[CANUFNET] CTLA Plant Appraisal Guide 10 Edition - Not ready for publication

Mon May 15 09:14:55 EDT 2017

thanks Julian and Philip

I have spent considerable time on reviewing the 10th edition on behalf of
the RPAC of ISA Ontario. I did send my comments to Jim Ingram on behalf of
ASCA.  Jim Clark and Mark Duntemann were my main contacts and provided
updates and answered questions. 

I haved mixed feelings on the 10th edition.

First of all I feel that the CTLA goals for the 10th edition as stated below
have been met.

1. Build, strengthen,

improve on the 9th

edition.

2. Discuss concepts &

process of plant

appraisal.

3. Align plant appraisal

terminology with that

of general appraisal.

However as taken out of my reply:

"Second of all it was agreed by all (mentors, advisors and committee
members) back in 2011 that unit tree cost be determined from retail
installed cost. Now it will be determined by nursery tree cost. In our
research from our committee we conducted  detailed nursery surveys and
installation surveys with different guarantee periods. We advised appraisers
to check from wholesale nurseries to find the largest commonly available
transplantable tree  keeping in mind that the best fit for the formula would
be approx. 90 mm. caliper. Tree Services as a rule here do not plant many
trees so we included landscape contractors to the installation survey and
came up with an acceptable multiplication factor. So in fact the replanting
cost was built into the formula and additional costs such as removal and
cleanup could be added on at the end. In my opinion it would be much more
difficult to determine maintenance costs (who keeps records of this
anyways?) for the planting of young trees as compared to determining retail
installed cost using a researched and industry acceptable multiplication
factor.

The proposed depreciation factors will include:

Condition

Functional Limitations

External Limitations

What happened to the Species Factor? There is a huge difference when you
assess a Heritage Tree such as a White Oak versus an Manitoba Maple  or
lower quality Siberian Elm would you think? I cannot see the reasoning for
eliminating this important component. Our goal here at least is/was to
replicate the appraised tree as closely as possible."

Lastly I am saddened that many appraisers, institutions and municipalities
in Ontario are still using the last published universal tree cost  (2003 -
$6.51 per square cm.) based on the Ontario Supplement to the 8th edition
which is now redundant but we do still use the species ratings table from
within. The message somehow is just not getting out even though the recent
updates are posted on the ISAO web site.

http://www.isaontario.com/news/plant-appraisal-guide-status-update

best Jack Radecki RCA 342

From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Philip
van Wassenaer via CANUFNET
Sent: May 12, 2017 12:33 PM
To: jd at dunster.ca; 'Julian Dunster'; 'Canadian Urban Forest Network'
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] CTLA Plant Appraisal Guide 10 Edition - Not ready
for publication

Julian,

Thanks for sharing this important document. The development of the 10th
guide has been fraught with huge challenges as can be seen in this analysis
and position statement and also by how long it is taking to arrive at the
next edition. I just wanted to thank you and the PVAC members for taking the
time to continue to defend the ISA membership and those of us in the
industry who rely on the Guide and its contents on a regular basis to
fulfill our tree valuation assignments. I have only done a cursory review of
the current draft and found many of the issues that the committee has raised
in that review.

ISA and ASCA members likely perform more tree valuations than any of the
other member groups of CTLA. It is greatly appreciated that the PVAC
realizes that fact and has so effectively communicated the concerns that
many of our colleagues feel. Many of us have felt powerless to influence the
current direction that the Guide is taking plant valuation. With this
position statement I feel as if our collective voices have been heard and
that we do have power through our representative committee at the ISA.

I will look forward to further communications and hope the committee will
continue to take this stance and periodically update the ISA plant valuation
community as to the direction that the 10th edition is taking and how and
when we can again provide comment on any subsequent (hopefully) drafts of
the Guide.

Please feel free to pass this message of support to our esteemed colleagues
on the committee.

Sincerely,

Philip van Wassenaer, B.SC., MFC

Urban Forest Innovations Inc.

1331 Northaven Drive

Mississauga ON L5G 4E8

Tel:  (905) 274-1022

Cell: (647) 221-3046

Fax: (905) 274-2170

UFI new logo very small

www.urbanforestinnovations.com <http://www.urbanforestinnovations.com/> 

UFI has moved! Please note our new address.

From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Julian
Dunster via CANUFNET
Sent: May-11-17 10:22 PM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Subject: [CANUFNET] CTLA Plant Appraisal Guide 10 Edition - Not ready for
publication

The ISA's Plant Appraisal & Valuation Committee (PAVC) has reviewed the
January, 2017 draft of the Guide for Plant Appraisal, 10th Ed. PAVC also
received and reviewed 459 comments on the draft from six ISA members. 

I have served on this committee since the early 2000's. Other members are:
Lew Bloch, Russ Carlson, Scott Cullen, Adam Hollis (UK), John Harris, Dr.
James Kielbaso, Joe McNeil, Burton Smeltzer, Dr. Davis Sydnor, and Mark
Duntemann (recused from the endorsement).

After much deliberation the PAVC members joined in a unanimous (with one
recusal) PAVC position statement: 

- the draft is technically incorrect, seriously biased, and poorly written

- it should not be published as written, and

- if published substantially as written, PAVC will not endorse it.

A copy of the position statement is attached.

On Behalf of Dunster and Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd.

Dr. Julian A Dunster R.P.F., R.P.P.., M.C.I.P., ISA Certified Arborist,
ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist # 378, 
ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
BC Wildlife Danger Tree Assessor
Honourary Life Member ISA + PNWISA

North American distributor for Rinntech 
www.dunster.ca

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