Unique trees and a unorthodox sales approach

Stephen Moore said:
Yeah I do refuse some jobs that don't make sense to me. In the last 4 years our area has been hit but several micro bursts that caused terrible damage to very localized areas mostly confined to waterfront properties. The lake is roughly 2 kilometers wide and 90 km long and can be subject to intense summer lightning storms. We have seen homes crushed, roofs blown off and swathes of trees over the roads and power lines. One guys hot tub was raised 15' in the air by a root ball. I think people are having knee jerk reactions about the possibility of these large specimens breaking off and killing them. So in truth I have always maintained that ultimately it is their tree and they have a right to protect their families. But you are so right... sometimes this business can make me feel like the guy that wears the hood and pulls the lever. Not my favorite part of the job.
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Got ya, It's close to the same here.. only more view/bluff work, surrounded by water and mountains the views can be stunning. I condemned a freakin TALL western hemlock, on the head of a bluff, and literally just a few feet from the house. Not a huge tree but a BIG one. That's the issue here, people want to build right up to the extreme to maximize every last drop out of every thing! I can see people who buy these houses simply not having a clue, sometimes the people who build them too! However when they hire the pro and they advise against it, well its their ass.. The shame is there are pro's who prostitute their credentials out to get the landowner what they want..
Consulting on the last tree of these folks property tomorrow. Large Scotts pine, and the last big tree within a few stones throw. They want it out because they paid for a new roof, and want to protect from the needles. Also mentioned pine cones in the grass.. BUUTT then they thought about solar, so the tree just has to go! So I will meet with them, tell them what I think, offer to prune it, and if they still want it gone I'll walk. These trees (original/old growth) are not coming back, it's a different kind of tree and once they are gone its done. Seriously, how many 400-800+ year old trees are in developed lands in Europe? Sure a few here or there, perhaps in a old farm field, church yard, or the such...
 
Yes exactly my point! Old trees with history! And somewhat rare unique specimens due to their life cycle. People don't get how a tree that will take many human life spans to mature can be destroyed in a matter of hours or even minutes. So to stay on point with the original post I suggest an unorthodox sales approach may be to try to not get the job? talk some sense into people before they pull the trigger? And the trees in these examples are very unique, unicorn trees, the last of a kind in some cases. I was saddened when the pine beetle ravaged our area. Some days you could see clouds of them taking flight from an old (now dead ) Ponderosa Pine. Many were landmark trees, 4 and 5 feet at the butt with branches only a gorilla could lift, I fear all the big ones in this area will be gone in my time.
 
Oh and yes real estate companies will phone and ask that we kill huge trees for a lake view to increase a properties value! We usually are too booked, maybe give the competition a call? Or the classic.. I would like to top my gigantic single dominant leader Douglas Fir because an arborist friend told me it would be safer? That one always gets my hackles up! Nice friend?
 
JD3000 said:
Quite a few, oldest trees in europe are usually old pollards and coppices. Totally a different animal for us in hardwood regions compared to the ancient western conifers.
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Yes, yes.. but how many? Around these parts in the PNW we have less than 1% of our old growth left. That’s in the past 100-150 years!
 
Funny you mention the difference, it is real and effects the techniques guys get to practice. For instance in the Eastern Hardwood regions you have more broad trees that srt and drt can be enjoyed in. Here in the Southern interior of BC we mostly have conifers with aspen and cottonwoods. The broad trees are generally imported. Some do very well here like the English Walnut and Butternut. Oak trees grow well too. But obviously in single dominant trees there’s not much need for top roping. Most of the work is strip the branches, top and section. I wish we had more broad trees because it’s fun to swing around and be creative.
 
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