Leading Arboricultural and Ecological Consultants

Treeworks Environmental Practice organised this landmark conference on behalf of the National Tree Safety Group (TSG), an inclusive association of stakeholders concerned with tree care, ownership, management and advice, formed with strong leadership from the Forestry Commission. Its intention is to develop an industry statement to guide all concerned.
The conference brought together a representative sample of some 300 people involved with trees. Speakers provided ten-minute presentations from the perspective of risk and tree professionals, governmental and non-governmental agencies, local authorities, the concerned citizen, the insurance industry, the legal sector and environmental science.

The key sessions focussed on what it means to be a stakeholder, balancing the benefits and enjoyment of trees with managing an acceptable level of risk. The structure of the conference allowed each speaker to make a statement from their respective stakeholder position. This brought out certain issues where, through clarification, debate and engaging an ever-widening group of stakeholders, there is potential for arriving at a national industry statement that will help the courts and assist managers, landowners and advisers to make risk management decisions for the benefit of a sustainable tree population.

At the end of each session a voting system was used to draw out particular threads relating to reasons for tree management and concerns associated with different sectors. This data will be considered by Prof. David Ball in a research project into the real and perceived aspects of tree risk, as a basis for informing future guidance for those involved in managing trees for public safety.

Please feel free to comment on the conference and its issues using comments below.

Treework Environmental Practice have teamed up with Phillip van Wassenaer of Urban Forest Innovations of Canada to present a series of one-day seminars in the US covering the principles of veteran tree management, tree ecology and non-defensive arboriculture, including the role and relevance of device-based tree assessment in modern arboriculture as applied through reasonable risk decision-analysis.

Under the banner of ‘Conservation Arboriculture: Care of Veteran Trees’ these events will take place in North Carolina, Philadelphia and California in June. Click here to see more details.

A fourth seminar presented by Neville Fay, Principal Consultant, Treework Environmental Practice, will take place in Tacoma, Seattle.

This will be titled “Non-Defensive Conservation Arboriculture” – A European Perspective on Tree Management is in association with the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture & Metro Parks and will take place on June 24th 2008.

Click here for more details on the Seattle Seminar.

We’re slowly gathering together together information on previous Treework Environmental Practice Seminars which will be published over the coming month. Here are three that are already online.

Seminar 2 Review:
Tree Micro-Ecology: Perceptions of Disease & Decay in Trees:
Interpreting the Significance of Factors Affecting Tree Structure & Health

This Seminar took place in London and N.Yorkshire in 2005

Read more here: Seminar 2 Review:

Seminar 7 Review
Tree Morphology – a continuing story….
June 2007 – Bristol
This seminar, presented by Treework Environmental Practice in association with the Arboricultural Association, continued on the good work of an initial two-day Morphology seminar held in March 2006.

Read more here: Seminar 7 Review:

Seminar 8 Review
The Future of Tree Risk Management (Part II)
July 2007 – Bristol
Working Towards an Industry Led Framework for Tree Risk Assessment and Management
This was the second seminar in The Future of Tree Risk theme. It built on the success of the Treeworks Environmental Practice 2006 seminar that explored arboricultural policy, case law and risk management perspectives as a step towards raising the level of professional confidence in tree risk management.

Read more here: Seminar 8 Review:

The bookings for the 2008 Conferences and Seminars is now open.

A stakeholders’ conference in place of SEMINAR X
TREE MANAGEMENT FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
Towards an Industry Statement

TREES The Key to Climate Proofing our Cities, (Part 1)
A conference in place of SEMINAR XI

SEMINAR XII
TREES, ROOTS, FUNGI, SOIL
Below-Ground Ecosystem & Implications for Tree Health

Click here to Book

We will be announcing three new seminars for 2008 very shortly. Look out for full details in Seminars

May
A stakeholders’ conference in place of SEMINAR X

TREE MANAGEMENT FOR PUBLIC SAFETY – Towards an Industry Statement

A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE
Following the success of the three Treework Environmental Practice seminars on Tree Risk Management, our scheduled Seminar 10 (The Future of Tree Risk Management Part 4) will be replaced by a conference to develop the work of the earlier seminars in taking forward the initiative to launch a National Tree Safety Forum.

July
Trees: the key to climate proofing our cities (Part 1)

A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE
Temperatures in UK cities are predicted to rise by 4–7°C in the next 30 years. Research indicates that a 10% increase in urban tree cover would completely neutralise this impact. However, trees are being lost at an alarming rate and urban deforestation is offering a hot future for city life.

