Arboressence

For twelve years running, Gerard Reynolds was ranked among the four best tree climbers in Australia, competing at regional and international championships. That is the standard Arboressence was started to, when Gerard and Wiebke Reynolds set it up in 2006, and it is still the standard the crew is hired against. We work out of Wangaratta and cover Victoria's north east and southern New South Wales, on town blocks and rural properties on both sides of the border.

Gerard holds a Diploma and Certificate IV in Arboriculture from Burnley College at Melbourne University, an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification and a Certificate II in ESI Vegetation Clearance, and is active with the Victorian Tree Climbing Association, Arboriculture Australia and the International Society of Arboriculture. Rod Hall runs operations and came to us in 2020 after running his own tree care business in Gippsland and teaching arboriculture at Wodonga TAFE and ClimberTrainingAustralia. Paul Fruzynski has been climbing with us since 2011 and carries the same TRAQ qualification as Gerard. Leon Elliott joined in 2013. Behind them, Rhys, Gus and Nick are working through their Certificate III, and Wiebke runs the office, which is to say Wiebke runs everything that is not a tree.

Rope access is why the qualifications matter on the ground and not just on paper. A climber on rope reaches parts of a tree no elevated platform will ever get to, works within the canopy instead of at it, and does it without a machine tracking across your lawn or your septic field. It is also what makes the technical jobs possible. Cabling and bracing is the clearest example: a tree with a weak union or a heavy limb it can no longer carry does not automatically have to come out, because a properly installed support system can hold that structure for years and keep a mature tree standing that a lesser option would have removed.

Around that sits the ordinary work: tree maintenance, tree care and long term tree management for owners who would rather plan a tree's next twenty years than react to it, plus tree removal and stump grinding when the decision goes the other way. We also handle pest and disease identification and control, fit possum guarding, and take on arboricultural consultancy for anyone who needs the judgement written down. Schools, local councils, insurance agencies and private owners have been coming back to us for close to two decades.

The paperwork is in order too, which matters more than it sounds when a crew is working over a school playground or a council footpath. We run a documented work health, safety and environmental management system covering the high risk activities, and carry ten million dollars of indemnity, twenty million of public liability, vehicle cover and WorkCover. Ring (03) 5725 7493 or request a booking or a quote through the site, and we will get someone out to look at the tree.