Chris at eden

Hi Ed Are you comparing the professional membership of the AA and the ICF? If so I agree but the equivalent membership for AA of chartered arb must be reg consultant. I personally think that reg consultant is at least the same in terms of accreditation within the arb industry although its probably not as well known outside of the arb world. Cheers

When I signed up for L6 I also looked at the BSc at Warwick. The lecturer told me that if I didn't have the time to commit then do the BSc as the L6 is a lot more work. It assessed in a different way and this makes it more labour inventive. Not saying the academic route isn't hard as it clearly is but its not as much work. You only have to meet 50% of the AC for the degree but the L6 requires that the AC is met 100%. On the flip side though you have the high stakes situation of the exams which is something you don't have to deal with with the L6. I had a conversation with Dealga O'Callaghan about it also. He isn't a fan of the L6 as he said it was way too much work for the student and the lecturer.

To add to what Reuben said the one app form states professional advice although there does seem to be different versions of the form floating around. If you think about what is required for professional membership of the AA that would be a minimum of a level 5 qualification. CAS is level 4 and I think ICF is 6, although there is some flexibility with the last one. That kind of backs up the professional bit. NTSG also makes reference to detailed investigations being carried out by those with an L3 qualification. The problem with the term arboriculturist is that it is not a protected designation such as architect or dentist unless you are going for Chartered Arboriculturist which is issued by the ICF. Again for chartered arb you are required to have a suitable level of qualification and experience. When I was doing my L6 we were taught that professions are represented by seats of learning in higher education so L4 and up. Which again pushes it toward the qualification route. The basic idea was that tree consultants were professionals, while tree surgeons were skilled trades. This will probably upset a few people but its not intended to, I see nowt wrong with being a skilled trade. You wouldn't hire a tree consultant to cut a tree down as they probably don't have the skills although some may. I worked as a tree surgeon for years but I couldn't do it commercially anymore. Too old and the fitness isn't there anymore. That said I know a few tree surgeons with L3 and L4 qualifications and I see no problem with them writing tree reports. I think they would be on slightly dodgy ground though writing them based purely on experience and chainsaw tickets. As Reuben said if you ended up in court. Remember you would be trying to convince the judge you know more than the other bloke and if he has a degree you are on an uphill battle before you even start as the judge will consider that as would the planning inspector if it was a TPO appeal. Of course this all falls down when you consider that there is a chap on the AA reg consultant list who has an ND Arb (L3) and professional membership of both the AA and ICF so no idea how that works. I assume he based his entry on experience and maybe a higher qualification in a related discipline. Not sure. Its not a straight forward issue. Hope this helps. Cheers

I was doing about 20 hours a week on top of full time work. My son was born 3 months into my first year. Its still doable but hard. Just don't watch TV. That will easily make up the 20 hours for most folk.

I agree. I don't get that question about experience or qualifications that people ask. Why not both with a bit of work ethic thrown in. Job done.

Sounds like a plan and pretty much what I did although you are fast tracking more than I did. I did L2 and chainsaw/climbing tickets in 1998, tech cert in 2005, and L6 in 2012. It helps if you have the experience as you work your way up. Definitely with L6.

You could just do the chainsaw and climbing tickets like starscream said and do your L2 certificate while you are working. Then go to L4 and L6 over the year if you wanted to.

Yes maybe you can learn that stuff from books but that wouldn't get you a job as junior consultant or tree officer. You wouldn't even get an interview. A level 3 qualification would at least get you an interview, maybe. L4 would be better.

Yes L6 with the 30%. I did tech cert before the L4 came out which was a lot easier. I think the L4 is probably similar content to the TC but more work due to the format.

No don't let me put you off. Its an amazing experience and really life changing but part of the experience is attending the groups. Its really hard to stay on top of the work if you want to get done in 2 years but you can take longer if you wish. The meeting up with the lads is really motivating and you can exchange ideas albeit not collaborate but I think it would be a hard lonely experience doing L6 on line. Plus there is an excellent bacon butty shop opposite the tree life training centre.

I did L6 as day release and it was hard work to stay on top of the work. No TV or social lift for two years. The pass rate is about 30% with treelife, less elsewhere from what I hear or at least it was in 2014 when I finished. I think you would need to be seriously driven and committed to do as a distance course.

No problem. Where are you based?

If you are looking at working on the TPO tree for reasons which relate to risk management then you are required to provide written evidence from a professional. If you are unsure then you may be best to sub it out in the first instance as that would give you an idea of what others are doing. I do loads of sub work for tree surgeons round my way, seems pretty common practice. What is your current level of certification and insurance out of interest? If you are doing tree reports you will need professional indemnity and for that the insurance company will need to check your certification.

Yeah I love it. They have started to introduce annoying characters though, that bloke with the stick is a liability so I find him irritating. I like all the twists and not knowing what to expect or who they are going to kill of next. I've never known a show to kill off the main characters like it. You wouldn't want to be an actor in that, not exactly a job for life. Great viewing though, roll on feb!!!

Great thread. Sorry for jumping in late with the comments. I'm off to France tomorrow so I'll get some pics and post if I see anything interesting.

Very nice.

You mean like RVT?

Not according to 3998!

Good post. When I did my L6 a couple of years ago we had to write pruning specs for a number of operations and then critically evaluate. Dave Dowson commented later that across all of his groups there was a real lack of understanding of pollarding with modern arbs. One of the big issues that was identified was that the production of pollard heads and regular cutting actually reduced the risk of decay and extended longevity due to the high levels of phenols contained in the parenchyma cells that make up pollard heads. People knew this but still commented that cutting could introduce decay, couldn't help themselves, me included. People still cant help relating them to the topped LA street scene. How many street trees do you see in the UK looking like those in your first photo? Not many.

Monoculture can be anything. Its the growing of a single species within a group. Street full of planes, field full of carrots, etc. Ginkgo is a monotypic genus or monotypic taxon. Only one species in existence within the tree's genera. Ginkgo biloba is the only one, there is no Ginkgo spp. Aspen isn't monotypic as there are lots of poplars but it but it could be grown as a monoculture, as a woodland plantation for example.

That's where the problem lies. That's not pollarding, its topping. As such it gives pollarding a bad name. Mick's examples look good though. The old 1989 version of 3998 used to say that pollarding was synonymous with topping!!! Probably didn't help.

Thuja

As we like to over complicate in the UK there are actually 9 levels. To complicate further these are 1-8, with an entry level on the bottom. No idea what would be wrong with 1-9! Entry - 2 is high school. 2-3 is further education. (it does overlap) 4 - 6 is higher education with degree being L6. 7 is MSc and post grad dip. 8 is PhD. I've always fancied a go at the ISA master arb. Where does that sit on your framework? You not a fan of TRAQ then?