Tuesday Speakers 2019

Biography

Founder member and President of the Ancient Tree Forum and Honorary Vice President of the International Tree Foundation. I was awarded an MBE in recognition of my work in conservation especially trees and fungi. I was awarded an honorary lectureship by Imperial College, University of London for my outstanding contribution as a technician to science and education. I was given the Arboricultural Association Annual Award for my services to arboriculture.

Recently Ted was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal by the Royal Forestry Society. He has been named one of the 100 Environmental Earth shakers of all time in the Guardian newspaper in 2006. He has worked for Natural England as Conservation Liaison Officer to the Crown Estates at Windsor and later became and remain their Conservation Consultant. Ted is also a regular writer, broadcaster and speaks regularly at international conferences on ancient trees, pollards, wood pasture, parkland and fungi.

Abstract

Can we draw any conclusions from natural pruning to help arboriculture? I have been looking at a range of situations above and below ground in which living or dead material is removed from trees by large animals such as elephants down to bacteria and other microorganisms. I will suggest that we look again at weather events such as ice storms, high winds or drought.

Biography

Mick is a consultant with a practical background in forestry and arboricultural contracting. He is an AA Registered Consultant and Chartered Arboriculturist, and co-principal of Symbiosis Consulting. As Chairman of the BSI B/213 Trees Committee, Mick oversaw and contributed to the revision of BS3998 and BS5837, and the drafting of BS8545. He has a long-standing association with Claus Mattheck, organising seminars and workshops both in the UK and Germany. Mick is a trustee of the Fund4Trees charity, chair of the Midlands Branch of the Arboricultural Association and was the recipient of the 2012 Annual Award for his continued service to arboriculture.

Biography

Dr. Stefania Gasperini, agronomist and arborist, is the owner of AR.ES. since 1996, an Italian company qualified in Urban Arboriculture for municipalities and private owners. Gasperini is specialized in tree risk and tree stability assessment and in management of veteran trees. She is a speaker at many conferences and workshops, board member of SIA (Società Italiana di Arboricoltura), 1st Vice-Chairwoman of EAC – European Arboriculture Council, board member of SAG Baumstatik e.V. and member of ISA – International Society of Arboriculture. She is ISA Certified Arborist and TRAQ Qualified (Tree Risk Assessment Qualification).

Abstract

Morphophysiology is the discipline that links a tree’s architecture with its biological functioning, with reference to its energetic, hormonal and structural aspects. The form of a tree is the expression of the dynamic relationship that binds each tree to the environment in which it grows. The form a tree acquires, however, is not simply a reaction to its environment, but also relies on the adherence to principles of tree architecture development. We will illustrate how these principles change in relation to different species and how they evolve following the life of each individual tree. The relationship that links the crown architecture to the organisation of the root system will be presented and finally it will be shown how it is possible to relate the architectural characteristics of a tree to its biological, physiological and pathological aspects.

Biography

Dr. Giovanni Morelli, agronomist and arborist, owner of Progetto Verde since 1994, is a consultant in urban arboriculture, specialized in tree risk and tree stability assessment and in management of veteran trees. He has written numerous articles and he is a lecturer in University. He has been a speaker at about 100 national and international conferences. He is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), of the Società Italiana di Arboricoltura (SIA), and of SAG Baumstatik e.V.. He is ISA Certified Arborist, ETT – European Tree Technician, Board Certified Master Arborist (ISA) and TRAQ Qualified (Tree Risk Assessment Qualification).

Abstract

Morphophysiology is the discipline that links a tree’s architecture with its biological functioning, with reference to its energetic, hormonal and structural aspects. The form of a tree is the expression of the dynamic relationship that binds each tree to the environment in which it grows. The form a tree acquires, however, is not simply a reaction to its environment, but also relies on the adherence to principles of tree architecture development. We will illustrate how these principles change in relation to different species and how they evolve following the life of each individual tree. The relationship that links the crown architecture to the organisation of the root system will be presented and finally it will be shown how it is possible to relate the architectural characteristics of a tree to its biological, physiological and pathological aspects.

