Environmental Awareness

Being conscious of the impact we have on everything we do as tree custodians is one of the fundamental building blocks of our business model. We constantly assess and evaluate what we are doing, how we are doing it and the effect it is having directly and indirectly on the community. We adjust our action steps and policies to fit the bigger picture, not the other way around.

We look at the urban forest for what it is and where it is. We distinguish the urban forest from that of the more primordial (and neighboring) natural forests with which we tend to identify more readily. This distinction becomes ever more critical as we begin to observe and care for the trees of our cities.

Whether we are looking to plant, remove or care for a tree the first order of business is in figuring out what type of tree it is and what immediate environment that tree resides in. Almost without exception the urban forest will provide a somewhat hostile environment for its guest trees. This is typically an opposite exception for the natural forest, where trees have evolved in the climate, soil and altitude in which they currently reside and are in fact in symbiosis with that environment.

The short version: The interface of trees and urban settings is complex and not to be taken lightly or to be confused with that of the natural forest. An old tree in a city is a much different story than an old tree in a forest and the ramifications from decisions made for both play out much differently in reality.

We have begun to manage some of our natural forests intelligently and resourcefully, through harvesting and thinning, and we hope to see this come to pass in our urban forests as well.