You are viewing our old website.
Please visit our new site at www.goodwin-arborist.com
Arboriculture
Arboriculture is the professional management and care of landscape trees for amenity and public safety. Qualified arboriculturists, or arborists for short, base their management on current scientific research and best practice. Arboricultural contractors, or 'tree surgeons', perform tree work. Consultants provide independent expert advisory services. Various levels of competancy and qualifications exist. As consultant arborists we are qualified, trained and experienced to properly inspect and report on the condition of important trees and provide informed solutions for their management.
Two key developments in the evolution of modern arboricultural practice include Dr. Alex Shigo's tree biology studies and Professor Claus Mattheck's work on tree biomechanics.
Shigo's work on tree biology and pathology has enabled us to choose practices which work in harmony with tree systems and structures. We know more and more now about how trees grow, how they respond to injury and how they die. For example, this enables us to understand how and when to prune trees depending upon age and vitality and the correct positions for branch removal cuts.
Mattheck's work is facilitating a science-based method of assessing decay and other structural defects in trees. This is allowing us to retain valuable, old amenity trees that would previously have been condemned; while truly hazardous trees can be identified and promptly dealt with.
The Arboricultural Association is a leading professional organisation for arboriculture. If you are interested in joining or finding out about the arboricultural association - get in touch with the Irish Branch of the Arboricultural Association by contacting us at goodwin-arborist or contact the head office in the UK via the website of the Arboricultural Association. Their website also contains useful guides on many issues including qualifications, tree work, etc. Other sites on our News & links page contain information on arboriculture.