Hi Casey, thanks so much for speaking with me today. How is it going out there, or should I say, up there?
Pretty darn good, considering the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is usually the doldrums for tree guys, but my phone is still ringing so I must be doing something right!
This may have something to do with the draconian chainsaw restrictions we have here in southern Oregon during “fire season” as we are pretty much on hold for 4+ months or so, and there is only so much you can do with an electric chainsaw. Who wants to work when it’s 110 degrees outside anyway, right?
True confession is good for the soul, I loathe winter as I get older. But maybe that’s just my inner snowflake coming out.
Casey, you are now in your 42nd year of business. What is it like for you to spend so much time outside? What do you notice and enjoy on a daily basis?
I would say the progression of the year, or in reality, the “day” of a tree’s life. Everything we do in a day, a tree takes a year to accomplish! We wake up in the morning, and get dressed for work, and that would be sometime in the spring for a tree. We actually go to work, and take a lunch break (unless you are self-employed, in which case you often don’t have the time to do lunch). That would be summer or the growing season for a tree. Next is the commute home, and yep, that is late summer for the trees. We get home after a long day’s work, and relax, it is our daily autumn. Then, we disrobe for the night while making plans for the following day, and that is wintertime for a tree. This is a great example of why knowing how a tree spends its day (a year to you and me) lends to timing certain scopes of work to be performed whether it be pruning, fortifying soils, planting or replanting, and so on.
I look forward to spring the most as it lets me know that long days are ahead, and outdoor activities are just more fun when the sun is up…
Casey, you’ve said that the hardest part of your job is not actually climbing trees, but having the time to keep everyone scheduled.
As you know, I am and prefer to be a small business. I have a few associate subcontractor tree guys for help on bigger jobs, but I don’t have employees, and that keeps the gray hairs from “herding kittens” to a minimum. The “crackerjacks” I do work with have mad skills, and I do not have to tell them how to do their job. I love to train new guys, I just don’t want to do it on someone else’s (the clients) dime.
There is NO middle ground when it comes to operating a tree care outfit. You either stay small, get huge, or find out the hard way. Labor, and the cost to insure labor, is stupid expensive, as well as the operating costs for everything else, so I like to keep it simple. I am the guy making the recommendations, providing the numbers and logistics and masterminding the work to be done, so I should be the one doing it.
And the best thing about doing it myself? If I screw it up I can’t blame it on anyone else, so I am doing things on the safe side just to save face! If you want it done in a hurry, I will always say you can have it done right, fast, or cheap. Pick one…
Casey, you have been a regular contributor to LocalsGuide with a monthly column. What have been some of your favorite columns and most memorable moments of the past year?
I hope to write a book geared to the homeowner (tree owner) and would probably include most of the past material in my articles in the LocalsGuide to do this.There isn’t really a good simple guide for a homeowner regarding trees and tree work that I can think of and imagine it would be well received.
One of my most memorable moments of this past year would be the sad but necessary removal of a GIANT Monterey cypress in town that imploded with last winter’s wet snotty snow load. About 8 man days were spent climbing in that tree and with a very fragile and valuable target underneath. With a ZERO “drop zone,” every part of that tree had to come down on the end of a rope! Not only did it require almost 2 days just to get the broken limbs/spars down, the tree was wider than it was tall, so the rigging was technically tedious with many dally points or “masts” needed to lower everything.
To compound the whole process the poor thing had been previously “topped” many years prior, and the main bulk of the upper support scaffolding of big wood had decayed to the point of being scary! I had to basically tie it together to distribute the loading so it wouldn’t puke with the “shock” of weight falling into the rigging. NEVER LET ANYONE TOP YOUR TREE! I don’t know if I will ever get the opportunity to do one of those again and am not sure I want to but it was a challenge and it went off without a hitch.
Would you say you’re kinda famous around these parts now?
Famous? How about well-known, that seems a little more fitting. I don’t mince words much (at all), and definitely have my opinions about tree care, so people tend to remember my “isims.”
Casey, in a side conversation with me you joked about the need for having TREE POLICE, and you talked about how some crimes against nature can exist without repercussion. Please share some of your opinions here.
Oh if I could be the Tree Police for just a day, somebody would be doing some hard time in the gulag! What the hell is 30 feet of clearance for a powerline about, anyway? On a tree that IF it survives (it probably won’t make it through the inevitable sunscald that will happen), will take quite a few years to be in “violation” of a right of way, when in the end, there was only one more cut to make, right about one inch above the ground! I will say this again, take the damn thing down instead of stripping the poor tree of its dignity and letting it starve to death on the side of the road in the middle of TREE CITY, U.S.A. Whoever mandates this should be banned from ever enjoying the benefits of shade and oxygen until they replace what they had butchered in the first place. A big boulder would look better than the hack job left on so many sites!
