California Arborist Certification

The History of ISA

• ISA began over eighty years ago in Connecticut. A small group of individuals working with trees, or engaged in arborial research, determined a need to share problems and solutions related to shade trees. They formed NSTC, the National Shade Tree Conference. In 1976 the group broadened its scope and assumed its present name, ISA, the International Society of Aboriculture. The organization conducts arborial research, and promotes arborial technology and education.

The Emergence of ISA Certification

• In 1988, ISA announced its first strategic plan, the Blueprint for Action. This six year plan, and succeeding plans, envisioned the growth and refinement of professional standards. In 1992, ISA began an Arborist Certification program, which aimed to provide professional education for tree workers, and to set uniform certification standards.

Current ISA Certification Programs

• ISA currently conducts education and certification programs in several areas, and at several levels. An ISA Arborist Certification, one of the two basic certifications ISA provides, requires the candidate to have had three years of field experience, or a bachelor's degree in arboriculture, and to pass ISA's arborist exam. Once certified, the Certified Arborist must complete a certain number of continuing education credits every three years in order to renew certification. The exam covers a variety of subjects including tree nutrition and identification, through tree biology, disease treatment, pruning and tree risk assessment.

Why Certification?

• Many U.S. commercial tree care companies prefer or require their tree-workers to become certified. Municipalities, particularly, have increasingly required senior tree-workers to become certified. As the expansion of residential areas into hillsides and other forested areas has continued, municipalities increasingly rely on a reliably professional arborial staff to evaluate and advise non-professional government workers on best practices.

Certified Arborists in California

• Two separate, but related, municipal bodies oversee construction in most larger California municipalities. The Building Department concentrates on code requirements having to do with construction processes and standards. The Planning Department oversees the relation of the building to its surroundings. An important part of this oversight has to do with landscaping, tree care and the preservation of the natural environment. Planning codes commonly specify that contemplated changes in the building's surrounding landscape must meet the approval of a Certified Arborist. In many instances, the planning department will require the building owner to file an arborial plan prepared, and approved, by a Certified Arborist before approving the building permit.