page_title: Arborist
section_title: Qualifications
hierarchical_section_title: Arborist / Qualifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Arborist using a bucket and crane to dismantle a tree
context_page_description: An arborist, tree surgeon, or arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants in dendrology and horticulture.
  Arborists generally focus on the health and safety of individual plants and trees, rather than managing forests or harvesting wood. An arborist's scope of work is therefore distinct from that of either a forester or a logger.
context_section_description: Arborists gain qualifications to practice arboriculture in a variety of ways and some arborists are more qualified than others.  Experience working safely and effectively in and around trees is essential.  Arborists tend to specialize in one or more disciplines of arboriculture, such as diagnosis and treatment of pests, diseases and nutritional deficiencies in trees, climbing and pruning, cabling and lightning protection, or perhaps consultation and report writing.  All these disciplines are related and some arborists are very well experienced in all areas of tree work, but not all arborists have the training or experience to properly practice every discipline.
  Arborists choose to pursue formal certification, which is available in some countries and varies somewhat by location.  An arborist who holds certification in one or more disciplines may be expected to participate in rigorous continuing education requirements to ensure continuous improvement of skills and techniques.
  In Australia, arboricultural education and training are streamlined countrywide through a multi-disciplinary vocational education, training, and qualification authority called the Australian Qualifications Framework, which offers varying levels of professional qualification. Government institutions including Technical and Further Education TAFE offer Certificate III or a diploma in arboriculture as well as some universities.  There are also many private institutions covering similar educational framework in each state.   Recognition of prior learning is also an option for practicing arborists with 10 or more years of experience with no prior formal training. It allows them to be assessed and fast track their certification.
  In France, a qualified arborist must hold a Management of Ornamental Trees certificate, and a qualified arborist climber must hold a Pruning and Care of Trees certificate; both delivered by the French Ministry of Agriculture.
  In the UK, an arborist can gain qualifications up to and including a master's degree. College-based courses include further education qualifications, such as national certificate, national diploma, while higher education courses in arboriculture include foundation degree, bachelor's degree and master's degree.
  In the USA, a Certified Arborist (CA) is a professional who has over three years of documented and verified experience and has passed a rigorous written test from the International Society of Arboriculture. Other designations include Municipal Specialist, Utility Specialist and Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA).  The USA and Canada also have college-based training which if passed will give the certificate of Qualified Arborist.  The Qualified Arborist can then be used to offset partial experience towards the Certified Arborist.
  Tree Risk Assessment Qualified credential (TRAQ) designed by the International Society of Arboriculture was launched in 2013. At that time people holding the TRACE credential were transferred over to the TRAQ credential.
  In Canada, there are provincially governed apprenticeship programs that allow arborists' to work near power lines upon completion. These apprenticeship program have to meet the provincial regulations (for example in BC WorkSafeBC G19.30), and individuals must ensure they meet the requirements of the owner of the power system.
caption: An arborist disassembling a tree using a crane and bucket
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image Model": "KODAK V530 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image DateTime": "2007:11:27 17:36:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7418", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4288", "EXIF ExposureTime": "858993/1073741824", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:10:04 12:31:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:10:04 12:31:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "10800333/1048576", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4508877/1048576", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6501171/1048576", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "578", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "636", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "fe5b0efcfd3936e5336f76e67a83b59e"}