Biography

Vikki Bengtsson is an ecologist and has worked professionally with nature conservation since 1992. Up until 2003, she worked in England and now works primarily in Sweden. Vikki has worked throughout her career with issues relating to practical management and restoration of ancient trees and trains arborists, landscape architects, site managers and planners in the care and management of ancient trees. She has also also project managed the European VETree and VETcert projects developing training and a certification system for veteran tree professionals.

Abstract

Not everyone subscribes to the idea of damaging young trees for nature conservation gain, and this technique is known as veteranisation. There are however many sites across Europe with few ancient trees and a large age gap between the existing old trees and their successors. Currently the only way we know for trees to develop habitat associated with ancient trees and the biodiversity they support is to wait. Veteranisation is nothing new and examples include pollarding which we have been doing for hundreds of years. Most of the inspiration for the techniques that have been used in recent years has come from observing natural processes. This presentation will describe why veteranisation is worth considering, experiences from the last 20 years, where it may be appropriate, some different techniques that may be tried and the challenges from a practical point of view. In addition some of the results from an international trial (Sweden, Norway and England) that was set up in 2012 with 20 sites and 980 oak trees, to evaluate the impact of veteranisation on a more scientific basis (Bengtsson et al, 2015, Hedin et al, 2018) will be presented.

Biography

Mr TSANG graduated with a MPhil degree in Biology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and obtained a Bachelor Degree in Arboriculture from Myerscough College. He has been working in the Greening, Landscape and Tree Management Section (GL TMS) of The Government of HKSAR for 7 years. He is experienced in research and development studies on various treerelated topics, in particular pest and disease management, and involves in formulating various guide lines in tree management and auditing tree risk assessment reports.

Abstract

Masonry walls were built in the early days in Hong Kong to create building platforms in the form of terraces on the steep hillside. Narrow seams and joints between the masonry blocks have provided a special habitat for the attachment and germination of seeds of aggressive tree species brought by animal carriers. The nearby water source and soil medium have allowed the trees to sustain and thrive. They are called stonewall trees (SWTs). Majority of the tree species growing on the masonry walls in Hong Kong is from the Ficus genus, particularly Ficus microcarpa.

Aggressive roots of a SWT could form a "net" on the surface of the masonry wall or penetrate into the wall through the seams and joints to gain support and maintain its stability. As a SWT grows, continuous increase in the tree mass aggravates the uncertainty on the tree stability. Some of the SWTs can reach a height and crown spread of 20m. At this size, the tree mass exerts considerable amount of dead load as well as lateral load when being blown in the wind to the masonry walls on which they attach. When disturbing moment outweighs restoring moment of a SWT, uprooting failure would occur. Uprooting fa ilure of SWTs in the past had caused damage to the masonry walls as well as severe injury to the public.

SWTs are regarded as a precious natural-cum-cultural heritage in Hong Kong due to their uniqueness and historic value. The public attaches great significance to the preservation of these SWTs. A pruning strategy is implemented in Hong Kong to preserve the trees in healthy conditions while maintaining their overall structural stability on the masonry walls. This paper discusses the pruning strategy for managing the SWTs with a view to striking a balance between conservation of the unique heritage and protecting public safety.

Biography

Jon Hartill has been a Climber since 1988 working primarily in Europe and Sweden. His Company Hartill träd-expert Ab based in Göteborg Sweden since 1995 has been focused on the protection and management of ancient and veteran trees.

Abstract

There are many reasons for crown reduction, increasing light penetration, ‘improving’ vistas, or simply to make trees smaller.Quite common, particularly with significant veteran trees, are the reasons of stability and wind load. Arborists tend to believe that crown reduction will in some way, improve stability and be beneficial for the tree, retrenching the canopy and creating a ‘safer’ structure. For about 8 years now we have been using Finite element modelling software, along with tomography to examine tree stability prior to pruning recommendations as part of our daily work. As climbers we are finding that our recommendations, increasingly differ from the majority of consultant reports and recommendations we are given as specifications. When we ask consultants for the justification for crown reduction and retrenchment specifications, it is normally a result of the perceived (sometimes measured) weakness from decay profiles. But they do not know the loads, imposed upon the structure or the geometric strength profile of the tree. In this talk, I would like to examine tree stability, drag induced wind loading, mechanosensing and adaptation , biomass scaling principles, and the trees’ physiological response to crown reduction pruning, in particular phloem loading, bulk flows of water and xylem/root dysfunction.

