History 2000's

2000’s

2000 – Rich Dexter, Chapter President

The 2000 35th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Ed Gilman and Dr. Phillp Wargo were the main presenters. Dean of Penn State College of Ag Sciences, Robert Steele, Greg Hoover, and Ken Palmer were also presenters.

2000 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Brandywine Battlefield Park.

2000 – The Basic Arboriculture School offered instruction to 24 students.

2000 – Tony Tresselt volunteered as a technical representative for the International Tree Climbing Championship and continued as of 2010.

2000 – The Penn-Del Tree Climbing competitions expanded from 2 to 3 where the 5 best from the east and the 5 best from the west competed in the Invitational Masters Challenge. The winner of the Masters Challenge represents the chapter at the International Tree Climbing Championship.

2000 – The chapter’s involvement with Horticultural Trade Alliance remained strong for 12 years thanks to John Carson and Ben Tresselt III.

2000 – The chapter donated $500 to ISA for landscaping at their new headquarters.

2000 – John Smith and his daughter Arielle completed the Tour Des Trees at the ISA conference in Baltimore, MD.

2000 – This was a first for ISA. At the ISA Conference in Baltimore, 3 ISA Past Presidents from the Penn-Del chapter were in attendance. They were Al Cherry, Hyland Johns, and Bob McConnell.

2000 – The chapter mourned the loss of Joe Hayden. Joe was president of the chapter in 1971.

2000 – The chapter initiated discussions with Penn State University faculty members in hopes of establishing a curriculum for entry-level tree care workers.

2000 – Policies & Procedures revised October 2000.
2001 – Ben Tresselt III, Chapter President

The 2001 36th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Kim Coder, Dr. Bruce Fraedrich, Dr. Gary San Julian, and Dr. David Shetlar were the main presenters. Attendance was 564.

2001 – Policies & Procedures were revised.

2001 – The chapter mourned the loss of Harry Dice. Harry was responsible for starting the Western Tree Climbing Competition. He was also instrumental in helping to bring together the western and eastern factions of the chapter.

2001 – The chapter authorized John Carson to contract to have an Economic Impact Survey performed regarding the field of arboriculture. This survey was necessary in order for Penn State University to consider changing its curriculum in hopes of establishing a curriculum for entry-level tree care workers. In August of 2001, the survey produced a report titled: Arboriculture: The State of the Industry. The results, our industry appears to be strong and growing. However, when asked what the biggest issue or problem facing the industry was, 65% of the respondents stated lack of qualified tree workers.

2001 – Russ Carlson and his daughter Jessica completed the Tour Des Trees at the ISA conference in Milwaukee, WI.

2001 – The chapter continues discussions with Penn State University faculty members in hopes of establishing a curriculum for entry-level tree care workers.

2001 – The chapter joins with the Penn State Department of Horticulture to offer the Kids Tree Climb at Ag Progress Days at the Rock Springs Research Station.

2001 – 10th Annual Urban and Community Forestry Conference held.
2002 – Eric Proper, Chapter President

The 2002 37th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Jim Clark, Dr. Tom Smiley, Dr. Gary Moorman, Dr. Fred Whitford, and Dr. Glynn Percival were the main presenters. Lew Bloch, Greg Hoover, and Mark Chisholm were also presenters. Attendance was 661.

2002 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.

2002 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Bayne Park in Bellvue near Pittsburgh.

2002 – Drew Slousky received the Penn-Del chapter Award of Achievement.

2002 – Lou Giroud received the President’s Award of Merit.

2002 – The chapter continued discussions with Penn State University faculty members in hopes of establishing a curriculum for entry-level tree care workers.

2002 – Ken Hutz and Kathryn Belville completed the Tour Des Trees at the ISA conference in Seattle, Washington.
2003 – Eric Proper, Chapter President

The 2003 38th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dwayne Neustaeter, Dr. Kim Coder, Dr. Chris Luley, Dr. Jay R. Stipes, Dr. Fred Whitford, Dr. Dave Stanford, and Greg Hoover were the main presenters. Attendance was 614.

2003 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Awbury Arboretum in Phidadelphia.

2003 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Highland Park, Pittsburgh.

2003 – Glenn Riggs, Jr. received the President’s Award of Merit.

2003 – Our first year with demonstration tree for the Tree Worker’s breakout session. Courtesy of Ben Tresselt III, Tony Tresselt, and their crew from Arborist Enterprises, and Frank Gifford.

