138 Elmendorf et al.: Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Education in the U.S. ARBORICULTURE AND URBAN FORESTRY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: RESULTS OF AN EDUCATORS SURVEY By William Elmendorf1 , Todd Watson2 , and Sharon Lilly3 Abstract. In June 2002, a 2-day arboriculture and urban forestry educator summit was hosted by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, U.S. During the energetic discussions, differences in opinions between educators became apparent regarding curriculum content such as urban soils, utility forestry, tree care safety, and land use planning. Differences were also apparent in discussions regarding important research topics and educational tools. Because of the limited number of educators at the summit, a broad mail survey effort was funded by ISA in 2003 to better define issues and determine whether there were important correlations between the attitudes of arboriculture and urban forestry educators. This survey asked arboriculture and urban forestry educators in the United States their opinions about the importance and adequate provision of many skills such as pruning, climbing, urban forest management, land use planning, and volunteer management. The survey also asked questions about the ISA Certified Arborist program, educational program components, the nature of outside relation- ships, important research topics, and educational tools. In both descriptive statistics and a chi-square test of independence, results of this study provided evidence that there were very consistent attitudes about arboriculture and urban forestry educational topics across participants. Our findings also indicated that the traditional educational topics of arboriculture (such as tree planting and pruning) were considered very important by almost all partici- pants, while the broader educational topics of urban forestry (such as land use planning and volunteer management) were considered less, or not, important by many of the participants. These results may indicate a lack of understanding of the importance of multi- skills and broader educational topics in urban forestry by both arboriculture and urban forestry educators. This study’s results also supported the importance of experience and the ISA Certified Arborist program in shaping positive attitudes about safety and the importance of understanding tree structure. Key Words. Arboriculture; Certified Arborist; college; components; curriculum; education; educator; green industry; research; skills; student; university; urban forestry. setts; for the Boston Commons in 1661; and at Newark, New Jersey, in 1676 (Gerhold and Frank 2002). Early laws and city plans illustrate the importance of trees in this country (Campana 1999). As U.S. cities and the tree care industry developed, educational efforts to increase arboriculture knowledge steadily grew and became more complex. With more work and sophisticated clients, a need arose in a growing industry for educated tree surgeons. This demand was highlighted in the early work, letters, and advertisements of Francis Bartlett, John Davey, and others (Felix 1987; Campana 1999; Gerhold and Frank 2002). John Davey, an English immigrant who founded the Davey Tree Expert Company, published the Tree Doctor: The Care of Trees and Plants in 1901, one of the first arboricultural texts. Chapters in Davey’s book include wounded trees, nature’s trees, crotched trees, planting too large a tree, forming the head too low, pruning trees, planting, blight, landscaping, flower beds and vines, and talk with boys and girls. Individuals and companies alike have been involved in training employees and educating the public about the proper care of trees (Ryan 1981; Campana 1999). The F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company, which started as the firm Frost and Bartlett in 1907, and the Davey Tree Expert Company, incorporated in 1909, pioneered commercial arboriculture education in the United States. The Interna- tional Society of Arboriculture (founded in 1924 at Stam- ford, Connecticut, and originally called the National Shade Tree Conference and later the International Shade Tree Conference) and the Tree Care Industry Association (originally founded in 1938 as the National Arborist Association) were created in part to help addresses and coordinate the research and educational needs of the arboriculture industry (Campana 1999). In the past century, the techniques and theories behind tree care have rapidly evolved and, as a result, have become more specialized and biologically oriented. In the United States, trees and landscapes have been important since pre-Colonial times. The earliest community forest in America was established in 1640 in Newington, New Hampshire. Tree protection ordinances were enabled early on—for example, in 1637 at Watertown, Massachu- ©2005 International Society of Arboriculture Although arboriculture has been practiced and identified for decades by various nomenclatures, the term “urban forestry” was not introduced until 1965 (Jorgensen 1970). Soon after, in 1972, Congress passed the Urban Forestry Act that amended the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act
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