There, I feel better now…
Over the course of your time working here in Southern Oregon, what are you seeing change the most with trees and the environment due to climate change?
I saw trees last year fry on the southwest side that had been just fine for the last half of the century, and this year was no better. Whatever is between us and the sun is different, and it ain’t good. I am not sure of the cause or cure just yet but if past performance is indicative of future results, we had better get on the ball.
Get those soil temps down! Consider the climate of whatever you plant may not be the same conditions of where your plant evolved in its native range, mimic that native condition, and success is right around the corner. Ignore that, and you will be making part of my truck payments… Consider plantings that incorporate multiple trees (think forest), together they will help each other out, reducing stress, soil temp, exposure and so on.
Pay particular attention to the southwest exposure on the stem of thin-skinned trees young or old. Until the canopy can cast a protective sufficient shadow, it will probably fry.
Casey, the topic of water is a very important topic here in Southern Oregon. What is your perspective?
Storing water, especially if you are reliant on a T.I.D. type of summer irrigation regime, should be foremost in your mind. A tank or pool storage may afford you the opportunity to provide the minimum water needs of a tree or trees that have been historically supplemented during our hot and dry summers. Is the cost of doing so going to outweigh the cost of removal, not to mention substantial decreases to intrinsic property values if the trees succumb to drought stress, strain, and death?
What challenges are trees facing as we move into the future and how do we address these challenges?
The more you poke at something, the more likely you are to get bit. When we see the emerald ash borer move across the entire country in a few years destroying millions of trees in its path, we must change course and hope for the best. Pathogens start working on the weak until they run out of food, then the game changes and they start to morph in an effort to take on more hardy targets. Keeping the signature of stress to a minimum is probably the single best thing we can do to keep pathogens in check. There is a new beetle and symbiotic fungus in northern California affecting (killing) the native white oaks that has reared its ugly head in the last few years. What this means for our native white oaks here in the valley is anyone’s guess, so time will tell.
It would be best to take a preemptive strike and enhance the root zone now before the tree is exposed to these new pathogens. It is a relatively inexpensive measure, usually just mulch and supplemental irrigation as needed.
What is the best course of action for tree protection and fire protection?
I think concerns regarding fires are foremost on everyone’s mind, especially here in southern Oregon.
The Almeda fire was more a product of a freak South wind than anything else as far as I can reason. Ashland usually has prevailing summer winds out of the Northwest. That would be the direction I would expect it from if I lived in an area where the fuel load was a concern. I don’t have any formal education regarding fire science but I do know that the only thing that runs uphill faster than down is fire. If the wind is blowing 40 and gusting to 55 like it was that day, ANYTHING directly downwind of a raging fire that can burn, probably will. If it were me, I would have sprinklers on the roof, misters under the eaves, keep my gutters clear, insure the hell out of everything and have a way out and down on foot, in the dark, planned out. We choose to live in a forest for a reason. Consult your local fire dept. on guidelines for the best way to protect your structure. Keeping volatile ground fuels, ladder fuels, and wood fences away from exterior house walls will go a long way to help reduce the opportunity for disaster.
How much water do trees require and how do you make a plan to meet water needs as you plant more trees?
That will depend on the type of tree, soil composition, annual rainfall, exposure and type and amount of mulch on the rootzone. A willow and a madrone are two completely different systems that utilize water in the same way, just different amounts and different timing throughout their life for example, but safe to say when they are first planted, both will need to be kept moist. As a rule, when the tree gets bigger, remember that half the tree is underground. So we should consider that as the tree gets bigger, the root system gets bigger, and that those roots anchor, ABSORB, store, transport, and breathe, the bigger the system the more resources it must have to thrive. Soggy almost never, bone dry almost never, and somewhere in between, almost always!
With the introduction of water, you MUST consider adequate drainage. All the water in the world is of no use if it has nowhere to go.
Casey, can you give us an overview of the services you are currently offering with your tree care business?
Everything from dormant fruit trees, delicate formal pruning, to hazardous hairball removals, I can pretty much do it all. I like to keep pruning to a “less is more” ideal, overpruning is one of the worst things you can do to ANY tree.
