- An Ecologist is explicitly trained in the health of the interdependence of all biota in an ecosystem. A forest ecologist is trained in the health of interdependence of forest biota.
- While Biologists generally care about biota, they are only trained to understand one species at a time. The exception is when they deal with diseases, such as beetles abnormally infesting a tree.
- Biologists are rarely trained in or understand ecological inter-dependence.
The word interdependence does not even appear in most Biology textbooks.
- (In more than ten years of research, I have yet to find a single one.)
- A Forester’s job is to use trees, not to protect them as living entities or their ecosystem values. A Forester is paid to find trees which can be cut down or to find reasons to cut specific trees down.
A Forester is only trained to, acts to, and is rewarded by maximizing removal of trees and biomass from a forest for the production of sawtimber, pulpwood or seeds. Foresters are only interested in the health of the specific trees they can remove or use – at the expense of all other forest health including other trees, animals, insects, plants, flowers and soils. Foresters are only trained to see trees as an agricultural product – not as part of a multifaceted interdependent ecosystem. A monoculture tree farm is generally their ideal “forest.”
The simple way to remember this is the Ecologists’ goal is vertical trees. Contrary to this is the Forester’s goal is to make trees horizontal.
- An Arborist is only interested in the appearance and form of individual trees regardless of the suitability of soils or other environmental conditions. Arborist certification does not require understanding ecosystem health – or protecting it. One expert says “An arborist is another name for grounds maintenance workers.” (1)
- A Horticulturist’s (or Orchardist’s) goal is the maximum production of fruit (such as Johnny Appleseed).
When hiring an “expert” to assist with health of a forest, whether an “urban forest” or a wildland forest it is a serious mistake, both financially and ecologically, to use any expert except an ecologist.
Arborists, foresters and even “one species at a time biologists” regularly and systematically make decisions harming the health of a forest ecosystem for decades – or longer.
When an already imperiled forest is involved, their uninformed and misinformed harmful decisions can put an ecosystem on a path to extinction – irreversible extinction.
Trying to give agencies the utmost benefit of the doubt, many government agencies in charge of forests, planning departments and environmental consulting firms, “mistakenly believe” (or want you to believe) that a “Certified arborist” or a forester is expert in understanding the health of a tree and the ecosystem it lives in.
The less diplomatic way to put this is that agencies intentionally hire an “expert” who will tell them only what they want to hear – providing them with “green cover” so they can destroy tree ecosystems. Such bogus assessment often end up overturned by courts because they cannot be backed up with scientific research.
In reality, the only genuine expert in forest ecosystem health is (not surprisingly) a Forest Ecologist. While in the long run hiring a Forest Ecologist is always a less expensive to protect an ecosystem’s health, surprisingly few agencies understand that it is often also less expensive in the short term to hire a forest ecologist.
References:
Arborist Certification Requirements, by Chanel Adams
