mrtree

Can't even get past Sri Lanka, not even close. HAH Afridi is moving to the trophy

I will keep my name to myself. I have no interest in any discussion involving me as a known person, perfer people to complain about my ideas. Suffice to say that I have been working with and studying trees since 1984 and been planting trees since a cub-scout in the early 1970s.

So Mr Tree, what do you suggest we do?? Don't worry there will always be a need for tree cutters. What I suggest is education for all, tree industry and the public. With some knowledge there will be more need for educated arborists and there will be more trees and trees with fewer problems. I suppose when the tree industry as a whole is esteemed by the public in the same manner as landscape architects, and we are professionals and considered professionals by the public then we will be in a better place. This whole thread has been wrong in my opinion, there is not a dichotomy with tree preservation on one side and tree cutters on the other. The question should be more to the effect, are you willing to use your knowledge to do the best for not only the tree owner but communities of humans and other organisms? I likely have cut more trees than any other person on this board. I have cleared hundreds of acres of invasive trees in grasslands, I have burnt grasslands, I have removed perfectly healthy trees, I have created wildlife habitat, I have planted trees, I have written about trees, I have educated people, and I have tried to make something of a difference. If every person working on trees where to read one book about trees and were to go out and touch trees then I would not worry so much about the state of the industry or the world.

And there I think lies the ultimate problem with the tree industry, virtually every single tree service, arborist, forester etc., is a tree cutter, running a business to make money by any means. This is the attitude and position that drives the tree industry. As an industry we are not arborists or hortilculturalists we a bunch of guys looking for ways to use our chainsaws and chippers. Repeatedly in this and other threads we see the fall back position that I am just a tree cutter and the implication, explicit or not, is that I cannot try to do something better ecological or different as the tree always has to be cut (in the end). There is an inherent fall back position that I can't do anything but cut and there is a hatred of knowledge and those with it. In many threads where we are talking possibilities the answer for many is that possibilities to deal with trees does not need to be talked about because either the tree owners wants the tree cut, the tree is always dangerous, I know the tree will fail, or I am doing what the tree owner wants. Never do we see the majority trying to move the business of arboriculture forward with knowledge and reasoning. When will the tree industry move out of the age of the TREEANDERTHAL and start to evolve to where knowledge matters?

So you are going to be cold and hungry if you sign this petition? The fact is that you will never turn down work if the all mighty dollar is always the ultimate decider.

Then please take some training and doing some reading. Every rope (construction) with the combination of friction knot or device, and use, results in different characteristics and requirements for retirement of ropes. Please base your life on better knowledge.

The usual ignorance

I do not think you can be Thatcherite and Luddite at the same time.

Ancient trees and Ancient Woodlands are not same. Also if you remove the existing sources of biological diversity will this diversity be able to ever reinhabit the trees as they age? I remember Neville Fay once mentioned the discovery of an insect once thought extinct. The insects were found in some old, decaying trees, that where being managed. The requirements of the insect are such that no amount of planting will provide them habitiat within at least a century. As for the rail line I look at it as something that is required (now). If people want this than perhaps we have to give up other things (such as nature). Until society can rein in their wants we will have continuous battle of nature vs. expansion. Ultimately we must reduce birth rates (the world over) and control per capita consumption.

I have been reading a little on conifers and found these books to contain some information on evolution and fossil history. A Natural History of Conifers by Aljos Farjon Conifers of the World by James Eckenwalder Handbook of the World's Conifers by Aljos Farjon

Check with your Stihl dealer. I bet that you can get one through them, I have seen a Tach with stihl imprinted on it.

Forget Neville Fay and Tony Kirkham, do the best job you can and they will soon be coming to you. There are enough members on this board that you will make a great start and then word will spread.

Well if you don't understand then you really need to speak to an accountant on how to calculate your cost of doing business

This is not true for many people and companies. If you are paying for a truck, chipper, fuel, insurance, employees, repairs etc., your costs are not minimal, they are essentailly fixed. If you do have all these cost then maybe you should not be doing hedge work that can be done with a ladder and gas trimmer.

While I agree with part of this how do you do hedge work if it will not cover your costs, let alone make a profit?