Davey Tree Flipbooks

18 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | January/February 2024 LEADERSHIP The Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA)'s annual TCI EXPO was held in St. Louis, Missouri, to bring arboriculture professionals from across the world together to network and learn more about the industry. Davey employees who gave presentations and demonstrations on industry and tree care-related topics and sponsored and assisted with the TCIA Student Career Day included: • Chelsi Abbott, technical advisor, Davey Institute, spoke about the dangers of wood rot and decay for both trees and people during her "Identifying Wood Decay Fungi" presentation. • The Davey Institute's Tim Bushnell, arborist skills specialist, Alex Julius, Employee Development and Safety Training Specialist, and Dr. R.J. Laverne, manager, education and training, presented "Factors and Forces: Identification of Structural Defects in Trees." They spoke about how Davey's safety course, "Factors and Forces" focuses on the systematic inspection of trees to help develop a safe work plan. • The health and safety department's Jeremy Lewis, health and safety training and compliance manager, and Tim Walsh, vice president, presented in partnership with Petzl on "Devising Fall Protection and Rescue Plans for Arborists on Non-Traditional Job Sites." They spoke about finding safe and Occupational Safety and Health Administration-compliant solutions in different work environments, the challenges of unique job sites, and how Davey keeps their workers safe. DAVEY SUPPORTS ANNUAL TREE CARE INDUSTRY EXPO • Natalie McNeill, operations manager, Residential/ Commercial (R/C) services, and Cindy Schwab, regional manager, human resources, presented during "The Women in Tree Care Pre-Conference" about being an ally, networking, and how women and other groups can support and advocate for each other. • The Davey Institute's arborist skills trainers Blake Duval and Maria Tranguch led a knot-tying demonstration. Walsh also gave a talk on climber efficiency, as demonstrated by Christian Feichtinger, arborist skills trainer, and Julius. The World Forum on Urban Forests, which combined with the Partners in Community Forestry conference this year, took place in Washington, D.C., over four days and featured speakers, workshops and demonstrations, and the opportunity to network on a global scale with those in the green industry. Davey sponsored the tours at the event, which allowed attendees to SMART TREE INVENTORIES DISCUSSED AT WORLD FORUM visit various green spaces in the greater Washington, D.C., area. Josh Behounek, business manager, Environmental Consulting services, Davey Resource Group, gave a "Data-Driven Decisions with Smart Tree Inventories" presentation at the forum, with a step-by-step explanation of how Davey uses smart tree inventories like Davey's TreeKeeper software to keep trees alive longer. Josh Behounek speaks at the World Forum on Urban Forests. Dr. R.J. Laverne is pictured on the right at TCI EXPO's Student Career Day, hosting tree trivia for students. The career day allowed students across the country to meet with industry professionals and learn more about the tree care industry. The trivia was hosted as part of Davey's sponsored student skills competition. Davey also hosted a booth which featured a photo backdrop of butterfly wings made up of foliage. For each photo taken of an attendee standing in front of it, Davey donated to Forest ReLeaf of Missouri to aid in their mission of expanding the tree canopy across Missouri.

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