Continuing education and training are crucial to keeping our staff safe and working in accordance with accepted best practices for the arboricultural industry. Austin Tree Experts participates in a number of educational and professional development programs.
ISA Certification
The International Society of Arboriculture is the certifying organization for our industry. Individuals can achieve certification as both (among others) Tree Worker and Arborist, as well as Board Certified Master Arborist. Tree Workers must demonstrate proficiency and safety in the production side of arboriculture. Certified Arborists must possess a wide range of knowledge related to health, pruning, and best practices in the care of trees. Austin Tree Experts aggressively encourages all employees to seek and maintain the highest level of certification for which they are qualified. We require our pruning crew foremen to acquire tree worker certification. All managing arborists are certified. Maintaining certification requires ongoing education. Austin Tree Experts pays for all certification related expenses for our employees.
ISA Sponsored Conferences and Trainings
The Texas chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture hosts an annual multi-day conference every fall. They also offer additional trainings throughout the year. Our certified arborists and tree workers attend these events to stay on top of the latest in arboricultural research and proper pruning and climbing techniques. In addition, many of our employees volunteer with ISA in a variety of capacities to help encourage quality and professionalism throughout our industry. Members of our pruning crews compete in the annual Texas Tree Climbing Competition.
Internal Training
One or more of our senior arborists leads weekly training sessions for the other arborists and technicians. These sessions cover a variety of seasonally appropriate topics, including pest and disease diagnosis, plant health care, and compliance with state laws and regulations related to pesticide application. These sessions also allow our employees to share with each other what they've noticed in the field and get feedback from each other.
Quality Control Arborist
Austin Tree Experts has a full time quality control arborist who follows up on all pruning work to make sure that it was performed correctly. This allows us to address systematically any problems or shortcomings that we notice and schedule one-on-one training with individual climbers or crews who may need work in a particular area.
Outside Experts
We will occasionally bring in outside experts to supplement our internal expertise. Jose Mercado is a bilingual ISA Certified Arborist / Certified Tree Worker who has been in the tree care industry for over 20 years. We bring in Jose periodically from California for private classes.
