If prequalifying improves the experience of buying a home or car, imagine applying that process to the care of trees at your home or business by hiring a International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist. While not a PhD or M.D., these “tree doctors” have undergone on going recertification testing and intense study on the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. They are experts on tree health, designing and maintaining landscape gardens and developing landscape management plans.
To be eligible for the exam, a candidate must have three or more years of full-time, eligible, practical work experience in arboriculture and/or a degree in the field of arboriculture, horticulture, landscape architecture, or forestry from a regionally accredited educational institute.
The comprehensive certification encompasses a myriad of topics which empowers the candidates with flexibility in the arboricultural profession. The 200-question exam covers tree health, tree biology, tree identification and selection, tree-soil-water relations, tree nutrition and fertilization, tree planting and establishment, pruning concepts and techniques, cabling and bracing, and lightning protection, problem diagnosis and management, tree preservation on construction sites, climbing and safe work practices, and tree risk assessment.
The work doesn’t stop after becoming a Certified Arborist as 30 continuing education units (CEUs) are required to be recertified. CEUs are earned by attending seminars, studying in college courses, or completing study in ISA published magazines and books.
The image of arborists has improved with the Certified Arborist program, from the arborist’s and the general public’s perspective. The curriculum has set benchmarked minimum standards of achievement and incentives for continuing education.
Education allows Certified Arborists to better assure their customers that their trees will not be damaged or mutilated and set the expectations of a particular treatment. To make sure that your trees get the best care and their tree health is preserved for years to come, contact Embark Services for a ISA Certified Arborist at 713-462-3261.
