Earth To Sky Tree Care

Earth To Sky Tree Care is run by owner and director Jamie Alexander out of Coffs Harbour. He describes his botanical journey as running through horticulture, then conservation and land management, before it culminated in arboriculture, and that order shows in how the business works. Its stated ethos is working alongside nature and in its natural processes, doing right by the trees, the local fauna and the client.

Tree pruning is carried out in line with AS 4373-2007, Pruning of Amenity Trees. That covers structural and maintenance work: formative pruning on young trees, selective pruning, dead wood removal, crown lifting and crown thinning. There is also reduction pruning, pollarding, storm damage remediation, hedging and topiary, and palm clean up and fruit removal for the palms that drop fronds and seed everywhere once they get away from you.

Where a tree has to go, tree removal is offered, but the more unusual part of the business is what it does instead of removal. Habitat creation treats a dying or dead tree as an opportunity rather than a job. The tree is stagged to make it safe, then chainsaw made hollows are cut into the standing stem, using upcycled offcuts to close them in. The reasoning is practical: plywood nest boxes insulate poorly for native wildlife, and leaving them hanging for years can hurt the tree they are strapped to. A carved hollow in a retained stem does the same job better.

The habitat work goes further than hollows. Dead trees are retained as habitat features where it is safe to keep them, fracture pruning is used to encourage the fungal and wildlife activity that normally follows a natural limb failure, and ground and aquatic habitat is built for frogs, fish and turtles. Design is based on the living requirements of the particular local wildlife being targeted, and wildlife monitoring is offered afterwards. Tree planting is done selectively, chosen to support and attract wildlife rather than just to fill a gap.

The business works for private and commercial clients around Coffs Harbour and out through Woolgoolga, Sawtell, Emerald Beach, Moonee Beach, Bonville, Bellingen, Nana Glen, Glenreagh, Nymboida, Wooli, Ulmarra and Yamba. Trading hours are Monday to Saturday, 7am to 5pm. If you want an arborist who will look for a way to keep the tree standing before quoting to take it out, this is that sort of operator.