12
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
|
September/October 2018
FIELD NOTES
Davey Resource Group (DRG) helped
quantify tree inventory data collected
from 61 communities in Montana by
the Montana Department of Natural
Resources & Conservation (DNRC) to
demonstrate the state's tree benefits.
The Montana DNRC's budget didn't
allow for an individual i-Tree analysis
for each community. So, several
DRG teams, including the Western
Region Urban Forestry Planning and
TREES COUNT IN BIG SKY COUNTRY
Consulting team, the TreeKeeper team
and the GIS Services team, worked
together to devise a solution to stay
within the client's budget, said Tina
McKeand, project manager, DRG.
The result? Detailed reports explaining
each community's tree benefits.
"Essentially, we set them up with a
TreeKeeper subscription," she said.
"Using TreeKeeper, we assessed
the benefits for each community."
UTILITY ARBORISTS TALK SAFETY
The Utility Arborists Association (UAA)
Oklahoma Safety Summit covered
topics ranging from gear inspections
to customer interactions, emergency
responses and other situations. But,
the real goal of the summit was giving
field personnel the chance to discuss
various safety topics amongst peers.
Davey's Tim Walsh, safety manager,
corporate safety department, and
UAA board of directors' member, said
attendees are divided into discussion
groups whose participants may include
a CEO of a company or a crew leader
to aid in a diverse discussion.
Davey sent several employees to the
summit from the Oklahoma Gas &
Electric account, including: Jose Avila,
foreman, Filiberto Avila, foreman,
Ezequiel Garcia, climber, Juan Ramirez,
foreman, Francisco J. Garcia, climber,
Ramiro Amezqua, climber, Omar
Montoya, climber, Juan Rodriquez,
foreman, and Omar Sanchez, climber.
Walsh was one of the introductory
presenters. He spoke about industry
fatality statistics, changes in the OSHA
standards and changes in the ANSI
Z133 standards.
The Davey Tree Surgery Company and
the Davey Resource Group served as
gold level sponsors of the event.
The goal of the summit was giving field
personnel the opportunity to discuss safety
topics with their peers. As the summits move
locations, they are hosted by a different utility.
This year's host was Oklahoma Gas and
Electric (OG&E).
How the DRG teams could use this
solution is because TreeKeeper uses
the same methodology from i-Tree
to quantify the benefits of individual
trees, McKeand said.
"This solutions-based collaboration is
what made this project truly special,"
McKeand said.
In addition to the reports, a webinar was
conducted in 2016 and a presentation was
given at the Northern Rockies Tree School
annual conference in Billings, Montana,
in September 2017 to review the results
of the analysis.
