Do you care about the value of trees, and how it is calculated? Then you need to read this.
Tree value has been appraised in the US for over 100 years. In my 25 years of performing this service for tree owners, I’ve found it difficult, but satisfying, to calculate the cost of repairing tree damage and replacing lost trees for tree owners who have suffered a loss.
Now comes a draft of the Guide that would change the industry, at the expense of veteran arborists and of tree owners. Coincidentally, an effort is underway to certify tree appraisers, at the same time that the Guide is being rewritten to allow unqualified people to gain this certification.
11 of my peers and superiors in tree appraisal (list at the end) are unanimous that the current draft of the 10th edition lowers tree values unreasonably and forces appraisers to pretend they know about forestry and real estate and the law. If this draft is approved, experienced appraisers with competence will be pushed down to the level of wannabes. Tree owners will suffer the most.
Please listen to the concerns of these veteran arborists, and let these groups know that you do not want tree valuation to be trashed by the lust to dumb down the practice just to make money: AmericanHort,
• American Society of Consulting Arborists
• American Society of Landscape Architects
• Association of Consulting Foresters of America
• International Society of Arboriculture
• National Association of Landscape Professionals
• Tree Care Industry Association
If you value the contributions that trees provide to our world, this matters to you!