Arboriculture Consultancy Group

Arboriculture Consultancy Group is a consulting practice rather than a cutting crew. It was founded in 2007 by Andrew and Rebeccah Norman, who between them bring around 70 years in arboriculture, and Rebeccah now runs it as lead consultant and owner off the back of a 30 year career in the industry. The firm works across the Far South Coast of New South Wales and the Snowy Monaro.

The qualifications are the product. Rebeccah holds a Diploma at Level 5 Arborist, completed in 2023, on top of a Diploma of Horticulture from 2000 and Level 3 Arborist certification going back to 1995. She has trained in tree mechanics and the body language of trees under Dr Claus Matteck, whose visual assessment method underpins much of how decay and failure risk are read in a standing tree, and she is a member of Arboriculture Australia.

Day to day the work is visual tree assessments and risk assessments, the reports a council, school or property owner needs before deciding whether a tree stays or goes. From there the practice writes tree management plans, tree retention guidelines and works programs, which set out what should be done to a tree population and in what order rather than just flagging problems. GPS mapping and locating ties the assessments to a plan of the site. Roadside tree management covers the corridor work that regional councils carry.

The newer capability is aerial. Rebeccah has been a CASA certified drone chief remote pilot since 2024, and the firm has moved to drone-based aerial habitat inspections for reading hollows, decay and canopy condition on trees too large or too dangerous to climb for the sake of an inspection. It gets a set of eyes into the top of a veteran tree without putting anyone in it.

The client list backs the approach up. ACG has held ongoing work with Bega Valley Shire Council since 2007 and with the NSW Education Department. The thread through the work is ecological: managing risk while keeping veteran and habitat trees standing where the numbers allow it, rather than defaulting to removal. Contact is on 0409 530 832.