Biography

Reg Harris is the Director of Arboriculture at Urban Forestry (Bury St Edmunds) Ltd, which is an Arboricultural Association approved contracting company based in Suffolk. Reg has been an arborist since the age of 18, who now specialises in veteran tree work. He has worked at several of the most important sites in the UK for veteran and ancient trees, including Hatfield Forest, Sherwood Forest, Ashtead Common, Aspal Close and also several sites in Sweden.

Abstract

Veteran tree work is a developing side of modern arboriculture, with much of the practical work that has taken place at sites around the UK being experimental. In this paper I will discuss the retrenchment pruning work that I have been involved with at Hatfield Forest in Essex, where I have been working on the ancient trees as an arboricultural contractor since the early 2000’s. Now with nearly two decades of observing the outcomes of this type of work I have started to question its effectiveness, and whether we should consider using alternative pruning methods to manage our lapsed pollards.

Biography

Dr. Gilman was professor at University of Florida and wrote “Illustrated guide to pruning” in its third edition. He received Authors Citation Award in 1999, Educators Award in 2003, research award in 2007, and the Award of Merit (ISAs highest award) in 2016 from the International Society of Arboriculture. He published more than 120 peer reviewed articles on roots, planting, and pruning trees in 35 years in academia and industry. Ed has conducted more than 800 presentations to professional groups throughout his career and now conducts training around the world on arboriculture related issues.

Abstract

Pruning plays a major role in a tree’s longevity.  Pruning the correct live branches can have a dramatic impact on how trees respond to gravity, wind, and storms. Formative pruning, designed to reduce growth rate and weight on co-dominant stems, is the most effective method of minimizing damage from increasingly harsh weather conditions. It should start when trees are planted! We’ll show you why and how to make your case to the customer. I guarantee that you will be able to step outside immediately after this session and begin pruning in a more sustainable manner.

Biography

Following an apprenticeship in the forestry industry and 2 years as an arborist, in 1978 Tony started at The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew on the 3-year Diploma course, graduating in 1981.

In 2001 he became the Head of the Arboretum and Horticultural Services, responsible for the management and curation of over 14,000 trees in the collections and since 2014 curates and manages the hardy herbaceous collections as well.

He has participated and led several plant collecting expeditions to Chile and the Far East of Asia and has co-authored 2 books on his travels including: “Plants form the Edge of the World” and “Wilson’s China: A Century On”.

In 2004 he completed the revision of the “Pruning of Trees Shrubs and Conifers” with Timber Press and more recently written “Essential Pruning Techniques<” & the Haynes workshop manual of Trees with Kenton Rogers.

He has featured in several television programmes about trees and represents Kew on the RHS woody plant committee and awards committee, the International Dendrology Society, Action Oak and is a trustee of the Yorkshire Arboretum, Chelsea Physic Garden and TROBI, (Tree Register of the British Isles). He lectures internationally.

In 2009 he was awarded the Associate of Honour by the RHS for distinguished service to horticulture and Honorary Lifetime fellow of the Arboricultural Association in 2015 and in 2019 the Victoria Medal of Honour from the RHS.

Abstract

To follow…

Biography

Henry Kuppen is managing director of Terra Nostra, consultancy and knowledge centre for trees and soil in The Netherlands and has more than 30 years of experience in the tree-care sector. Henry is an innovator and develops solutions for (practical) management and policy related issues for trees in an urban environment. Besides being an owner of a pleached tree nursery he is interested in historical plantings of shaped and pleached trees.

Abstract

Pleached trees have been part of the Dutch landscape for hundreds of years. Historically they were planted near important places to symbolize the power of the community. Still a lot of them remain in village squares. For example a lot of the mature Tilia in the Netherlands were planted and maintained as pleached, specific shape formed trees.

