Friday, May 15, 2009

ISA HK/China --- Incoming Mail (Who should lead the proposed Arbor Office?)

国内朋友请使用翻译软件阅读本文。
*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear xxx,

Thank you for your message & your kind appreciation to recommend the Station Manager for a position in the proposed Arboricultural Office. He has received similar support many a time in the past but it is his intention to stay in his family business of Eurasian Garden & to carry on working as the Station Manger of ISA HK/China independently for what he can contribute best to the Tree Care development. Anyway, he wishes to thank all of you for your kind words.

On the other hand, ISA HK/China has made our own proposal as for the structure of the proposed Arboricultural Office (ArbO) in July 2007 (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2007/07/isa-hkchina-imaginary-arboricultural.html) . We have conceived a Principal Arboricultural Officer (PAO) to lead this Office & the PAO must be well versed in the Arbor Trade as well as politically capable & publicly respected to lead this Office. It may a difficult job to seek such a person in HK at present & overseas recruitment may eventually become necessary.

In our consideration, the PAO must be knowledgeable in the Arbor Business & must have been working in the industry for a number of years. In our current Govt structure, such a person may be most appropriate to look for within LCSD which has traditionally been the butler for Urban Trees in HK. ISA HK/China has also seen LCSD upgrading their training & services for Tree Care vigorously in the past few years & they are gradually building internatinal connection to share & receive knowledge & skills in the latest practices. With a bit of time & effort, LCSD may eventually catch up with the western world, although their current role focuses mainly in the aftercare of trees.

ISA HK/China would see it as inappropriate to find an 'Office Arborist' to take up the post of PAO, because Arboriculture is a Practitioner Trade biased on operations & not design. Someone only able to study photos & reports all day would not be respected by our Station Members, Tree Experts, Tree Lovers, Media & Politicians to talk professionally on trees. Our public would like to see the PAO able to climb a 10m tree, roar a 20 inch Chainsaw & rig down a 1 foot log to the ground safely, be it just for show in front of cameras or as a convincement to the public that our PAO is truly professional to the job. Such PAO would have fewer antagonism among the public.

On the other hand, a PAO not respected & supported by ISA HK/China may be seen as a loose kite not attaching to the largest & most popular Arbor Group in our territory of HK, Macau, Taiwan & China. This PAO may find he/she will have few friends in the industry, & his/her command will be difficult to steer. ISA HK/China is politically neutral, but we do have influence in Tree Affairs in our territory under the guidance of Fact-finding & Truth-telling.

Therefore, all of us would like to see the HK Govt to pick the right person to become the PAO. Let's hope public funds would not be squandered to invite public criticism & the future ArbO can truly win the heart & mind of our public.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

"If a tree is not designed, installed, maintained & inspected properly, it is likely to become a liability rather than an asset."

"Trees are good for the community. Trees need care like human beings. Arborists are the Tree Care Professionals."


----- Original Message -----
From: xxx
To: egc@netvigator.com
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 11:07 PM
Subject: Support the Proposed Arbor Office


Dear Station Manager,

I want to recommend you to chair the proposed Arbor office. Agree? If not, who should I propose?

I think the idea of Arbor Office is very good. We need it indeed. See what kind of a mess our trees are turning into after so many years of greenery. Sad, isn't it?

Can you reply, please?

Cheers

xxx

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo!香港提供網上安全攻略,教你如何防範黑客!了解更多

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

ISA HK/China --- Incoming Mail (Tree Failure Experience of a Station Member)




国内朋友请使用翻译软件阅读本文。
*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

A Station Member sent in the message below after apparently escaping destiny in a very close shave. He may win the next Mark Six for his luck if it persists.

As the tree failed in a calm evening without much prior warning, it will become a concern for those of us living nearby trees. If our trees are turning into Time Bombs here & there, should trees not be put back into the hand of the Arborists for safety sake?

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

"If a tree is not designed, installed, maintained & inspected properly, it is likely to become a liability rather than an asset."

"Trees are good for the community. Trees need care like human beings. Arborists are the Tree Care Professionals."




----- Original Message -----
From: xxx
To: Eurasian Garden Ltd.
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 12:12 AM
Subject: Re: ISA HK/China (Professoinals) --- Support the proposed Arboricultural Office at CSO & CEO


(I would be gladded if you could broadcast this e-mail
to the Station Members)

Dear Sammy,

I absolutely agree that there's a real need of an Abor
Office
in Hong Kong especially after recording a tree
fallen at the entrance of village I lived this night.

After a whole day of tree climbing, I came back home
at appro. 930pm and got blocked by an 8m tall tree at
the entrance of the village. Two villages winching
around the trees told me that the tree was fallen JUST
a few minutes before I came. There was no stronge wind
or any recent works around the tree he told me. But
there are signs he said...The tree hit no body but a
small 4WD vehicle. The car owner was astonished when
she saw "the acts of God".

In fact, after looking in details of the fallen tree,
I found the tree was with abnormally few leaves
(approx. 30% of its normal foliage coverage and size),
one of the stems have peel barks and more importantly,
the trunk base was approx. 80% or more hollow!!! Since
the tree is on a small slope in the village built by
government, I suspect it is not privately owned. I
wonder how important the villagers' live was rated
when the one was maintaining that fallen tree.

Although this incident cause property damage, it is
still lucky no body injured. I could not image if I
came home a few minutes earlier. Thanks God for the
traffic lights. It could be just 3 minutes and a
difference between live and death. But it's a huge
difference between risky and stable trees. As a
participant in the landscape industry, I'm not willing
to tell but I try not to walk under trees after works
as I know what could happen by those trees.

The Hong Kong landscapes should be changed.

xxx

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/