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Lemur Tree Care is on the cutting edge

Those at Lemur Tree Care aren’t lumberjacks, they’re who the lumberjacks call when they need an arborist.

By bringing in new technology and cutting edge techniques, Austin Fiedler, owner and operator said his company’s goal is to maintain high standards of tree maintenance and removal while keeping operations from damaging the environment.

“We’re not just thinking about one tree, we’re thinking about the whole forest,” he said.

After studying forestry at Penn State University and working with State College tree care services, Fiedler works to bring developed land into harmony with nature.

“I’m bringing the relationship of man and tree together and kind of like a counselor,” he said.

Though the process of cutting and removing trees may not be the first industry people would think of in respect to innovation, Fiedler said he’s working to change that.

Depending on the type of tree, some canopies can thick and dangerous to traverse but with machinery such as articulating cranes, and grappling saws, he said, “We can get everything done in a day, where it could take five guys and bucket trucks.”

Cranes additionally allow for reaching over houses, and where a climber would need to make unneeded cuts to reach the problem branches, this new technology allows an arborist to grab the problem appendage and remove it.

“You can lift it back over and nobody’s in the tree,” said Fiedler. “The only time the branch goes to the ground is when it’s being disposed of.”

Avoiding cumbersome man-lifts, which destroy the underlying ground with heavy treads, allows for low impact to the ground cover and worker safety.

Lemur Tree Care adheres to the American National Standards Institute A300, which operates much like Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in setting tree care standards. An arborists job is still one of the most dangerous is America.

There was a statistic put out in 2013 that if arborists work in the field for 25 years, there’s a 100 percent chance of fatality,” said Fiedler, who added that the only time his crews break with ANSI A300 is when they find a safer way through their experience.

This in addition to a rule healthcare professionals also use, if a safer method is suggested by a fellow crewman – it isn’t argued, only followed, regardless of rank or position.

Trees aren’t made to promote safety, thats why Fiedler said he recommends landowners take a minute to contemplate their own safety when determining if they should call a professional service.

“Is it worth it?” he said. “What does your family think?”

Though calling arborists can cost a few hundred or thousand dollars, Fiedler said, “If you don’t have the appropriate equipment, you don’t have the appropriate training, it isn’t worth the risk.”

In the future, Fielder said he hopes to bring forestry knowledge to the general public and allow for a type of apprenticeship program to develop in his company by keeping their employee count down, supplemented by high-end equipment to change the industry norm of low-pay.

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