Davey Tree Flipbooks

22 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | March/April 2022 DAVEY INSTITUTE OF UTILITY VEGETATION MANAGEMENT MEETS The Davey Institute of Utility Vegetation Management (DIUVM) met at the Davey Institute to further the knowledge and skills of employees working in Utility services. Topics covered during the week-long, in-person training included work planning, outdoor utility labs, safety, environmental stewardship, Factors and Forces, client and leadership skills, workplace ethics and more. During DIUVM, Doug Kephart, project manager, United Electric Co-op account, appreciated practicing various scenarios that don't occur often in the field, because it's important not to fall out of practice. He also found value in the exercise to inspect equipment for defects, because the defects weren't always obvious. "The defects impacts could be huge, and it's important to have that attention to detail," Kephart said "This can be a safe career when the focus on safety is done properly." Kephart also enjoyed the presentations by Davey Chairman, President and CEO Pat Covey and Mike Mittiga, vice president and general manager, Eastern Utility services, U.S. Utility services, regarding the future of the service line. "They want us to be arborists and professionals," Kephart said. "They are willing to invest in us and provide us with that knowledge. I see it as switching from a mentality where this is viewed as just a job to one where it's a career where my company is willing to invest in me. This really resonated with my crews knowing that corporate is leading this charge." Attendees were Tyler Ashe, Christian Avalos, Gary Cannady, Lorenza Cuevas, Philip D'Angelo, Doug Kephart, Jason Matty, Mike Mencini, Carlos Parada, Shawn Solada, Tony Turner and Joey Williams. EXPERTISE DAVEY CONSULTS IN SAUDI ARABIA A unique opportunity to aid the U.S. State Department allowed experts from the Davey Institute and Davey Resource Group (DRG) to travel to Saudi Arabia. Jim Zwack, vice president and general manager, Davey Institute, A.D. Ali, manager, technical services, and Josh Behounek, business development manager, DRG, Environmental Consulting, all traveled to the Middle East this winter to conduct an inventory of trees at the residence for the chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh. While there, the group assessed the feasibility for Davey to play a consulting role in Saudi Arabia's Green Riyadh urban forestry mega-project. Pictured is the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Davey assessed 124 trees at the chief of mission residence for the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, and many were date palms. Ali said the current residence, located in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh near the existing embassy, will be demolished to make way for construction of a new embassy. Davey inventoried the trees and plants there to determine which should be saved, temporarily relocated and transplanted to the new embassy when finished. Ali said the numerous security checkpoints and extremely dry conditions of the region were the most interesting aspects of the trip. "Overall, it was a very good experience," he said. "The Saudis have a strong interest in our technical knowledge about trees and landscapes."

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