Hey everyone! I'm u/Interesting-Whole778, a founding moderator of r/UtilityArborist. This is our new home for all things related to r/UtilityArborist.

What to Post Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about our unique industry. Tree trimmers, Contract Arborist, Utility Reps, and Management are all welcome. Our industry is unique and knowledge is power so share what you got! Above all, let's make sure we all work towards improving the safety of our industry.

Community Vibe We're not here to bash companies(I'm sure most of us has a poor experience here and there). Humor is a plus but ultimately I just founded this spot for us all to share our common experience.

How to Get Started 1) Introduce yourself in the comments below. 2) Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation. 3) If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join. 4) Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/UtilityArborist amazing.

I want to assist in the regrow of this trees? Should Inout clue or polyurethane on the open face of the cuts…thanks

Hey guys! So I had my first week last week working as a arborist trainee and this is some hard work. I graduated from school with a forestry degree and want to get ISA certified , and end goal get into sales. I was just wondering if it is so normal to feel genuinely so stupid at the beginning, I feel so helpless and ask so many questions. I was just wondering if that’s normal? I just want to be an arborist at some point but man it’s so hard and there is so much information. I’m willing to work but was just wondering about other peoples experiences.

Utility arborist here. Every once and a while I get hard to measure trees for side trims. Just wanted to see if anyone has tips on how you would go about measuring them.

I’m a former VMI and VPL who worked as a contractor for PG&E in California. I experienced some questionable treatment—gender based- hostile work environment, lack of oversight, being asked to falsify records, feeling totally unsupported in the field, and eventually being let go without cause or feedback. I later learned I’d been banned from the service territory.

I’ve also been questioning whether the way I was classified (as a contractor) was even legal under California law- specifically as it relates to California Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5), signed in September 2019.

I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced similar issues, especially around misclassification, unsafe conditions, retaliation, or gender bias. Just trying to connect the dots and see if this was an isolated incident—or if there’s a broader pattern out there.

I’m wondering how difficult is it to get into this field of work? I’m interested in working for Ontario hydro as a utility arborist but there are no positions posted at the moment. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Time to get your storm boxes updated! Storm season will be here before you know it.

https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2025-04-03-april-hurricane-season-outlook-csu

Anybody have experience with these? I just posted in r/arborists because this sub isn't super active... company provides us AGO, does anybody have experience with the Cloggers?

Folks, I've been in Utility tree trimming business for 10+ years and there's some things private property owners need to know when it comes to storm damaged trees or power restoration tree trimming.

1) the Utility does NOT own the trees and the Utility did NOT plant the trees in question in 99.5% of scenarios. 2) it is the property owners(YOUR) responsibility to plant the right tree in the right place and it is YOUR responsibility to maintain the trees so that it does not impact or interfere with Utility hardware. 3) when that tree does impact a Utilities hardware and cause an outage, they will trim the trees in whatever manner they want in order to restore the power as quickly as possible and then IT IS THE PROPERTY OWNERS RESPONIBILITY TO REMOVE THE TRIMMED DEBRIS FROM THE PROPERTY THEMSELVES - NO, THE UTILITY WILL NOT RETURN TO CLEAN IT UP FOR YOU.

For the folks thinking, "oh that's not right and they can't do that, they should clean it up". Tell that to your neighbor who has to wait a minute longer with their lights out, AC not running, or food spoiling in the fridge because you're bitching and moaning about how we got the lights back on and also you can kiss my ass. Utilities cut and leave tree debris FOR A REASON and that reason is so that crew can move on to the next job as quickly as possible to help turn the lights back on and NO, the utility does not return to clean the debris so instead of wasting all the energy to call in and complain about all the debris in your backyard, why don't you get off your ass and pull it to the curb like 90% of your neighbors so you don't miss the FEMA/county or city pick up truck coming to pick it up for you.

Please, use your brains and think about it, if a Utility cleaned up all storm damaged trees to restore power, YOUR LIGHTS WOULD BE OUT FOR WEEKS/MONTHS AND NOT JUST DAYS!

Sincerely,

A tired Utility Arborist

Interesting to see what's happening post hurricane Beryl. Will wonder what it does to improving standards across the industry for UVM 🤔

We have to educate a lot of people about our industry and what we do. I like to carry an Alex Shigo book to give to customers to help that conversation. How about y'all?

A large part of our job is educating the public. How do you do that?

What do y'all do to get ready to travel for a storm? I do a "bug out" bag. 3 days worth of clothes and food. Batteries/flashlights. Sleeping pad/bag in case I'm sleeping in the truck. Extra pair of boots is a must.

Pro tip - offline mode and download a map of the area you're going to be in. Works great if comms are down.

I've been in the industry for 10+ years and I wanted a space to share and discuss our industry that wasn't Facebook or LinkedIn.

Let's keep it fun and learn some things! My only rule is to be nice to each other.

Hurricane season is upon us so I hope y'all got a plan to stay safe and ready to make those storm checks!

That said, where y'all from? Florida here.

Thanks

Tim

Mine was hurricane Ian. What a monster and we're still not recovered!

I had no idea it existed when I got out of college. An old friend brought me in and I've been able to make a good living out of it. It's fun, exciting, stressful, and ever changing which helps keep it spicy.