What is your official title at CU-麻豆影院? How long have you been here? What is the nature of your role?
I am the Lead Arborist for Facilities Operations for Facilities Management on 麻豆影院's Main Campus. I started at CU in 1997 as a six-month temp, and then I extended, and then I was brought on full time. I think I鈥檓 going on my sixteenth year as a full time employee. I鈥檓 responsible for all of the trees in the General Fund areas on campus. By General Fund, I mean all the academic buildings and the common areas, a lot of the fields, the open areas on campus. I work with one other person directly, Joel Serafin. And we take on guys from the other crews.
We do care and maintenance, installations and removals for all the trees in those areas. We have about 4,000 trees. I鈥檓 from Chicago originally, and I came out here with my family in late grade school鈥� my dad worked at CSU, he worked in biology as well, he worked in clinical pathology as a lab technician and that had a huge influence on my interest in biology and life science.
What kind of educational and professional background do you have? How does one end up being an arborist?
I鈥檓 probably not really the typical way. I don鈥檛 have a degree. I studied some forestry and a lot of ecosystem biology. I was always very interested in that stuff, but never finished a degree. And I was working in trucking and warehousing and that type of work from my teens until my early thirties. And that鈥檚 when I came on here and I just wanted to work outside so I got a job as a grounds keeper, and I always had a lot of interest in forestry and tree care. And I had a little bit of experience and background in it and as people saw that I had an aptitude for it and an interest in it, they encouraged it and I was able to get more training. I was able to pick up more skills, learn more techniques and go to conferences and workshops. And I was able to work with people from the outside, from the city and different people, and was able to learn quite a bit and I was eventually promoted into a Lead Arborist position here. I think I鈥檝e worked hard to learn a lot of things and do a lot of things, but I kind of got lucky too, and I was in the right place at the right time.
What is your favorite kind of tree and why?
Oh boy. So, I guess, from a maintenance standpoint of trees that are around here, my favorite would be the Kentucky coffee tree. We have a handful of them on campus. They have really interesting bark texture and an unusual kind of serpentine, twisty canopy.
My two favorite ones are by the Engineering Center, on the northwest and southwest corner; there are really cool Kentucky coffee trees there. I like the Kentucky coffee tree a lot because it鈥檚 so interesting in all seasons. I鈥檓 a wintertime person, I like the way things look in the winter. I like the bark texture, I like the silhouette of the canopy when it鈥檚 out of leaf, plus it has a circular, serpentine, kind of swirling crown and canopy. It doesn鈥檛 have the typical kind of scaffold branches; it鈥檚 got these kinds of unusual twists and turns. I call it a haunted house kind of quality, trees that kind of look like a haunted house in the old monster movies. I like that a lot and I think it鈥檚 an underutilized tree. And it鈥檚 a great tree for Colorado. And it鈥檚 a tree that people don鈥檛 think of as a shade tree for their yard, but I think they should because it has a lot going for it. It鈥檚 a good tree. It鈥檚 hard to say which is my favorite tree on campus, but if you had to hold me to it, I鈥檇 say the Kentucky coffee tree.
My favorite trees altogether are the big guys on the west coast, like the giant Doug firs, the Port Orford cedars and the coastal redwoods. That stuff is pretty amazing. We actually planted a giant Sequoia on campus near Engineering. I鈥檓 hoping it will do pretty well, but we might not have the amount of water for it to get really big, but it鈥檚 growing fast and establishing. There was a spot there, and it was protected and out of the wind, and it won鈥檛 get vandalized there. Fingers crossed. It鈥檚 been there four or five years and it鈥檚 picking up steam.
What do you find inspiring or gratifying about your work at CU 麻豆影院?
Well, I don鈥檛 want to sound too sappy鈥�
Was that pun intended?
Oh no, I didn鈥檛 think of that! It was not intended. I don鈥檛 want to sound too corny, how about that? I really enjoy working outside and working with my hands, and I am really grateful to have this job because to me, it鈥檚 a great blend of intellectual and physical work. I get to work really hard, get dirty and tired, but I have to really think about what I鈥檓 doing. It鈥檚 cerebral, it鈥檚 artistic and it鈥檚 very interesting.
I鈥檝e been a biology nerd since I was a little boy. I guess I take satisfaction and I really enjoy the fact that in twenty and fifty, one hundred, and even two hundred years, there are going to be trees on this campus that I planted. Not just me, but my co-workers too, our group鈥� trees that our crew planted. We鈥檙e part of the heritage of the land and our work has a major impact on the landscape for decades, and maybe even centuries. If that doesn鈥檛 inspire you, then I don鈥檛 know what else would. Doing that is cool, and it鈥檚 not just me, it鈥檚 groups of us who do this. I鈥檓 part of this whole group that鈥檚 making an impact on the aesthetics of campus for decades, and that鈥檚 really inspiring.
If you had unlimited funds to do any kind of tree/arbor project on campus that you wanted, what would you do and why?
