Congratulations to our very own Stephan Zimmerman for becoming an Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA). Fewer than 2% of Certified Arborists ever obtain this distinction, and Stephan is only the fourth arborist to ever attain this certification in the State of Kentucky. We’re very proud of him!

The ISA Board Certified Master Arborist® credential is the highest level of certification offered by ISA. This credential recognizes ISA Certified Arborists® who have reached the pinnacle their profession. In addition to passing an extensive scenario-based exam, candidates must abide by a Code of Ethics, which ensures quality of work.

http://www.angieslist.com/companylist/us/ky/louisville/limbwalker-tree-service-inc-reviews-289153.aspx

Angie’s List, a consumer report web page about service companies in the community, has awarded Limbwalker Tree Service with the Angie’s List Super Service Award for our service in 2011. This is the third consecutive year we have attained this award. This exclusive recognition is given annually to service companies who have achieved and maintained a superior service rating on Angie’s List throughout the past year. It is the highest honor given to companies by Angie’s List. Fewer than 5% of service companies on Angie’s List meet the eligibility requirements to be considered and even fewer actually receive the award.

We are very proud to have our professionalism and the quality of our work be recognized. We are prouder still that it is the consumers, our clients, who have consistently graded our performance so highly. This acknowledgment further strengthens our commitment to provide the best quality care and experience for our customers.

If you are an Angie’s List member, please log in to read our reviews on their website.

We are pleased to welcome our newest international visitor, Tomas “Tommy” Belina from Czech Republic. Tommy is an Arborist and Climber Specialist who has worked in Virginia and California for a national arboricultural company. He also volunteers his time as a High Angle Rescue Technician volunteer for ADRA, a humanitarian organization in his home country. Tommy heard about Limbwalker from some of our friends at the European Tree Climbing Championships in Prague. We hope to learn a lot from our newest friend!

Congratulations to our very own Stephan Zimmerman for becoming a Certified Tree Risk Assessor. This very difficult course was developed in the Pacific Northwest to train Certified Arborists how to assess and mitigate risks posed by trees. Good job Stephan!

Congratulations to our very own Cory Petry for winning the 2011 Kentucky Tree Climbing Championship! Cory will represent Kentucky in the International Tree Climbing Championship in Portland Oregon next year!  Click the link below to read the article in the Courier Journal.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20111015/NEWS01/310150041/Tree-climbers-compete-Louisville-s-Central-Park

Our friends at Original Makers Club have created a unique, quality, local business guide for Louisville. We’re very excited to be included.

A Limbwalker crew was filmed in Oldham County, removing storm damaged trees following a strong storm system. This video was posted on the Courier-Journal website. Rick Denbeau is seen working with Larry Sanger, the crane operator, to remove a fallen tree from the roof of a house. Limbwalker was also featured in an article in the Courier-Journal newspaper, discussing this same storm and damage in the area.

Angie’s List, a consumer report web page about service companies in the community, has awarded Limbwalker Tree Service with the Angie’s List Super Service Award for our service in 2010. This is the second consecutive year we have attained this award. This exclusive recognition is given annually to service companies who have achieved and maintained a superior service rating on Angie’s List throughout the past year. It is the highest honor given to companies by Angie’s List. Fewer than 5% of service companies on Angie’s List meet the eligibility requirements to be considered and even fewer actually receive the award.

We are very proud to have our professionalism and the quality of our work be recognized. We are prouder still that it is the consumers, our clients, who have consistently graded our performance so highly. This acknowledgment further strengthens our commitment to provide the best quality care and experience for our customers.

If you are an Angie’s List member, please log in to read our reviews on their website.

On October 16, tree climbers from ten states participated in the Kentucky Arborist Association’s annual Kentucky Tree Climbing Championship. The day long event was held in Louisville’s Central Park. This year there were a total of 27 competitors. There were 7 Limbwalker climbers that competed, all of whom placed in the top 10 Kentucky climbers!

This year’s men’s champion is Limbwalker’s own Rick Denbeau, placing first for the third year in a row. Rick will represent Kentucky next year at the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) in Australia. The other Masters Challenge competitors were Jesse Hesley of Lexington (2nd Place) and Limbwalker’s Chris O’Bryan (3rd Place). The women’s Master’s Challenge title went to Josie Spagnolo of Louisville.

After the site was cleared, it was on to the after-party Limbwalker hosted at our shop. There was amazing food and local microbrew, and a fantastic time enjoying Limbwalker’s family of friends. A Cuban meal was catered by Braulio Mesa, who also smoked briskets from Ashbourne Farms. Our friend Eric cooked a Maitake mushroom (Hen-of-the-Woods) brought by a visiting climber.

