Charles McCorkell, Ireland Branch Chair
Delegates in Dublin’s National Botanic Gardens putting the CAVAT system into practice.
Chris Neilan presenting ‘CAVAT in Practice’ to delegates in Dublin.
For our final event of 2023, the branch welcomed Chris Neilan to Dublin and Belfast to present ‘CAVAT in Practice’, a training day on the tree valuation system.
This event has been in the pipeline since 2020, and it really couldn’t have come at a better time as it took place just seven months after the CAVAT Group launched the updated system and illustrated guide for practitioners.
The event was very well attended over the two days. Between both cities, over 30 delegates from different sectors of the industry joined us. The training course was split into two parts. In the first half, Chris discussed the history of tree valuation, which led nicely into a detailed introduction to CAVAT and how it is used, providing delegates with excellent examples of when the system has been used in practice.
Following the presentations, a practical session was carried out on several trees. This gave the delegates a good opportunity to put into practice what they had learned and to discuss the different elements of the system with each other and Chris. The day finished off nicely back in the classroom, where Chris went through inputting field data into the CAVAT spreadsheets and answered delegates’ queries.
Following these events, the branch has been in discussions with members of the CAVAT Group to create an Irish version of the system. This is something we are aiming to have in place later this year.
On behalf of the Ireland Branch, I would like to thank Chris for coming over and presenting to us and our members and for liaising with the CAVAT Group over creating an Irish version of the system.
This article was taken from Issue 204 Spring 2024 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.