Don’t be alarmed if you saw large bands of mysterious tree climbers clustering in Esther Short Park on Monday.
Arborists from the International Society of Arboriculture are in town for their annual conference. They spent Monday morning displaying climbing methods on two trees in Esther Short Park that are set to be cut down in the next few weeks.
“They’re explaining techniques that are new for some of us,” said Brian French, the conference’s climbing track chairman. “There’s a variety of different services that arborists provide. Like a doctor has to learn about biology or pathogens, we have to learn about a similar array of things about the health of our forests.”
The group also has tree-climbing competitions, and the winners of the Pacific Northwest conference competition will go on to the International Tree Climbing finals later this year in Florida, he said.
‘Well-managed park’
Members attending the conference include forest managers, landscape architects, tree risk assessors and those involved in community forestry. The conference will continue through Wednesday with several seminars at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.
French, who’s a tree risk assessor and certified arborist at Arboriculture International Inc. in Portland, said he appreciates the trees and tree management in Esther Short Park.
“I think the park’s pretty impressive as far as the trees go,” French said. “Especially the size of the sequoias. This is a well-managed park.”
The two trees that are set to come down aren’t healthy, he said, but he added that in general old trees provide a much larger benefit to the community and it’s important to preserve them when possible.
“Older trees give us so much more, in terms of oxygen, stormwater and clean water services,” French said.
