CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Scott Geddes
Auckland Tree Services
SPEAKER BIO
My name is Scott Geddes, and I’m a fiercely passionate arborist based in Auckland. I have spent over a decade in the industry, a touch longer if you count my time as a young tree pirate. The majority of my time has been spent building up a solid, well rounded works arborist skill set, however for the past 6 years I have also been growing a tree work contracting company which has been a fantastic opportunity to broaden my skills and learn new things. I am of the opinion that arboriculture is a critically important industry right now, and that we need to reimagine what arboriculture actually means to truly make things better within society. While most of my time is taken up growing my business, I also have a commitment to serving the industry though NZ Arb, I am entering my third year on the executive committee and second year as vice president. While it has been stressful juggling business and being on a volunteer board, I have learned more in the last few years than I would have thought possible, which has been a wonderful payoff in itself. I look forward to continuing to push the industry ahead.
TALK TITLE
The Tree of Life
ABSTRACT
Over the course of a couple of months I have been painstakingly removing a very large, lightning damaged Redwood tree in Auckland. It has required all of my skill, endurance, emotional control, and the help of some very clever friends to get through the job. The lack of crane access required that we build an extremely heavy rigging system specifically to snatch down the logs, some of which weighed in excess of 2 tonnes. The job tells a story of what we can achieve and overcome as arborists, but it also tells a deeper story of what arboriculture could look like if we change our perception of the industry. Tree removal and arboriculture are interchangeable words in the minds of many people, which is a dangerous thing. By my definition, arboriculture is the management of urban canopy for the benefit of society. The structure of the tree was severely compromised by the lightning, it ejected wood over 20 meters away. The consent to remove the tree was granted on the condition that the stump and roots must remain, undamaged, to grow into a new tree. Danger removed with some value retained, I’d call that good arboriculture.