November
Seminar XII
Trees, Roots, Fungi, Soil – Below-ground ecosystem & implications for tree health.

A ONE-DAY SEMINAR
In association with Cardiff University School of Biosciences

TEP are pleased to bring together UK and international speakers with knowledge of interactions between saprotrophs, tree-root pathogens and mycorrhizal fungi to improve our understanding of below-ground interactions between fungi and trees, and the conditions for health and pathogenicity to support practitioners in their endeavours to beneficially influence tree health.

A one-day seminar held on
June 15th 2007 at
The University of the
West of England, Bristol

This seminar, presented by Treework Environmental Practice in association with the Arboricultural Association, continued on the good work of an initial two-day Morphology seminar held in March 2006. This day marked Seminar VII in the ongoing series exploring the outer reaches of arboriculture brought to us by Treeworks Environmental Practice’s supremo Neville Fay.

Neville started proceedings, stating that morphology is likely to have passed us by in our training years but that, by understanding a tree’s form and processes we will increase our understanding and diagnostic skills. The aim is therefore to inform our work, and for Treeworks Environmental Practice this is especially relevant with veteran trees.

The aging process is both an ontogenetical and a physiological response – and combines patterns of ‘prescribed norms’ with the body language of adaptive growth. Our study of perturbations to the norm can make a powerful diagnostic tool.

By appreciating and enjoying these adaptations we can learn to challenge traditional concepts of form and formality. What was once considered valueless tells a tale of history and regeneration, once our eyes are unlocked. This applies not just to the ancient pollard but also the less conventionally perfect specimen, rarely allowed to survive in a heavily managed tree population (I put a good part of the blame for this on the British Standards for nursery stock! It seemed such a good idea at the time…but then so did dead wooding and heavy thinning and hopefully we have educated ourselves out of that).

The “Urpflanze” – Goethe’s archetypal plant concept form, from which all plants are derived – a morphological plant patent?

During a guided tour through the history of tree morphology, while reviewing aspects of the previous seminar it was a pleasure to revisit Leonardo and Goethe, the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence. The latter can be found on a limitless scale, from the double helix of DNA to the working of constellations. It is a growth form not a fixed bilateral symmetry, and well illustrated by the spiralling contortions that many plants display in their leaf angle (137.5 degrees) to maximise sunlight collection.

Neville then introduced the legendary Professor Francis Hallé, Professor of Botany at the University of Montpellier. Famous for landing inflatable contraptions on the canopy of tropical rainforest trees and having worked in that environment for 40 years, his first session was a historical approach to tree architecture, paying tribute to the British and European tradition of scientific tree drawing from the 16th – 18th centuries.

Early plant illustration gave way to an ever closer examination of vegetative parts (flowers and fruits), then anatomy, meristems and cells – finally down to chromosomes and genes. The smaller the focus the less obvious the tree architecture, and for Hallé the macro view of tropical trees, less complicated being in a relatively benign growing environment, illustrates his subject best.

Expanding on the ontogenetical v physiological theme, Hallé pointed out that a young tree displays its genetic inheritance perfectly, showing a regular and easily illustrated architecture that in time becomes chaotic visually as the likes of gravity, frost, fire and all the other environmental factors make their mark.

Along with Roelof Oldeman, Hallé concluded earlier in his career that all trees conform to one of some 20 architectural models; a theme developed later the second speaker.

Neville then introduced the legendary Professor Francis Hallé, Professor of Botany at the University of Montpellier. Famous for landing inflatable contraptions on the canopy of tropical rainforest trees and having worked in that environment for 40 years, his first session was a historical approach to tree architecture, paying tribute to the British and European tradition of scientific tree drawing from the 16th – 18th centuries.

Early plant illustration gave way to an ever closer examination of vegetative parts (flowers and fruits), then anatomy, meristems and cells – finally down to chromosomes and genes. The smaller the focus the less obvious the tree architecture, and for Hallé the macro view of tropical trees, less complicated being in a relatively benign growing environment, illustrates his subject best.

Expanding on the ontogenetical v physiological theme, Hallé pointed out that a young tree displays its genetic inheritance perfectly, showing a regular and easily illustrated architecture that in time becomes chaotic visually as the likes of gravity, frost, fire and all the other environmental factors make their mark.

Along with Roelof Oldeman, Hallé concluded earlier in his career that all trees conform to one of some 20 architectural models; a theme developed later the second speaker.

More Seminar Reviews can be read here >> Treeworks Environmental Practice Tree Seminar Reviews