July/August 2015 | 19
Top photo: Shawn Bruzda measures a
blackgum, an Ohio Department of Natural
Resources of Forestry Big Tree candidate
in Pioneer Cemetery in Warren, Ohio.
D
avey and American Forests have helped
shape the face of the tree industry for
100-plus years—coming up with new ways
to protect Mother Nature's most prominent
natural resource, trees. American Forests
created the National Big Tree Program in 1940
—50 years later, the organization partnered
with Davey to reach a larger audience—
spreading the program to all 50 states and
Washington, D.C.
Shawn Bruzda, biologist and urban forester
for Davey Resource Group, is the first-ever
Davey employee to join American Forests'
National Cadre. His passion for big trees
started in 2004, when he successfully submitted
a 78-foot butternut tree, located down the road
from Davey's corporate offices, as the new
Ohio Department of Natural Resources of
Forestry Big Tree Program champion.
"I love going out and measuring big trees,"
Bruzda says. "It's not easy finding these giants,
but that's the challenge."
Bruzda attended a two-day Advanced
Tree Measuring Workshop in Cooksburg,
Pennsylvania, to do what he loves—finding
and measuring massive trees. Students received
the 86-page American Forests Champion
Trees Measuring Guidelines Handbook in order
to learn the precise techniques and formulas
to correctly measure all types of massive trees.
The program continued outdoors, allowing
students to find and measure real-life big trees
in Cook Forest State Park.
"When measuring, you have to pull from the
entire database in your head, which contains
everything you have ever learned about trees
and arboriculture," Bruzda says. "That's what
is great about Davey—all the training and
knowledge you receive."
Bruzda is now considered an American
Forests National Cadre Apprentice, responsible
for measuring big trees in Ohio and surround-
ing states. After he successfully measures a
number of trees based on American Forests'
methodology, he will become a National
Cadre member.
"The National Cadre is instrumental to
what American Forests represents," Bruzda
says. "It's a great responsibility for me to
represent Davey as the only current National
Cadre Apprentice."
Bruzda looks forward to more Davey
employees joining the National Cadre in the
future and seeing the program expand. "It's
important to find and protect the large trees,
while sustaining growth in the younger ones,"
he says.
As the American Forests Champion Trees
Measuring Guidelines Handbook states,
"Regardless of size, all trees are champions."
Continuing a
Strong Partnership
Idea submitted by: Shawn Bruzda, biologist and urban forester, DRG
Dale Luthringer (left) demonstrates the
proper technique for measuring tree
circumference on a 300-plus-year-old
eastern hemlock during the American
Forests National Cadre Apprentice
Training in Cook Forest State Park.