don't try and do it yourself, or get the lad next door to do it. A designer friend of mine recently paraphrased a famous quote about the punk era, saying "dreamweaver has given everybody the opportunity to build their own website. And most of them shouldn't have" And don't forget that getting the site up is only the first part of the journey. Getting traffic to it is much harder. FWIW, I don't think £350 is at all expensive for a basic brochure site.

It's the last few days of the Arboricultural Association's consultation on the future of the Approved Contractor Scheme. Simple web questionnaire that doesn't take too long to fill out - your chance to air your views on the scheme. Check out the AA Approved Contractor Consultation

For tree and forestry related books generally, Treesource is always a good place to start. I'm not sure they would be able to get you out of print stuff, but it's worth giving them a ring and asking. Jo is very helpful and may be able to suggest where to go if she can't get it. Or just try Amazon. It's a specialist area - you're unlikely to find new books at below the list price the FC give. Quite a lot of their stuff is available as a PDF for free nowadays though.

I spent a while looking for a saw on ebay a few years ago. I wasn't after anything special, just something to keep on top of my firewood with. Most of the things I looked at ended up going for more than you'd pay new - quite crazy prices clearly being bought by people who hadn't done their homework. Ended up buying a new bottom of the range Stihl from the farmers supply place up the road. There's so much that can go wrong with a saw, and so many idiots using them without a clue I don't think it's worth it unless you get a real bargain, or get a buzz out making a piece of junk work again.