If we had the money and the land, and the labor resources, I would like us to have our own nursery or growing operation. We鈥檝e gotten some really good products over the years, but it鈥檚 tough to get exactly what you want the way you want it, the size and condition that you want it, and the time of year that you want it. I think it would be really interesting and really great if we grew our own stock, from either very small trees or even from seed in some cases, and cultivated and created our own stock of material for replacement. We could take our time and do it the right way and get the root material right. We could cultivate them the proper way and improve our success rate on stuff long term. We do pretty well, and we have a high rate of success on our plantings, but a great deal of the problems we have could be eliminated if we had our own nursery and we ran our own operation. We wouldn鈥檛 just be at the mercy of whatever is out there, whatever came in that month or that year. We usually have a nice selection, but every once in a while there is something unusual that you would like. And so we could cultivate our own specimen trees and we could take scions off of our existing, historical trees that we want to preserve. We鈥檙e going to try and do that anyway, but with a nursery, we could do a lot of that type of thing and have legacy trees. I think if I had a giant staff of people and a lot of money and some good land that would be kind of a dream thing to do.
Why is your/your team鈥檚 work important and valuable for the campus?
We鈥檝e seen studies that indicate that people decide if they鈥檙e going to go to a university in the first twenty minutes that they鈥檙e there. Students get out of the car and walk around and they鈥檝e already decided, I鈥榤 not coming here or I love it. And what they see, the minute they get out the door, is our turf; the condition of our hardscapes; our shrubs and our trees; that the trash is picked up; the place is swept up; the mulch is where it鈥檚 supposed to be; and all that. That might not register explicitly that this is what they鈥檙e picking up on, but subconsciously they鈥檙e seeing a place where it鈥檚 obvious that people care. And of course, with the Flatirons background, that doesn鈥檛 hurt either. I think our team is critical to getting people interested in coming here and staying here.
Obviously the academics are the principal motivation for considering CU in the first place, but once you鈥檝e gotten off the plane, and you鈥檙e walking around campus, you see our work. I鈥檇 like to think it has a big impact on people鈥檚 decisions. I think they like it and they feel comfortable here, and they know it鈥檚 maintained. Parents see it and they know that someone here cares about the institution and the upkeep of the place, and that translates in other ways. It seems like a welcoming, reasonable place.
Also, for my work partner and me, public safety is a huge part of it. We have approximately 4,000 cultivated trees on campus that we care for. It鈥檚 really difficult to keep track of the condition of all of those trees and to make sure that they鈥檙e safe to be under. We have to visually inspect, or climb, or use the bucket truck to get into these trees and inspect them. We always keep an eye on them and assess them after storm events, wind events and different things like that. And we have to watch for disease and pest issues, to make sure the structural integrity of the trees is above the threshold for public safety. It鈥檚 an enormous part of our work, and it鈥檚 the thing that wakes me up in the middle of the night, like when the wind blows and I hear the wind howling, I鈥檓 thinking, 鈥淚 hope this and that are ok.鈥� And to our credit, we take safety very seriously and we鈥檝e spent a lot of years keeping everything as safe as we can and we work hard to do it. It鈥檚 an important part of the job and it鈥檚 a way that I feel that I have a direct impact on the safety and welfare of the public that uses our campus.
CU-麻豆影院 has the new 鈥淏e 麻豆影院.鈥� platform to highlight the positive impacts and achievements of the university, and is using 鈥淏e statements,鈥� like 鈥淏e Innovative鈥� or 鈥淏e Driven.鈥� As the Lead Arborist on the CU-麻豆影院 campus, what 鈥淏e statement鈥� would you use?
I would say, 鈥淏e flexible.鈥� Every week and every day I have a work plan, but things rarely go as planned. Things change. We have a lot of construction and things that you don鈥檛 hear about until the last minute, and different projects and different installations and things. And so we frequently have to be flexible-minded, be open-minded to just switching gears and changing the type of work we鈥檙e doing pretty quickly. We also have to be flexible in that we have a lot of challenges for the types of trees we鈥檙e maintaining and that people want to install and have on campus. We have to do some new and creative things to get those trees to live here, because they don鈥檛 belong here. Also, a lot of people have really strong opinions about trees. People are emotional about trees, and they have strong feelings and strong ideas about what should and shouldn鈥檛 happen to the trees on campus. I have to make decisions about what to do on campus - sometimes based on safety - and so I have to be flexible and open-minded and satisfy a lot of different people and many different push-and-pulls. So as an arborist, I would say, 鈥淏e flexible. Be open-minded. Be creative. Be experimental.鈥�
鈥淪taff Council Spotlight鈥� is an initiative of the BCSC Awards & Staff Recognition Committee (BCSC/ASR). Contact Serena Leland, 麻豆影院 Campus Staff Council (BCSC) Representative, at serena.leland@colorado.edu with comments or if you have a person you would like to recommend for the Spotlight series.
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