We would like to thank Naked Pizza, Louisville Water Company and Jimmy Johns, the local businesses that donated food and drinks for the set up and competition. Thank you to everyone who traveled and participated. Lastly, thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers that made this event possible.

We wish Josie and Rick the best in Australia next summer! It is a long and expensive trip to the far side of the world. We will be working hard with the KAA to raise the funds needed for our climbers to represent Kentucky at the 2011 ITCC.

We are proud to announce that Limbwalker’s fleet is now flying on biodiesel. Limbwalker Tree Service is now using a soy-biodiesel blend as the fuel mix for all our chip trucks and chippers. This has long been one of our goals in addressing the environmental impact of our production.

Biodiesel is produced from renewable sources such as new and used vegetable oils and animal fats. It is a cleaner-burning replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel. It is nontoxic, biodegradable, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

Biodiesel can reduce a vehicle’s lifetime carbon emissions by 60 to 80 percent, depending on the source, making it the best carbon reduction tool of any liquid fuel commercially available.

Rick Denbeau represented The Kentucky Arborists Association (KAA) and Limbwalker Tree Service at the 2010 ISA International Tree Climbing Competition in Chicago. Rick placed 6th overall, out of 39 competitors representing 14 countries. This is the best showing ever by a Kentucky climber at this International event.

Rick says that his ambition was to “try to relax and perform as best I could. The most important part of preparation is just performing everyday tree work and I do that day in and day out. ” With that being said, Rick did take this opportunity seriously and spent two months prior to the event getting physically and mentally prepared; running, pushups, pullups, eating healthy, and staying relaxed.

A huge part of these events is also the friendships made among the climbers and their cheerleaders, the camaraderie that is shared between all the competitors and spectators alike. Rick adds, “The best part of the whole ordeal is the support from friends and family and especially the Limbwalker family. Without them it’s no fun.”

Josephine Hedger, a Limbwalker Arborist in Residence (AIR) from earlier this year, won the 2010 Women’s International Tree Climbing title. Congratulations Rick, Josephine, and to all the other competitors and champions!!

Tim “TJ” Powell has just completed the requirements to become a Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP). This program was designed by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) to teach safety professionals strategies and tactics to coach his/her team in safe work practices and to work to change attitudes about safety and motivate other employees to want to participate.

The results of the 2008-2009 tree care industry Accident Survey show strong links between reduced accident rates and involvement in both the CTSP program and TCIA Accreditation. The typical TCIA member will have 50% fewer accidents than a non-member. An accredited member will experience 100% fewer accidents than the non-accredited non-member, and at the same time will profit from five times as much production in a year.

Earlier this year, Limbwalker Tree Service became the first and only tree service in Kentucky to have become accredited through TCIA.

TJ’s commitment to safety and responsible work practices and this achievement are emblematic of the safety program and level of technical proficiency we aspire to at Limbwalker. We take immense pride in our fantastic climbers and crew members. Great job, TJ!!

Experts estimate that more than 90 percent of wild honeybee colonies in North America have vanished in the last 10 years. Harsh weather conditions, overuse of pesticides, and attacks by two varieties of mites have decimated wild populations of these important pollinators. Cabrina Bosco, an experienced beekeeper, was invited to a Limbwalker foreman meeting to discuss beekeeping, the importance of bee conservation, and what to do if we ever came across a hive.

On a hot June Friday, Rick Denbeau, Jason Raisor, and Greg Cushing were removing an dead cherry tree. The colony was about thirty feet in the canopy of the long dead tree, but there was no sign of the bees until the tree was felled into the yard. Once the tree was on the ground, Jason went to untie the pull line. He was swarmed and stung dozens of times. Rick was also stung. Eyewitness accounts were both animated and dramatic, as the bees had surprise and fury on their side.

Cabrina Bosco was called to the scene. She and an assistant were able to retrieve the portion of the hive containing the queen and set a trap for the rest of the worker bees. By Wednesday of the following week, the bees were successfully relocated and Limbwalker was able to finish the job.

Follow this link to see more photos of the rescue.

All of Limbwalker’s production tree-crew members recently underwent training in First Aid, CPR, and the use of Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). The American Red Cross course was led by instructor Richard Allen at the Limbwalker shop. The twelve crew members who participated in the training were instructed in how to recognize, assess, and respond to common medical emergencies. Their new skills include treating victims for shock, helping a choking victim, responding to cardiac emergencies, and rendering First Aid in a variety of emergency situations.

