Urban Forestry Technician - Facilities & Equipment

Facilities & Equipment
One of the things we're most proud of with the Urban Forestry program is the development of our indoor training facility, outdoor training facility and the unique equipment we have to support our training program. To accomplish this we had several partners who donated time and materials. We also had tremendous financial support from Congressman David Obey in the form of a $500,000 federal grant.

Indoor Training Facility
Our indoor training facility was constructed to concentrate training in aerial tree techniques. Here, the instructor can have many students off the ground to facilitate hands-on training of various climbing, pruning and removal techniques.			These images show some of the custom training stations we designed and built. The ability to install and create different climbing and removal set ups on a daily basis is a real strength of this facility.

Here is the indoor facility being used for aerial tree climbing.

Tell Me, Show Me, Let Me is our training system here at MSTC. Here is a student using an electric chainsaw. He is working on his skills for tree removal techniques at low altitude under the close supervision of his instructor.

Outdoor Training Facility
We have constructed a non-energized distribution power line for demonstration purposes on campus as part of the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Education Center. This training line is used to teach proper aerial techniques to prune trees away from electrical conductors and for demonstrating proper management of trees along power lines.			A student demonstrates training in the use of chain saws. The horizontal station holding this log was engineered to facilitate this training. Every student in this program learns how to operate chain saws. We take great pride in developing the correct safety habits from the moment someone begins operating this machine.

Here is a sample of the species demonstration for the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Education Center. It includes a sampling of what can be grown in central Wisconsin in addition to the most commonly planted species.

This outdoor training facility was designed and built to support chain saw training. Sarah Erickson shows off skills she developed during her first year in our program. Joe Hoffman, Urban Forestry Instructor, assists her as she sets up for this removal cut while tied into the structure above. This is low level training where the instructor can be right there for hands-on instruction.

This group of photos shows how to make a felling or notch cut when removing a tree. The log is held in a special vertical training station so the student can get dozens of repetitions on this critical cutting skill before actually felling a tree.

Equipment
This articulated front end loader pivots in the middle rather than spinning the wheels to turn as a skid steer loader does. This type of loader does much less turf damage than skid loaders and therefore is much better suited to landscape and tree care operations. This unit also has several attachments used for various tree and landscape tasks.			The front end loader is used to teach how to mechanize landscape operations. That includes utilizing machines to save bodies wherever we can at school and on the job site. The loader is delivering a tree to a planting site.

The landscape equipment trailer has the tools needed to roll onto a job site and take care of most landscape maintenance needs. This unit is modeled after contractor trailers used by commercial crews.

We also have a four wheel drive Kubota tractor with a loader for landscape use. In this photo it is pulling a sprayer used to transport water for tree planting.			Each fall the mulch wagon is used to deliver over 300 cubic yards of mulch to the MSTC campus. This unit is actually a hay feeder wagon from North Dakota. It is a flat unloading trailer for moving animal feeds but it also works great for bark mulch. This unit demonstrates mechanization in the Urban Forestry industry.

Here is our Vermeer stump grinder on its transport trailer. Students have the opportunity to run this machine at various work sites on and off campus.			Part of tree care operations is dragging branches to the chipper and turning them into mulch. This Morbark brush chipper is a model common in the tree care industry across the country. All students in the program learn to operate this unit.

Travis Derks, a recent graduate, shows off our new aerial lift truck. This four wheel drive unit can reach 42 feet into trees for pruning, removals, tree support systems and lightning protection system installation. It is ideal for working on golf courses and other properties we utilize as part of our living laboratory in central Wisconsin.

Here we show three pieces of equipment in our fleet. The trailer in the rear is a log loading unit used for hauling logs and branches back to our lab. It has a hydraulic arm for loading wood. The large trailer in the front of the picture is for hauling equipment and large loads. The vibratory plow on this trailer is for installing irrigation systems on residential and commercial properties.			This dump trailer has its own power unit to operate the dumping mechanism. It greatly increases our hauling capabilities when paired with one of our dump trucks.