Consultation

Our relationship with a new client often begins with a call regarding a problem or concern over a tree (or trees) on a site. These types of calls may require a “site visit” for a brief consultation and inspection. Our certified and degreed consulting arborist will inspect your trees for any visible signs of disease, insect damage, or any cultural conditions that may create a problem. Based on the inspection and our findings, we often develop a tree care plan that resolves or alleviates a problem and returns a tree to a healthier condition over time.

Our consulting arborists are certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. The founding fathers of our company, Steve Houser and Kevin Bassett, were among the first arborists to be certified in the State of Texas in 1992. 

All our consulting arborists have extensive formal training, many years of experience, and most hold a degree in plant pathology, forestry, or horticulture.

Tree Surveys may be designed to serve a number of purposes. A tree survey may be created to suit city codes regarding the development of a property or they may be the baseline data used to develop a forest or tree management plan. Whether they are part of a tree care management plan or required as part of a construction project, Arborilogical Services® can assist you. Our consulting arborists are knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced in producing detailed tree surveys that include tree species identification, tree caliper, general health, and structural condition. More detailed surveys record a greater amount of data such as the growth rate of the trees, specific disease or insect problems and their treatment, managing structural deficiencies, and others.

If you are serious about managing a forest or larger grouping of trees, a tree survey is typically the first step in the process.        

Trees have value. Beyond the aesthetic, trees provide many benefits. They clean our air, shade our homes, enhance our quality of life, and add to the value of our property. Many of these benefits can be quantified by a dollar figure.

Should your trees be damaged or destroyed, you may need to know their monetary value. A tree appraisal is particularly important when trees are of an age or size that they cannot be replaced. The four primary factors involved in assessing the value of a tree are size, species, condition and location. Your arborist can provide you with an appraisal based on industry standards that can assist you in recapturing your loss.

Our consulting arborists inspect trees for weak branching habits that are likely to fail. In some cases, weak areas can be reinforced with cables or bracing rods. Ideally, poor branching structures — tight V-shaped forks or attachments, should be removed when the tree is small. Doing so eliminates the risk of that fork splitting as the tree matures.

Beyond identifying weak branching habits, our consulting arborists look for longer limbs in trees that tend to have broad, spreading canopies. These limbs should have the end-weight reduced to lessen the surface area exposed to ice, snow, sleet, or high winds. Our professional tree climbers are trained to climb out to the ends of the limbs to reduce the weight.

Arborists also consider the strength of the wood for each species of tree when determining corrective actions for structural deficiencies. An Oak will typically have strong wood, whereas a Maple will be weaker-wooded and more likely to break.

Wise owners of urban and rural forests develop management plans to retain and increase the value of their forest. Primary goals of forest management plans include an increase in the volume and value of timber, increase in the number of wildlife species in the forest by improving their habitat, increase in the plant and tree species diversity or decreasing the potential for fire damage. How a forest is managed depends primarily on the needs and goals of its owner.         

Proper forest management plans and their implementation will increase the value of any forest stand. Most believe that a forest can take care of itself as it has since the beginning of time, but this is no longer the case. Invasive and damaging pests and diseases that did not previously exist in an area can be devastating to the value of a forest. Highly invasive diseases, such as Oak Wilt or Dutch Elm Disease, can wipe out an entire species population. The same is true with invasive and non-native pests such as the Emerald Ash Borer or Buprestid Beetle which can wipe out all species of Ash or Soapberry's in a forest stand.

Invasive and non-native plants and trees that were not present in the past can also devastate the natural succession of a forest by suppressing or preventing the growth or regrowth of native species. These plant/tree species include Chinese Privet, Chinaberry, Tree-of-Heaven, Chinese Tallow, among many others. These species are spread by wildlife that feed on the seeds and spread them as they fly or move to new areas. Many of these invasive species also spread and suppress the growth of other plants/trees by generating top growth from outward growing roots or "runners".  

If you own a forest that does not have any of these problems, it is a question of time before they become an issue. A proactive approach to forest management helps to preserve and enhance its value in the long term and is a wise investment. Our degreed forest consultants can help grow your forest to be a healthy and diverse ecosystem that is better able to cope with the many problems that exist today. 

There are times when an expert witness is needed to provide information regarding trees and forest-related issues or problems. In some cases, a tree may have been damaged or removed by a neighbor, or a tree fell causing property damage and personal injury. The reasons can vary, but when it comes to a legal matter, it is wise to hire consultants with education and experience that will hold up under scrutiny or in a court of law.  

Our staff consultants have a wide variety of expertise and education, which is suitable for most any situation. Some cases may require an expert in a specific field such as plant pathology, horticulture, arboriculture, forestry, or tree climbing. Some of our consulting arborists started their careers as tree climbers such as Chris Brewer, Kevin Bassett, Ben Thomas, and Steve Houser. Other consulting arborists specialize in specific fields of study based on their experience or education. Russell Peters specializes in fields he researched and studied such as Oak Wilt and other specific pathogens. The combined experience of our consultants would be measured in hundreds of years.         

The diversity and experience of our staff is unmatched in Texas.