Emergency preparedness and ongoing training is a cornerstone of our safety program. This emergency medical training further ensures that our team members stay current with all of the knowledge and tools they may need to perform their work safely. Instructor Allen also assessed the contents of the custom First Aid kits, which are standard on all of Limbwalker’s vehicles, to make sure that our crews have access to any resources they would need to respond to most emergency scenarios.

Our first Arborist In Residence (AIR) for 2010 was Josephine Hedger. Josephine operates a tree care service in the United Kingdom. She was the 2008 Women’s World Tree Climbing Champion. She also set a new world record for the Women’s Footlock at that competition, climbing 40 feet in an incredible 15.88 seconds.

Josephine was interested in coming to Limbwalker Tree Service after hearing the experiences of previous AIR participants and discovering the sunny attitude and friendship of the tree care industry in the United States. Josephine worked with our crews for 6 days prior to a tree climbing competition in Charlotte, NC. She returned to Louisville to work and play for an additional week, after the Icelandic volcano eruption suspended flights back to Europe.

Even after long hours in heat and humidity she is not accustomed to, her attitude was fantastic and her stamina and willingness to work were remarkable. Working with such an adept and experienced climber was a fantastic opportunity for our arborists and a chance for everyone to share skills and ideas. We have all also made a great friend. We asked her to share some of the highlights of her visit…

“I had the opportunity to climb species of trees which we do not see here in the UK. The highlight for me was climbing some huge beautiful Pin Oak trees, as they do not get that big here. We also had some difficult trees to work on, and to me that is the challenge of this job that I love. Finally, as someone who runs a tree care company, it was refreshing to turn up to a job I hadn’t seen, do the work, and be finished for the day. Most people think that I am mad to want to go on holiday and work, but climbing trees in my eyes isn’t work….just one big playground!

This was the best ‘holiday’ I have ever had. Limbwalker made me very welcome. Everyone that works there is a great individual character, I was pleased to rotate around the crews and work with everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Limbwalker (both at work and at play) and would highly recommend the AIR program.”

Thanks Josephine. Good luck in your upcoming European competitions, and we hope to be cheering you on in Chicago at this year’s international competition!!!

Limbwalker Tree Service, Inc has just become the first (and only) tree care company in Kentucky to achieve Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) Accreditation. The TCIA is a trade association of more than 2,000 commercial tree care services and affiliated companies. This “seal of approval” helps consumers identify tree care companies that have been inspected and accredited based on adherence to industry standards for quality and safety, maintenance of trained and professional staff, and a dedication to ethics and quality in business practices.

TCIA verified this by conducting an on-site audit of Limbwalker’s facilities and work sites. The review verifies compliance with:
• best business practices
• ethical business conduct
• formal training and certification of employees
• compliance with industry standards
• consumer satisfaction
• adherence to safety standards
• insurance coverage

TCIA’s on-site auditor, John Iurka, included in the official report, “Limbwalker is one of the best new small companies that I have audited. Their commitment to safe and professional operations is admirable. Their training regimen could be a goal for many companies.”

TCIA Accreditation for Limbwalker is in effect for a period of three years, with renewal check-ups required every year. The annual renewal ensures that the company continues to employ trained professionals, is still properly insured and has a good safety and consumer satisfaction rating. The company is reaccredited every three years.

The process of becoming accredited was no easy task. According to Cory Petry, co-owner of Limbwalker Tree Service, Inc., “The process is incredibly thorough. They left no stone unturned. We are pleased to have proven ourselves and to be recognized as one of the best tree care companies in the area.” TCIA interim president & CEO Mark Garvin echoes that sentiment by adding, “Limbwalker Tree Service, Inc. has made a commitment to excellence in all facets of its business. I applaud their efforts.”

On Saturday, April 3rd, Chris O’Bryan led a Tree Walk & Talk at Baringer Hill in Cherokee Park. An early morning spring shower threatened to postpone the event, but the members of the Olmsted Park Conservancy who did attend were rewarded with sunshine just as the walk began.

The primary topic of the walk was tree identification, but included a bit of tree appreciation as well. Since most of the deciduous trees have not leafed out yet, the attendees of the walk learned identify based on bud development and bark. Trees covered included American Beech (Fagus grandifolia), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea), Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), and American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis).

Limbwalker crews provided three days of volunteer work in Cherokee Park during February of 2010. Our team performed pruning and hazard tree felling in several areas, on trees which remained damaged from Hurricane Ike in 2008 and the ice storm of 2009. Limbwalker worked closely with Louisville Metro Parks and Olmsted Parks Conservancy to identify and remove the most hazardous hanging limbs and toppled trees. We appreciate the opportunity to donate our time to care for and enhance our community’s urban forest.