I can trace back to the exact moment when we decided to hire an arborist.
About 10 years ago, I was talking on the phone while staring aimlessly out the front window when four very large fir trees came down together in a clump across the yard. It was a shocking sight to watch, as they slowly dropped in unison, almost gracefully, across the yard.
My brother nicely offered to help. As he began cutting one of the trees, with some weight removed, the clump suddenly rushed up by his face, landing neatly back upright in its original location.
It nearly decapitated him.
That was the day I decided I would be hiring a professional going forward.
When we purchased our home 20 years ago, it had been built on a new lot freshly carved out of a large parcel of wooded land. Just two years old, the lot was raw and still bore the markings of recent construction.
Many trees had been recently felled, but a handful had been left sprinkled throughout the lot, relatively close to the house.
We’ve spent years trying to tame the lot, carefully planting shrubs and trees to replace the ones we’ve lost due to weather events or through proactive removal.
Before we hired an arborist, we felt helpless and anxious with each major storm. High winds, rain and heavy snows kept us on edge.
Hiring an arborist was done in error really. After the trees came down, I was just looking for someone to simply cut and remove trees. But I was fortunate enough to have called an arborist.
In hiring an arborist, I not only got someone who could fell a tree like a neurosurgeon, but who also could advise on the overall health and stability of the remaining trees, what variety of tree might be good for planting in certain spots, pruning and a bit of advice on the health of an apple tree we had grown concerned over.
I recently chatted with Kyle Rosenberg, a Maine-licensed and International Society of Arboriculture-certified arborist and owner of Maine based company Forest To Shore. He was nice enough to provide these observations.
What services can an arborist provide?
Properly trained arborists can offer tree care, felling and removal, as well as risk assessment. They can also perform shrub pruning, insect management (mosquito and tick control, brown tail moth, and other pests), soil testing, as well as invasive and noxious plant management, to name a few.
When is the best time to call an arborist?
Once a new home on a wooded lot is complete, it would make sense to hire an arborist to come do a site evaluation.
“Given that there was excavation and other development that took place within that forested stand means there could be root damage that would predispose a tree to falling over because the roots that may have helped hold it up have been severed or crushed by heavy equipment,” he said.
For a home on a more mature lot, spring is a great time to have an arborist over for an assessment.
“The leaves are still off the trees so the structure is very easy to observe from the ground for any deciduous trees. With most of the snow gone, it’s also easy to recognize any plate lifting or root heaving on any of the conifers because the soil is still unsettled,” he said.
Are there types of trees that tend to come down more in Maine?
Unlike deciduous trees that have no leaves on them in between seasons, evergreens are more susceptible to toppling over.
“With the weather patterns we’ve been seeing the past couple of years, it would be evergreens. With heavy rains followed by high wind events, evergreens of any variety (balsam fir, spruce or pine) with full canopies and loose, saturated soil make them easy to push over by the wind,” he said.
Can wood chips from downed trees be used by a homeowner?
“Yes. They can be left to decompose for a season or two and, once broken down, used in a garden in lieu of buying mulch and they can also be used to delineate foot paths,” he said.
Can an arborist offer advice on replanting trees?
“Yes. Any arborist should be able to offer a variety of species for any trees that were lost or may be required to be removed,” he said.
What should I look for in an arborist?
“A state of Maine license, insurance and ideally, one who is also certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. An arborist certified by the ISA has a higher level of training and expertise,” he said.
Hiring an arborist is obviously not an absolute guarantee against an errant tree coming down.
But I know that visits with ours have left us with a much richer understanding of our lot, helped us with replanting for what we’ve lost and eased some of the anxiety wrought by Mother Nature.
Database of licensed Maine arborists
International Society of Arborists
