Davey Tree Flipbooks

19 September/October 2022 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN Puget Sound's Tree Climbing Competition (TCC) was hosted by the ISA's Pacific Northwest Chapter at Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington. The Northwest Seattle office's Jason Mayorga (pictured), foreman, competed. Mayorga came in third for the Masters' Challenge in the men's division. "Competing in this year's Puget Sound was an amazing experience. It was my first ISA sanctioned TCC and I would encourage any climber of any skill level to compete. It is a great way to learn. It is also an awesome way to learn new tips and tricks from some of the best climbers," Mayorga said. Pictured from left are Gail Nozal, area manager, DRG Environmental Consulting, and International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) board member; Caitlyn Pollihan, CEO and Executive Director, ISA; and Cindy Schwab, regional recruiting manager, corporate recruiting. Schwab and Maggie Volchko, recruiter, represented Davey at the NATCC Arbor Fair and Expo. The North American Tree Climbing Championship (NATCC) was held at Hidden Falls Regional Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota over three days in August. The NATCC is an opportunity for working arborists to compete with and learn from each other, along with showcasing and heightening the public's awareness of the arboriculture profession. Competitors participated in five preliminary events required to advance to the Masters' Challenge, sponsored by Davey: Aerial Rescue; Ascent; Throwline; Work Climb; Belayed Speed Climb.The climbers, one female and one male, who accumulated the most points during the Masters' Challenge, were the winners. Davey climbers who competed were Libby Bower, trimmer, Lake Bluff office; Christian Feichtinger, skills trainer, Davey Institute; Sydney Hudzinski, foreman, South Saint Paul office; Sam Schunk, foreman, Elmsford office; and Emmett Shutts, supervisor, skills trainer, Davey Institute. For the women's overall scores, Bower placed sixth, and Hudzinski placed seventh, and for the men's overall scores, ISA NORTH AMERICAN TREE CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP Feichtinger placed eighteenth; Schunk twenty-second; and Shutts twenty-fourth. Davey volunteers provided trucks and prepped the trees for the competition. The North Minneapolis office's Jake Hauger, trimmer, pruned trees and hung banners. Josh Lapacz, foreman, volunteered as a belay technician for the Belayed Speed Climb, and district manager Tyler Hesseltine helped with final set up and gear check. The South Minneapolis office's Matthew Sharrow, foreman, prepared the trees for the events. Volunteers who helped set up events, prune trees, and chip brush from the South St. Paul office were Ethan Breckner, sales arborist; Rachel Kirchner, trimmer; and Ally Bode, trimmer. Also from the South St. Paul office, Matt Gerke, foreman, was a Throwline event technician; and Michael Dye, district manager, was a Masters' Challenge technician. Other Davey volunteers included arborist skills trainers Tim Bushnell; Rick Denbeau; Alex Julius; Eduardo Medina; Maria Tranguch; Brad Turner; David Vega; and Don Roppolo and Jessika Mitchell. Davey NATCC competitors pictured from left are Sydney Hudzinski, Emmett Shutts, Christian Feichtinger, Sam Schunk and Libby Bower. PUGET SOUND

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