Dormant Trees, Active Staff: Winter Tree Care Training
While your trees have been taking their winter rest, the staff at Metropolitan Forestry Services has been staying very busy training, attending seminars, studying, and honing our skills for the upcoming season.
Just a few examples of the training seminars we put on during the winter:
- Hazard tree recognition
- Electrical hazard awareness and safety procedures
- Pruning of mature trees
- Pruning techniques of Ornamental and Shade trees
- Safe Tree Removal Training
- Climbing and Rigging
- Plant Health Care – recognizing and identifying emerging pest in the St. Louis area
- Shrub Pruning
- Roping techniques to remove difficult trees
- Chipper and Chainsaw Safety Training
- Fertilization and the soil in St. Louis
- First Aide and CPR recertification
To stay on top of the latest research and developments in our industry, several of our staff attended conferences hosted by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) and the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). In February the Midwest Chapter ISA conference will be held here in St. Louis and our staff will be in attendance.
Training seminars they will attend include:

- Conservation Arboriculture
- Practical Approaches to Managing Aging Tree
- Diagnosing and Correcting the Physical Problem of Urban Soils
- Ok, We fixed the soil. Now what to plant?
- Update on working Near Electrical Conductors
- Soil Bio-Engineering
- Tree Worker Safety – A Close Look at the Electrical Hazards and the New Z
- Diagnosing the “Underground World” of Tree Abiotic Stressors
- Dendro Detective
- Making Space for Trees in the Urban Environment
- Identifying Error in the Trunk Formula Method of Tree Appraisal
For more information about this conference: Please check out the Midwestern Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Website.
All of the information and material learned at these conferences is brought back and shared with the staff via training sessions and with you, our customers, through our newsletter and website. We want to keep our staff and our customers informed and up to date on current trends and issues. Education, training, and safety are of paramount importance here at MFS!
We were very pleased with the service and particularly the knowledge & professionalism of your staff. We would certainly recommend you.
We are very pleased with the plantings suggested by and picked out by Mike. The men arrived on time to plant the boxwood and witch hazel tree; dug out the stump and cleaned up. They were pleasant and helpful – we couldn’t have asked for a better team.
We were very pleased and impressed with Dan and his team. We love our new trees and garden.
Thank you so much for all the information you provide – the watering information, the emails and the flier. I read it all and have learned so much. My magnolia trees look surprisingly healthy considering the way they looked when I first called.
Kevin Seger provided expert advice and recommendations about tree maintenance and removal. He listened to my needs and provided a thorough and affordable proposal. On the day of the job, I was very impressed with crew leader, Dave and his team (Felix & Adam). They were professional, efficient, hard-working and very neat about clean-up.
An outstanding job on the four trees and clean-up after the work and removal. We would be happy to recommend your services to everyone – the best tree service we ever have had here in St. Louis.
Kevin was able to come out the same day I called and a crew was out the next day! Great prompt service. I was not at home when the work was done but results show they did a fine job.
Everyone came through as usual when I needed the crew to come back & take out the balance of the fire blight. They did not have a bucket the first time and were so nice and professional about coming back again.
Thank you again for responding to our urgent need after the storm took down our 2 trees & deposited them across our driveway. Your crew, as always, did a fabulous job. Professional, courteous & it is a pleasure doing business with your company.
We appreciate your knowledge and professionalism. Your employees are prompt and courteous and willing to do whatever needs to be done to complete the project. Cleanup was great.