Climbing News

We continue our interview series with a discussion with Sara, who provides a woman's perspective on the tree climbing industry.

Bartlett:
So tell us who you are and how long you have been in the tree climbing industry:

Sara:

My name is Sara and I've been a tree trimmer officially since March of 2017. I started on the (IBEW Local 17) property in Nov, 2016.

Bartlett:
What do you like most about being in the tree industry?

Sara:'

I love being outside. I like the freedom and that everything is a challenge. It's something you can't study for. You have to go out and do it. It's always working your brain; it's not just manual labor or brute force.

I like that trees are all over the world and the service we provide is something that's always going to be needed.

How many times have you wanted to start a job, but the day before it rains? Or what about those times when the frost just started leaving the ground and every single yard you try to work in is a sinkhole? Or lastly, the dread of working in the yard with the perfect landscaping that you don't dare make one divot in the lawn? These are all situations that we, as tree company owners and employees, find ourselves in day in and day out! One of the best investments you can make when it comes to these problems is a bunch of Alturna Mats!

We decided to have a little bit of fun with this next blog post by going through the top 5 questions that homeowners ask us! I'm sure you've been asked ALL of these questions many times when on the job, on the phone, or maybe even at the grocery store with your work shirt on! We are going to try to answer these top questions that homeowners ask us as professionally and knowledgeably as possible. Hopefully, you can take our answers and use them the next time these questions are posed to you.

Last month we told you about the volunteer project we helped out with on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. This month we want to give you a breakdown of some of the cool tricks and techniques we used to get some of these big logs out of the canals and onto shore! We talked with Jake Carufel who used to work for Bartlett Arborist Supply, but now runs his own company, Canopy Climber Tree Care, out of Port Huron, Michigan. Jake is a Certified Arborist, as well as the 2016 Michigan Tree Climbing Champion, so it's always fun to catch up and see what types of cool climbing tricks that he and other climbers are employing to get the job done! Jake wrote the following account that details what he used to suspend himself over the water and make the cuts without getting wet.

When it comes to being a tree climber, one of the best things you can ask for is a good groundie who is capable of keeping up with the brush, making sure that most everything is done when you get out of the tree, and, most importantly, great at running ropes! There is nothing better than taking the top of a tree and watching and ' more importantly ' feeling the top come slowly and steadily to a stop before touching the ground. That is what a good groundie is capable of. It makes your day way less stressful and go more smoothly. It also makes it possible to talk to your significant other when you get home at night instead of losing your voice halfway through the day from screaming at someone on the ground or from screaming in pain from busting your ribs on the spar as you get jerked around 50' off the ground!

So we did an interview with some climbers that we are friends with a couple weeks ago. We pretty much just asked them some basic questions to see how they felt about the industry, climbing gear, any tree climbing tips they may have, and what keeps them going every single day! Our first interview is with Dan Thornton, who, if any of you have been to MTCC (Michigan Tree Climbing Championships) you've probably met him or talked to him behind the tape of some of the events or threw a disc around after the comp in the parking lot. Dan has always been willing to come help out with volunteer projects and is a great worker that is starting to make a name for himself in the industry. We were super happy to meet up with him and get his thoughts on what he sees going on in the tree industry! So here we go!

Before Bartlett Arborist Supply moved to the country roads of Marlette Michigan, over 100 years ago the company started in a small home in Detroit ' Michigan's Motor City. But there's more to Detroit than just cars, abandoned buildings, and the current uprise of the city center.
Belle Isle is a beautiful 982 acre island rich in nature, history, and community. You cross over the Detroit River by bridge, leaving the cement jungle and high rise buildings behind to find yourself traveling down a road that will bring you to beaches, boats, historic buildings, parks, even an aquarium, and an astounding Conservatory holding everything from 40 ft tall tropical plants, delicate cactuses, and a fern garden, to rare flowering plants and fruit trees.

One of the most interesting things about tree work is the way that we all tend to learn the trade. We learn from those around us, and in many companies this is all the training we get. A great term I heard in the past is that we are all 'Work Isolated,' meaning that we might all essentially be doing the same thing, but we may be doing it completely different because we never really see the way that other companies are doing it. This was very true before the rise of the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Now we have the ability to see what someone else is doing on the other side of the globe in a matter of minutes! So let me tell you a story from my past from right about the time that the tree industry was discovering Facebook!