ISA TRAQ & CEU changes

[macrocarpa]

I just skimmed through Jobber...looks like I had 21 specific tree risk assessments last year. I think 2 of those jobs were for a city which were multiple day jobs. 3 so far this year with another scheduled tomorrow.

While there is always more to learn, I never felt the refreshers were great learning. Its good to hear somebody else's perspective on things....but they weren't really "allowed" to teach. Their job was to just run through the ISA provided slides and that's all there was time for. I wanted discussion: why did you say that tree is "probable" instead of "possible" or vice versa? I would have said the other, but I could be talked into your side, I just want to hear what you see how you made that decision. But that's not the way the class had been set up.

Going through TRAQ the first time was good for teaching the language and getting everybody to use a system. I felt like refreshers would have been good opportunities for experienced practitioners to bring their experiences, observations, and questions to the table for mutually beneficial discussion, not just being re-told the same thing in case you forgot. (having said that, there were some changes last time I renewed, so that part was helpful).

I'm hoping the full course isn't going to feel like retaking a 101 level class my senior year...

Out of those 21 tree risk assessments how many specifically wanted the traq form?

For example, what if a certified arborist isn’t traq qualified, but they still offer tree risk assessments and they take pictures and make a PDF document, noting defects, overall health, etc basically creating their own form. For better or worse it’s a very unregulated trade.

I remember when I was working for Davey there was a 52-year-old foreman that started there when he was 18 years old and he was not a certified arborist. I remember asking him “do you have to be a certified arborist to call yourself an arborist”, he told me “I’ve been an arborist for 34 years”. I think my question irritated him