Citizen pruners-training residents to prune

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
Administrator
Location
Retired in Minneapolis
Most city forestry/parks/Arborculture budgets are stretched to capacity. Trying to keep up with removals and large tree pruning as well as planting fills the time and budgets

Are there programs where citizens are trained and 'deputized' or certified to prune city trees? There seems to be plenty of interest by residential treehuggers. Their enthusiasm could be trained and focuss on small tree pruning


If anyone knows of programs like this and has contact information please let me know. Either in th thread or Via pm/conversation


Thanks!
 
Tree Stewards in Virginia do. The main problem training citizens is overpruning. On street trees, the lowest permanent branch that grows parallel to the street can be much lower, but like many arborists they tend to overraise, as if they were growing the trunk for timber. :rolleyes:
 
We have a program here too administered by our non-profit advocacy group. They go through a pretty extensive training. Trouble is the then think they know everything there is to know. They only prune small stuff from the ground.
 
We started a CPP program here about 5 years ago. The first year was a trial and the second year we opened it to the public and filled all 25 spots in the first day of registration. It's been a fantastic program. The pruners learn the basics and are fortunately too shy to overprune. We only train them to work from the ground and only on young trees (20ft ish max height trees).

I'm happy to share my power point slides from the training sessions. We do two 3hr in class sessions then one 3hr outdoor session of training. There are 6 "work sessions" of which a citizen pruner has to attend two. If they miss the work sessions they are charged $75.

http://www.thunderbay.ca/Living/Environment/Urban_Forestry/Citizen_Pruner_Program.htm
http://www.rutterurbanforestry.ca/blog/citizen-pruner-program
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10150692390645254
http://www.thunderbaytrees.ca/post/754895570/episode-8-thunder-bays-citizen-pruners-i

As you can see, we're proud of this program and it's gotten much positive attention

If you want people to understand the value of good pruning, you have to educate them. A CPP is an effective tool for that.

Vince
 
I appreciate the info. As arbos we know the value of young tree pruning. There are lots of residents who want to prune too

The catch a for me to show the value of starting a program like this.

I understand New York City has a program too
 
Nice Vince! Good advertising too huh?

I was wondering, what's up with the squeak toy stuck in the crotch @ 3:43? It's a Sophie giraffe. There are 3 of them in my household right now, so it kinda caught my eye. :)
 
Sioux Falls doesn't have a program, but they do have an ordinance requiring the homeowners to care for the street trees minimum clearance over the street and sidewalk. So the local companies end up doing the work.
 
We have a VIP program. It stands for volunteers in pruning. Nowhere near the scale of Portlands Friends Of Trees. We're a much smaller community. We've had mixed results. You have to have enough volunteers so that enough actual work gets done (eventually) to offset the cost of the trainers time. Its similar to what's already been described. Volunteers commit to so many hours of young tree pruning. In exchange they receive so many hours of training. I've had it go both ways. I can definitely say that sometimes I would've gotten more accomplished if I would have just been by myself. Also, there's only so many small trees to prune. Seems a bit less than efficient to skip all the large trees and just work on the smaller trees. However, if you have enough people and enough work, it definitely pays off. Theres also some value to building relationships with interested residents. I don't know exactly how you factor that into the bottom line.
 
Chewy (I'm being presumptuous that I can call you that), our city see its program as an investment in political capital. The pruners do get some actual work done but for production they're better off hiring me, alone with a handsaw and pole clippers. I'd get way more done than a group of 20 pruners. When the urban forestry department asks for more money to further develop their programs, it's easier to get it from the decision makers if there's an army of tree advocates demanding progress. You could say we're training people to be tree advocates more so than being tree pruners. It's a great investment in the overall health of a public urban forest.

v
 
Tom a local friend of mine started a stewardship program geared for fruit trees. It is pretty comprehensive. Participants pay a fee to take the courses, which is refunded after they teach others. I can put you in touch if you'd like to speak with her.
http://cityfruit.org/programs/mfts/
 
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