A Productivity Timing System for Tree Climbing Training

Abstract

The City of Milwaukee Forestry Division manages more than 200,000 street trees and 120 mi (193 km) of landscaped boulevards. Tree pruning is a major operation that accounts for the pruning of more than 58,000 trees per year, with a majority of such work done by rope and saddle. Our program for current and newly hired employees consists of intense training during a 6-month probationary period. The cornerstone of this training program is based on building climbing proficiency and demonstrating the ability to prune a predetermined number of trees per day within certain size classes. To refine our climbing training program, we developed a unique productivity timing system utilizing a pruning study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1992. Over 50% of our current urban forestry specialists (arborists) have been trained under this timing system. A detailed account of the evolution of our system of tree climbing training and productivity assessment will be presented and should be applicable to other urban forestry programs around the world.