I Want To Be An Arborist.

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Is anyone here an arborist? I want to learn what the requirements are in michigan to become cretified. I would like it if someone could tell me what the job is like, I know that there are different tipes of arborist, I want the one that actually climbs the trees, trims them and applies the nutrients. And what Michigan college courses should I get if I want My Bachelor's degree to help me get this job?

You might try looking for a summer opportunity to work for/with someone already doing those things right where you are ... and then let things possibly develop (or answers appear) from there.

I was an climbing arborist for many years. You don't need a degree or certification to get started. It is a very physically demanding job, and there is usually lots of turnover. If you can get a job with a tree service you would start working on the ground dragging brush to the chipper, moving wood, and raking up. If you stick with it you will learn as you go. Any decent employer would have an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist study guide and would encourage you to take the test. I think you need a couple years experience to sit for the test. It takes a couple years to become a good climber. There is lots to learn: tree identification, tree defects, diseases, climbing knots, rigging, chainsaw safety/maintenance, how different wood acts when it's cut, how the same wood acts at different times of the year, how your employer/customer wants the tree pruned, and how that matches up or conflicts with your knowledge/ethics.

It's a lot of fun, and once you are good at it you should always be able to find work. Anyway, should be easy enough to get your foot in the door somewhere and see if you like it.

@Kimmy: I immediately thought of you this morning when I ran across this from my home county ...

That was a volunteer crew out planting trees, but an old septic tank and some buried sidewalk had diverted some of their plans.

I know that the job is phisically demanding as well as dangerous, but its what I want to do. Ive alwayse known that I want to have a job that helps living things, and being a Vet or a doctor takes too much college. So I want to be a tree doctor!