2003 – At the Symposium a presentation was given commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Research Project on State Game Lands No. 33 near State College, PA. The first 30 tears focused on the effect of right-of-way vegetation management on game food cover. The result demonstrated that al right-of-way treatment methods studied benefit game species and provide food and cover for the species studied. By 1985 songbirds were studied through the late 1990′s. and showed that old-field species were thriving under right-of-way management at the sane time they were generally declining in the northeastern U.S.

2003 – March 7th & 8th the Penn-Del BOD met at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh in preparation for hosting the 2004 ISA Conference. The William Penn Hotel was the site of the ISA Conference in 1944.

2003 – The Penn-Del chapter andthe Penn State Cooperative Extension Service celebrated 30 years of co-sponsoring the Basic Arboriculture School. Andy Moore of State College was the schools first head instructor.

2003 – Dean Robert Steele of the Penn State College of Ag Sciences visited Hazlett Tree Service as part of his Industry Tour.

2003 – Ken Hutz, Geoff Kempter, Ruth Stein, Al Gilens, Kristin Wild, and Ryan Parker completed the Tour Des Trees at the ISA conference in Montreal.

2003 – The Past President’s video was released in October.

2003 – The chapter awarded the Horace M. Thayer Scholarship for Arboriculture to Doak Marasco who attended Penn State University.

2003 – The Penn-Del chapter pledged $75,000, at $15,000 per year, for 5 years, to support Jim Savage’s position in Penn State’s Department of Horticulture to teach two arboriculture classes. After several years of lobbying, the Penn-Del chapter finally convinced Penn State University to offer some arboriculture courses. Jim Savage and Dr. Larry Kuhns investigated the requirements of several recognized arboriculture programs in the northeast. It was found that the courses offered in Penn State’s Landscape Management Option closely matched the course required by arboriculture programs except for missing two arboriculture classes. Applied Arboriculture and Principles of Arboriculture were added to Penn State’s Landscape Management Option.
The goal was to develop this program into a 2-year arboriculture certification program.

2003 – Policies & Procedures Revised September 2003.

2003 – 1990 – The Horticultural Trade Alliance hired a lobbying firm.

2003 – The Basic Arboriculture School offered instruction to 32 students.

2003 – Bill Graham received the Honorary Life Membership Award.
2004 – Geoff Kempter, Chapter President

The 2004 39th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Ed Gilman, Dr. Michael Raupp, Dr. William Cheney, Dr. Kerry Richards, Sharon Lilly, and Rip Thompkins were the main presenters. Attendance was 588.

2004 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at the St. Edmund’s Home for Children in Rosemont..

2004 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at West Park, Pittsburgh. Over 70 volunteers participated.

2004 – Jenny Arkett received the chapter’s President’s award

2004 – Governor Ed Rendell launched the TreeVitalize program. An aggressive four-year, $8 million partnership to plant more than 20,000 shade trees and 2,000 acres to restore tree cover to southeastern Pennsylvania.

2004 – The chapter mourned the loss of Dale Vezzetti who died at 48 years of age. Dale was the Pittsburgh City Forester and active in the chapter for many years.

2004 – The chapter successfully hosted ISA’sAnnual Conference in Pittsburgh under the leadership of General Chair, John O. Smith. 2100 attended.

2004 – Something new at the ISA’s Annual Conference, a luncheon for Women in Arboriculture.

2004 – President Geoff Kempter directed that a task force be formed to investigate the issue of streamlining the Board of Directors in order to make it less administrative anddelegate more responsibility to the individuals who would be involved in planning or acting on any specific endeavor. A task force headed by Russ Carlson was formed. It included: Russ, Geoff Kempter, John Smith, Ben Tresselt III, and Gene McMillan,
2005 – Geoff Kempter, Chapter President

The 2005 40th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Tom Smiley, Dr. George Hudler, Dr. Richard Yahner, Greg Hoover, and Mark Chisholm were the main presenters. Attendance was 608 with 29 exhibitors.

2005 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Woodward Hills Cemetery in Lancaster.

2005 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at West Park, Pittsburgh.

2005 – At the Annual Business Meeting in February of 2005, The By-laws were changed to reflect the formation of the new BOD governing structure. At that same time, our Constitution was revoked, as it was no longer necessary. The new structure called for 11 Board members. The President, President-elect, Vice-President, the Past Presidents Delegate, the Chapter Rep to ISA BOD, and 6 Directors-at-large to be elected by the membership every 3 years

2005 – The chapter purchased a new equipment trailer to be used to carry equipment between the 3 tree climbing competitions A total of $5,000 was donated to purchase the trailer.

