{"id":5934,"date":"2011-02-21T21:10:52","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T05:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/?p=5934"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:57:38","slug":"whats-the-difference-between-a-forest-ecologist-a-biologist-a-forester-an-arborist-and-a-horticulturist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/whats-the-difference-between-a-forest-ecologist-a-biologist-a-forester-an-arborist-and-a-horticulturist\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the difference between a Forest Ecologist, a Biologist, a Forester, an Arborist and a Horticulturist ?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><strong>Copyright 2003-2011 David Dilworth<\/strong><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>An <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><a style=\"color: #008000;\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecologist\">Ecologist<\/a> is explicitly trained in the <u>health of the interdependence of all biota<\/u> in ecosystems. A <u>forest ecologist<\/u> is trained in the health of interdependence of forest biota<\/span>. None of the other tree-related professions have this training.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>While <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Biologist\">Biologists<\/a> generally care about biota, they are only trained to understand <u><em>one species at a time<\/em>.<\/u> The exception is when they deal with diseases, such as a fungus or beetles abnormally infesting a tree.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<li><strong>Biologists<\/strong> are rarely trained in or understand <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>ecological inter-dependence.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>The word <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>interdependence<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">does not even appear in most Biology textbooks !<\/span><br \/>\n<\/u><\/p>\n<ol>(In more than thirty years of research, I have yet to find a single one.)<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Forester\">Forester&#8217;s<\/a> job is to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">use trees<\/span>, not to protect them as living entities or their ecosystem or intrinsic values. A <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Forester is paid to find trees which can be cut down or to find reasons to cut specific trees down.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Forester<\/span> is only trained to, acts to, and is rewarded by <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">maximizing removal of trees and biomass from a forest for the production of sawtimber<\/span>, pulpwood or seeds. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Foresters are only interested in the health of the specific trees they want to remove or use &#8211; at the expense of all other forest health including other trees, animals, insects, plants, flowers and soils.<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Foresters<\/span> are only trained to see <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">trees as an agricultural product<\/span> &#8211; not as part of a multifaceted, interdependent ecosystem. A Forester&#8217;s ideal &#8220;forest&#8221; <\/strong><strong>is generally a monoculture tree farm!<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The simple way to remember this is <strong>the <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Ecologists&#8217; goal is vertical trees.<\/span><\/strong> Contrary to this is the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Forester&#8217;s goal is to make trees horizontal.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>An <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Arborist<\/span> is only interested in the <u>appearance and form of individual trees<\/u> independent of the soil suitability or other environmental conditions. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><u>Arborist certification does not require understanding ecosystem health &#8211; or protecting it<\/u>.<\/span> One expert says &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ehow.com\/list_6059509_arborist-certification-requirements.html\">An arborist is another name for grounds maintenance workers.<\/a>&#8221; (1)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Horticulturist\">Horticulturist&#8217;s (or Orchardist&#8217;s)<\/a> goal is the maximum <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">production of fruit<\/span> (such as Johnny Appleseed).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><center>_________________<\/center><strong>Commentary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>When hiring an \u201cexpert\u201d to assist with health of a forest, whether an \u201curban forest\u201d or a wildland forest it is a serious mistake, both financially and ecologically, to use any expert except an ecologist. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arborists, foresters and even \u201cone species at a time biologists\u201d regularly and systematically make decisions harming the health of a forest ecosystem for decades \u2013 or longer.<\/p>\n<p>When an already imperiled forest is involved, their uninformed and misinformed harmful decisions can put an ecosystem on a path to extinction \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/env\/extinction-is-truly-forever\/\"><u>irreversible extinction<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trying to give agencies the utmost benefit of the doubt, many government agencies in charge of forests, planning departments and environmental consulting firms, \u201cmistakenly believe\u201d (or want you to believe) that a &#8220;<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Certified arborist<\/span><\/strong>&#8221; or a <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">forester<\/span><\/strong> is expert in understanding the health of a tree and the ecosystem it lives in.<\/p>\n<p>The less diplomatic way to put this is that <strong>agencies who want to destroy tree ecosystems often intentionally hire an &#8220;expert&#8221; who will tell them only what they want to hear<\/strong> &#8211; providing them with &#8220;green cover.&#8221; Such bogus assessment often end up overturned by courts because they cannot be backed up with scientific research.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, <strong>the <em>only genuine expert in forest ecosystem health<\/em><\/strong> is (not surprisingly) a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Forest_ecology\"><strong>Forest Ecologist<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While in the long run <strong>hiring a Forest Ecologist is always a less expensive to protect an ecosystem\u2019s health<\/strong>, surprisingly few agencies understand that it is often also <strong>less expensive in the short term to hire a forest ecologist.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ehow.com\/list_6059509_arborist-certification-requirements.html\">Arborist Certification Requirements, by Chanel Adams<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Copyright 2003-2011 David Dilworth&nbsp; An Ecologist is explicitly trained in the health of the interdependence of all biota in ecosystems. A forest ecologist is trained in the health of interdependence of forest biota. None of the other tree-related professions have &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/whats-the-difference-between-a-forest-ecologist-a-biologist-a-forester-an-arborist-and-a-horticulturist\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5934"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9856,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions\/9856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}