Sunrise Guy
Addicted to ArboristSite
For those of you who do not follow ISA's general comings and goings, a change is in the wind: It looks like, very soon, ISA will be offering "Qualified" this and that credentials to those individuals who sit for a class and then pass a written and practical exam. While this may mean nothing to those of you who are out there doing take-downs and pruning jobs without any formal credentials, whatsoever, to those working under very strict municipal ordinances, such as those that I work under in Austin, TX., it may mean quite a lot.
The first Qualification that appears to be in the offing, this Spring, is that of Qualified Tree Risk Assessor. Given ISA's knack for working its way into quite cozy relationships with given municipalities, I can see where this is heading: Only those with this qualification will be able to fill out Tree Risk Assessment surveys for a given city as the same may apply to the removal of a given tree of X" DBH. More hoops to jump through, to be sure. Thing is, I'm in favor of this program, as the more we learn, the better qualified we are, hopefully, to do our job. You can bet, though, that these qualifications will not come cheap. So far, ISA has not posted a fee structure for the class and test. I'm sure that will change, shortly.
The qualification for any given specialized niche will not be renewable with CEU's and a fee. That is, you will need to retake the complete class and tests to requalify. A five-year program retake/retest has been mentioned.
ISA sees their Certification program, now, as an indicator that a certificate holder has a more general overview of a given body of knowledge. With the qualification program, individuals will be seen more as specialists, if you will, in given areas. Again, if ISA can get the word out to the public, no easy task, that, it may get to the point where these qualification programs will pigeonhole you into certain areas of the whole arboricultural knowledge base: Qualified Pruning Specialist, Qualified Tree Removal Specialist, Qualified Root Excavation Specialist, etc., etc.
Ah, yes, the coffers of ISA should swell, indeed, even as the money in our bank accounts does the opposite.
Stay tuned for further developments-----
The first Qualification that appears to be in the offing, this Spring, is that of Qualified Tree Risk Assessor. Given ISA's knack for working its way into quite cozy relationships with given municipalities, I can see where this is heading: Only those with this qualification will be able to fill out Tree Risk Assessment surveys for a given city as the same may apply to the removal of a given tree of X" DBH. More hoops to jump through, to be sure. Thing is, I'm in favor of this program, as the more we learn, the better qualified we are, hopefully, to do our job. You can bet, though, that these qualifications will not come cheap. So far, ISA has not posted a fee structure for the class and test. I'm sure that will change, shortly.
The qualification for any given specialized niche will not be renewable with CEU's and a fee. That is, you will need to retake the complete class and tests to requalify. A five-year program retake/retest has been mentioned.
ISA sees their Certification program, now, as an indicator that a certificate holder has a more general overview of a given body of knowledge. With the qualification program, individuals will be seen more as specialists, if you will, in given areas. Again, if ISA can get the word out to the public, no easy task, that, it may get to the point where these qualification programs will pigeonhole you into certain areas of the whole arboricultural knowledge base: Qualified Pruning Specialist, Qualified Tree Removal Specialist, Qualified Root Excavation Specialist, etc., etc.
Ah, yes, the coffers of ISA should swell, indeed, even as the money in our bank accounts does the opposite.
Stay tuned for further developments-----