Posted by Jerome Scott on March 4, 2008, 8:35 am, in reply to "Illinois Tree Licensing Act Discussion"
72.135.217.208
We here at the Chicago Park District already require that tree contract work be done by a Certified Arborist. (that is, the work has to be done under the “supervision” of a CA) Clients, be they municipalities corporations or citizens, can require that just as much as they require a license. The difference is that without this law no one will be breaking the law by presenting themselves as a “tree expert” even if they are a hack. This is the sort of law that applies to smaller operators since larger operators already generally have the required certification.
I see one drawback from this law as it is written:
I received a forestry degree in 1997 and, following a forest inventory stint with the US forest Service, took a tree trimmer job in 2004 with a Chicago suburb. Up until then I had almost ZERO experience working with trees that did not leave the tree exactly as I had found it (except for the scribes or inventory tags). In 2006 I became a Certified Arborist, at about the time that I might have been qualified to present myself to a tree owner as a “tree expert.” As I read this law, for $50 I could have been a licensed “tree expert” with my forestry degree in 1997 even if I had no pruning experience.
Jerome Scott
District Forester
Chicago Park District
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