Years back I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with a date and stumbled upon an Arborist competition happening. I knew of the word Arborist but was ignoran

Years back I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with a date and stumbled upon an Arborist competition happening. I knew of the word Arborist but was ignorant of what that entailed and wound up learning a lot. The competition had an Arborist get their climbing line strung up and anchored, climb the tree to touch 5 flags dispersed around the tree within a set time limit. The flagged branches had bells tied to them so they had to be nimble as well as fast. Touching a flag earned them points and ringing a bell cost them points. Of course one flag was located far out on a thin branch making it very difficult to reach without ringing the bell. They also had to do no damage to the tree in the process. It was very interesting and I was talking to one of the competitors who explained their profession and how they travel around climbing trees for a variety of reasons from forestry and conservation to basic tree pruning. They are also required to be certified and that is handeled by the International Society of Arboriculture (I.S.A.) He also mentioned "target pruning" which is a term I was unaware of so I learned something. It certainly seems like an interesting and fun profession. I need to hire one to check out my big oak that is in need of a trim.