2005 – Ron Rankin and Jim Jimmo of Penn Line Service organized a utility arborist workshop for students of Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center. The students are enrolled in the school’s Power Line Tech 2000+ Program.

2005 – Vinny Cotrone, PA Urban & Community Forester in the northeast, worked to develop a marketing campaign that focused on stopping the destructive practice of tree topping.

2005 – Ben Tresselt III suggested that the chapter use the Pancoast Concern to do the layout and printing of the chapter’s newsletter. The new format was attractive and well accepted.

2005 – The Basic Arboriculture School moved to the Morris Arboretum and had another successful session offering instruction to 29 students.

2005 – John Smith received the Past Presidents’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

2005 – Policies & Procedures revised November 2005.

2005 – Jeff Dice was selected as Chair of the International Tree Climbing Championship Rules Committee. He served two 3-year terms until 2010.
2006 – Rick Johnson/Sarah Hoster, Chapter Presidents

The 2006 41st Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. Dr. Ann Brooks-Gould, Dr. Edward P. Krenzelock, James Urban, Ward Peterson, Greg Hoover, and Jim Ingram were the main presenters. Attendance was 685.

2006 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Bancroft Parkway in Wilmington Delaware.

2006 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Henle Park Leetsdale.

2006 – Sarah Hoster became the chapter’s first female president.

2006 – Policies & Procedures revised January 2006

2006 – Ben Tresselt III is elected to the TCIA Board of Directors.

2006 – Spearheaded by John Ward, Penn-Del began a Bacterial Leaf Scorch Funding Project. The funding went to Dr. Ann Gould of Rutgers University who had already been researching Bacterial Leaf Scorch for 3 years. By the end of 2006 we had $17,300 in donations.

2006 – The Basic Arboriculture School offered instruction to 31 students.

2006 – Our $15,000 per year, 5-year commitment to Penn State ended after 2007. In anticipation of the expiration, Chapter President, Sarah Hoster sent a letter to Dean Steele urging the establishment of an ArboricultureMinor within the Landscape Contracting Degree with the Management option.

2006 – The chapter donated $7,660 to the Tree Fund.
2007 – Sarah Hoster, Chapter President

The 2007 42nd Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. It was titled From the Roots to the Crown. Dr. Bonnie Appleton, Dr. Bruce Fraedrich, Dr. Chris Luley, Greg Hoover, Bob Benjamin, and Scott Prophett were the main presenters. Attendance was 695.

2007 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at West Park, Pittsburgh.

2007 – Thanks to Tony and Ben Tresselt III, this was the 5th year we had demonstration tree for the Tree Worker’s breakout session. We appreciated the ongoing volunteer efforts of Tony and Ben, and their crew from Arborist Enterprises, who perfected a system for setting up and taking down the rigging tree. This year, they were assisted by volunteers from Bob’s Crane Service.

2007 – In June of 2007, the Emerald Ash Borer was confirmed to be in western Pennsylvania.

2007 – The chapter awarded 3 Horace M. Thayer Scholarships to Evan Stearns, Ben Wright, and Kimberly Oellerisch, all attended Penn State University.

2007 – The Basic Arboriculture School offered instruction to 24 students.

2007 – Bacterial Leaf Scorch Funding Project had raised $25,150 since its inception.

2007 – Thanks to Rich Dexter, the chapter’s delegate to the Ag Council, andalso a member of the Ag Council Board of Directors, in October, the chapter sent a delegation to meet with Dean Steele at a Penn State Ag Council meeting. Chapter President, Sarah Hoster, Rich Dexter, and Bob Crusan, alternate delegate to the Ag Council attended to further our efforts to establish an ArboricultureMinor within the Landscape Contracting Degree with the Management option. We were seeking information that would allow the chapter to decide on whether to continue funding for another 5 years.

2007 – In November, the chapter sent our formal proposal to Dean Steele. Our terms were: “The Pennsylvania Delaware Chapter of the International Society of Arboricultureproposes to continue our support for a one-half time position of arboricultureinstructor by allocating $15,000.00 a year for the next five years. Our proposal is contingent upon the College of Ag Sciences matching our contribution and that the arboriculture minor would become a reality after approximately one year’s time. ”

2007 – Bill Graham Chaired the newly formed Nursery Quality Task Force in an effort to establish standards to improve the quality of nursery grown trees. Penn-Del partnered with the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association (PLNA), and numerous wholesale nursery growers to write the standard. The chapter endorsed a position statement.

2007 – Bill Johnston, Jr. started as Chair of the Policies & Procedures Committee.

2009 – Rich Dexter was elected the Penn State Ag Council BOD for a 3-tear term.

