Awww, you don't need no stinkin bucket truck.
But quality work is visible. As universities are very much in the public eye, our work gets seen. I had a prof extol about his students do an exchange in Oxford that changed their lives-- not onl the fine education, but the surroundings. When they graduate and make those fistfuls of dollars, some of them will remember where they lived and want their surroundings to look like this place.
My predicament isn't about equipment but compensation. My salary is supposedly analyzed against the other universities around. And, well, nobody has a staff arborist. Several visiting grounds managers have mentioned to me they wish they could have one. For what they pay their contractors, they could. I don't know about others, but my employer is a non-profit organization. Big whoop.
When I got here, I asked about why no bucket truck. Besides that tool accessing less than 20% of the 2200 trees on campus, there were mumblings about insurance costs.
I've had little say as to who is hired to do contract work-- and it shows. Again, I can see the contract work, but because the [predominantly poor] quality of trimming done in the surrounding neighborhood, the work blends right in-- it looks like a trimmed tree: topped crepe myrtles, lion's tailed live oaks, stubs, flush cuts. Not to mention the scant use of PPE. We're in a neighborhood where the houses go for at least $400k.
But we gots da expensive athletics department cause we need a winning team for the alums to drink beer over 6 times a year.
Let me get back to caring for this little piece of Eden. I hear the money purses snapping shut again. [/Rant off/]
