Apprentices are our Future at Beaver Tree Service
Since COVID arrived on our shores things have changed significantly in the Arboriculture industry, as it has in many other trades. There has been an unprecedented amount of interest in people wanting their trees maintained or in some cases removed. We put this down to several factors, from early lockdowns and people spending more time in their gardens, to people working from home and making it easier to arrange appointments to look at their trees. So, with the influx of work comes even more demand on our qualified arborists and in the current climate arborists are scarce to say the least.
This brings me to my main point, that we must focus on training our young people in apprenticeships, to support and work alongside our qualified arborists.
Over the weekend we held our first ever ‘in house’ apprenticeship workshop. Our objective was to bring our apprentices together (from the lower Nor th Island and from as far away as Christchurch) and teach them the skills to become competent arborists. We had fifteen apprentices arrive on Friday morning along with three other tutors (two of them being Primary ITO workplace Assessors) and myself. We covered arboriculture skills such as climbing a well branched tree, assessing for hazards, setting your climbing lines into the tree, felling and dismantling and aerial rescue. The weekend also ensured open lines of communication, particularly around health & safety, concerns our apprentices have and any best practice ideas. We talked about what it means to be an arborist including the challenges and rewards. Apprentices from 16 years to 33 years old attended the event and their skill levels ranged from almost qualified to having never been in a tree.
The training provided an opportunity to give our apprentices additional knowledge and skills to support their training but also to give them the skills to become competent, confident arborists and take their abilities to the next level. All in all, it was a great success, and we will be holding more in house workshops moving forward.
The future of NZ is in training our people and here at Beaver Trees we believe this is the way forward.
Some of the highlights for me was the encouragement given from some of the more experienced apprentices to the younger newer apprentices. It was also great to see most of the group get outside their comfor t zone by climbing higher or getting into a harness for the first time and using it to get up a tree. The comradery was incredible, and I am sure it will pay dividends when the apprentices get back to their respective work areas and put what they have learnt into practice. The best arborists are confident of their ability, but not overconfident. By supporting and training our young people we are not only ensuring the future of BeaverTree Service and the health of your trees, but we’re also helping to keep the art of arboriculture alive.
Bryce Robb, Head Arborist and Director of Beaver Tree Service