2007 – The chapter donated $6,560 to the Tree Fund.
2008 – Sarah Hoster, Chapter President

The 2008 43rd Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. It was titled Management Techniques for Emerging Invasive Pests in the Northeastern U.S. Dr. Donald Booth, Dr. Kevin Smith, Dr. Larry Kuhns, Dr. William Elmendorf, Dr. Rex Bastian, Dr. Anand Persad, Sven Eric-Spichiger from PA Dept. of Agriculture, and Scott Prophett were the main presenters. Attendance was 748.

2008 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Hope Lodge in Fort Washington.

2008 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Schenley Park, Pittsburgh.

2008 – Spring 2008, Penn State University approved and established the ArboricultureMinor within the Landscape Contracting Degree with the Management option. This was a huge, huge accomplishment for the chapter made possible by many members over a long period of time.

2008 – ISA and the ITCC made the Wall Street Journal for the second time in three years. An article entitled “The Art and Business of Tree Climbing appeared in the July 30 edition.

2008 – Jim Roach won the Invitational Masters Challenge for an unprecedented 7th time in the last 9 years since the Masters Challenge began in 2000.

2008 – The BOD voted to fund Penn State University for another 5 years at $15,000 per year to support a one-half time position of arboriculture instructor in the ArboricultureMinor within the Landscape Contracting Degree with the Management option.

2008 – For the first time, the Basic Arboriculture School held classes in 2 locations offering instruction to 33 students. Sixteen graduated in the western part of the state and 17 graduated in the western part of the state.

2008 – The BOD voted to move the Symposium out of the Lancaster Host. In 2011 we will be at the brand new Convention Center in downtown Lancaster.

2008 – Ben TresseltIII was elected to the TCIA Board of Directors for a second three-year term.

2008 – DCNR Secretary Michael DiBernadinis, launched the TreeVitalize program in Pittsburgh.

2008 – The chapter donated $6,090 to the Tree Fund.
2009 – Rich Vrboncic, Chapter President

The 2009 44th Symposium was held at the Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster. It was titled Tree Care for Modern Communities: People and Tree Interactions. Michael DiBernadinis Secretary of the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Sven Eric-Spichiger from PA Dept. of Agriculture, Gilbert High, Greg Hoover, Joe Bones, Alex Brown, Bill Graham, Jason Lubar, and Tony Tresselt were some of the presenters. Attendance was 571.

2009 – Arbor Day ceremonies and workdays were held at Seven Gables Park in Carlisle, Woodward Hills Cemetery in Lancaster, and Hess Par in New Wales Borough.

2009 – An Arbor Day ceremony and workday was held at Westinghouse Park in Pittsburgh.

2009 – Bill Graham, Chair of the Nursery Quality Task Force, was moving ahead in writing a standard to define high quality trees. The partnership grew to include representatives from Penn-Del ISA, PLNA, numerous wholesale nursery growers, the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service, DCNR, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and other organization representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Green Industry specialists. In September of 2009, a draft was completed of the Pennsylvania Nursery Tree Quality Standards and distributed to the group for review and comments.

2009 – The chapter formed a Volunteer Retention and Recruitment Committee chaired by Cheryl Bjornson.

2009 – DCNR Secretary Michael DiBernadinis expands the TreeVitalize program to all PA metropolitan areas.

2009 – Thanks to the efforts of John Ward, over a three-year period, the Penn-Del chapter raised more than $30,000 for Bacterial Leaf Scorch research. The work was conducted by Dr. Ann Gould, Plant Pathologist, at Rutgers University.

2009 – The chapter donated $5,000 to the Tree Fund.

2009 – A new law took effect that impacted the tree care industry. The Home Improvement Contractor law (Act 132 of 2008). Act 132 was passed by the General Assembly in the fall of 2008 and signed into law by the governor. The law took effect on July 1, 2009. In it specified that Tree Service Contractors who perform tree removals adding up to $5,000 or more in 1 calendar year, or $500 or more on an individual project, must be registered with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

2009 – The chapter awarded 4 Horace M. Thayer Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each to Bryan Westlake who attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture, Frank Grano attended Penn State Mont Alto, Matthew Giroud attended Penn State University, and Evan Stearn also attended Penn State University.

2009 – The Basic Arboriculture School offered instruction to 22 students.

2009 – Emerald Ash Borer continued to spread. As of the end of October 2009 a total of 11 Pennsylvania counties were under an order of quarantine.

2009 – Rich Dexter was elected the Penn State Ag Council BOD for another 3-tear term.