Root zone enhancement in the form of mulching, introduction of beneficial fungi, soil fluffing of compacted soils, advice of irrigation regimes.
Oh I almost forgot the most important service, free tree hugs!
In your opinion, what are the most essential uses of your services?
That is my most essential service, my opinion! It may not always be right, but it is always free.
I never charge for consultations or estimates and learn something new when I look at any tree. I have only two company mottos:
#1. If you want me to tell you what you want to hear, that will be about a thousand dollars an hour, but I’ll give you the truth for free,
#2. I rip off the other guy, and pass the savings on to you…
Casey, how are all your new machines working for you? What are your favorite machines and tools to work with for getting the job done?
My new-to-me lift truck is really the biggest and newest tool for me and it lets me do things that are just not possible by climbing. I use it mostly to expedite the time spent on a job, work on a tree that would not be safe to climb and to reach an area and make precise cuts that would prove difficult, if not impossible to reach hanging from a climbline. Its only restriction is access but it is a very nimble piece of kit, considering it has a working height of six stories and weighs 13 tons.
A close second would be my stump grinder, not only will it fit through a narrow gate, it turns ugly into molecules in seconds, and there is no other tool that can replace it. It’s also great for finding irrigation lines as well and keeps the landscape irrigation installers busy as heck after I destroy everything in my path…
Casey, you’ve been very pleased to see a great appreciation for trees here in Southern Oregon. Please say more.
We live in the “Mecca” for tree aficionados, so it’s like living in a tree Disneyland for me. I get to work on some pretty cool trees, and chuck thousands of dead white birches and Leyland cypresses through my chipper, what more could you ask for? People in town value their trees for what they are, and realize the importance of keeping happy healthy trees in their space.
I have worked in towns where nobody really cared about their trees and just considered them an expense that had to be dealt with, rather than a fixture that improved the quality of life. While it kept me in beans, it just kinda sucked living there.
Casey, oftentimes, you plan your daily drive through town based on the trees you would like to see. Please say more.
I have my route from one end of town to the other both ways but I don’t want to draw attention to any tree in particular.
Different times of the year require a different route, i.e Clay St. Cottonwood in spring, Morning Glory Sweetgum in fall, Patton Pine at Christmas, Church St. Black Oak in midsummer, etc. Let’s just say I have over a hundred that I “windshield prune” every day.
Consider a huge dead cottonwood. Let’s just change the setting around a little.
Setting A: Looming over a busy playground in the middle of town?
Not good!
Setting B: Next to a creek in the middle of nowhere with a red-tailed hawk nest on the top, and a family of mink denned up in the rootball?
Perfection!
What are you seeing in the upcoming generation tree guys?
The new generation of arborists locally has never been better. I am seeing super quality work from the majority of tree care outfits! Maybe something HAS rubbed off after all. The amount of shoddy work is quickly going extinct but we aren’t out of the woods yet, not until chainsaws come with a license, anyway…
A heartfelt thank you to all the new arborists for choosing such a noble profession! As time has progressed, so have the tools of the trade. Modernization of equipment from hard parts to textiles has enabled the skill levels of arborists worldwide to rise to heights I never would have imagined, literally as well as figuratively.
Casey, will you talk about windows of time for getting tree work done here in Southern Oregon?
Gas powered chainsaws cannot be operated in certain settings during extreme fire conditions and restricted to some degree by June depending on the year. This runs until fall rains and/or snow.
Fruit trees just before they wake up, usually Marchish, but as close to before, is better than a little late when they are tender, or in flower. Conifers that require pruning should be done Nov-Mar when insects such as boring beetles are grounded during colder months.
Broadleaved evergreens never just before a hard freeze.
Deciduous broadleaved trees except fruit trees and American elms pretty much when you can, want, or need.
Soil inoculation quarterly. Winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
Mulch, yesterday.
Planting, just before you mulched…
You are great at reassuring your clients about the quality of work you do and helping them relax.
Trees are very forgiving and usually give you (or me, anyway) some kind of warning before they do something stupid. Checkups are free so don’t put off having your tree evaluated. I probably talk more clients OUT of doing something unnecessary than selling them work. It is in my best interest to keep your tree as happy as a clam for as long as possible.
In reality, if your tree croaks, I will only make money from it one more time…
Casey, any last thoughts or comments you would like to share.
A big thank you to all my clients that love trees, past present and future! Get to the forest and enjoy our trees whenever you can, it is good for the soul, and gives you new planting inspiration.
When in doubt, just plant it. When you do, do it high and often!
Thanks so much for speaking with us today!