Pleached trees were also used in a more practical manner by planting them in front of farms where the trees protect the building against sunlight and heavy winds. The removed branches often had a practical purpose.

Nowadays pleached trees are often used in small gardens or narrow spaces near buildings in the city, when there is not much space for a tree to grow. This specific application makes pleached trees very useful in the ever decreasing spaces in the urban environment.

Growing and creating pleached trees is based on historical knowledge and experience by formal gardeners from estates. It takes years and a lot of patience to create balanced pleached trees with an evenly developed branch structure. Nurseries react to the demand from the market by producing more pleached trees, but the result is that often not enough time has been invested/taken to create a balanced tree and growth is unequally divided.

Maintenance of these trees is labor-intensive and requires a specialized niche of pruning methodologies. Playing with growth rules and natural laws gives great opportunities to create unique trees.

Application of pleached trees is a sensible consideration when success in design and maintenance is the goal.

Biography

Jaroslav finished his study of Forestry Faculty at Mendel University, Brno (CZ) in 1991 and since that time started to work as an arborist. He helped to establish one of first arboricultural companies in the Czech Republic (Eden, Ltd.), the national Arborist Association, chapter of ISA – Czech Republic and certification centre of EAC. He was in charge in organising development of Arboricultural standards (12 volumes) in the Czech Republic. At the moment works as:

• CEO of company SAFE TREES, Ltd.
• Vice-president of NGO Arboricultural Academy.

Abstract

Even if tree pruning is one of basic interventions into trees and represents the fundamental knowledge and experience of arborists, basic technologies of tree pruning differ among European countries. In 2017 the European Arboricultural Council (EAC) decided to set up a working group whose main purpose was to analyse the good practices of individual member countries within the EU and to process complex material defining proven working practices in the field of tree pruning of ornamental trees. After the first year of the working group's activity, the first draft of the text of the standard, containing three main elaborated areas, was presented. Text has been finalized on the basis of experience from 12 European countries whose representatives joined the project and now is open for discussion. The aim of the project is to create a free material that will provide qualified arborists (especially certified under EAC programs -European Tree Worker and European Tree Technician) with an overview of good working techniques, highlighting the specifics recognized in each EU country.

Biography

Vaibhav has an overall experience of eight years in the field of environmental horticulture, arboriculture & landscape. He holds a Masters’ degree in Agriculture & Environmental Science from Newcastle University, UK and a Bachelors’ degree in Horticulture from Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli (Konkan Agriculture University). He is India’s first ISA Certified Arborist and has an ambition to pioneer the arboriculture industry in India.

He has been invited as a ‘Speaker’ to various National conferences/seminars on urban tree management in various parts of India and is always encouraging people in his talks, including younger generations, to take up arboriculture as their choice of career.

Currently he runs ‘Treecotech’ in Mumbai for providing arboriculture services in India.

Abstract

Horticulture, Floriculture and Landscaping have existed in India since the dawn of recorded history and have developed rapidly owing to the innovations in technology, education, awareness and high demand in the market. On the other hand, Arboriculture is yet to see daylight in India but its importance in current urban development is increasing day-by-day. It is now imperative that a market for arboriculture is created in India as well, by increasing awareness about the subject and eventually encouraging local arborists and allied experts to provide services at a par with International standards.

With rapid urbanisation and several mega infrastructure projects planned across India, there will soon be an increase in the need for proper management of trees and green spaces through professionally certified or qualified arboricultural experts in India. Channelling project planners, engineers, architects and arboriculture experts together for all types of projects will be a challenge in order to sustainably manage our trees for future generations.

Although development is key towards progress of all cities and indeed countries, too often trees and green spaces are the first victims to be severely impacted by this classic approach to development. Sadly there is a lack of awareness on the benefits that trees and green spaces provide to city areas in particular. This is made even worse by a complete absence of an organised arboriculture industry or professional body/experts, and a serious challenge lies ahead in disseminating correct technical information and much needed guidance towards the overall protection and management of trees and green spaces.