Landscape Architect Articles

LCN Tree Care December, 200412-01-04 | News

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) marked its 20th consecutive year of membership growth in 2004. The ISA Certification Department launched three new certifications through the 2003-2004 year. Tree Worker Certification was introduced in 2003 then took its permanent position in 2004. Municipal Specialist Certification and Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA) were launched during the summer of this year. The BCMA is the highest level of certification that an arborist will be able to obtain through ISA and represents the pinnacle of the arboricultural profession.

Online Job Bank

In response to member requests, the ISA recently launched an online Job Bank that lists arboricultural resumes and job opportunities that are accessible by anyone including the general public. Only ISA members can post a resume, but contact the ISA office to find out how to list job opportunities or how to become a member. The first installment in a series of arborist training programs on CD ROM launched and ISA is developing nine more titles that will be available in English and Spanish. Extensive public relations efforts include working closely with their Florida Chapter to provide valuable consumer information regarding tree damage caused by the recent band of hurricanes.

Leadership Positions

Mike Neal of Phoenix, Ariz. is serving his second year as ISA president. President-elect for 2005 is Robert Tate of Cohasset, Calif. In March 2004, Jim Skiera was appointed the new executive director.

American Nursery & Landscape Association

Peter Orum, ANLA President

For the first time in its 42-year history, a grower addressed the biennial convention of the United Farm Workers union on Aug. 29 in Fresno, Calif. Peter Orum, owner of the Midwest Groundcovers nursery operation in St. Charles, Ill., and newly elected president of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, spoke to the estimated 1,000 UFW delegates and other attendees at the invitation of UFW President Arturo Rodriguez.

The unprecedented invitation came as both groups press for enactment of sweeping farm labor reform legislation known as AgJOBS. Years in the making, AgJOBS has the backing of 63 U.S. Senators of both parties, and 117 Representatives in the House. It also has attracted the endorsement of virtually every major agricultural commodity and employer organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and other labor advocates, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and every major national Latino and immigrant rights group.

Labor Challenges

Describing the challenges that have drawn historic adversaries together, Orum said, “I am here today because we are fighting together for the future of American agriculture. The Labor and Immigration bill, S.1645 and H.R.3142 or AgJOBS as we call it, is absolutely essential to that future. If we do not have a dependable workforce now and in the future, the American specialty agriculture as we know it will little by little disappear to other countries. And that will happen to vegetables and fruit as well as to nursery plants, livestock and many other crops and products. We are in the same boat, you and I. We want to keep these jobs in America! We want our trained, experienced, and trusted workers to be able to keep working with us, to live openly in our society.”

“Only politics stand in the way of Congress swiftly enacting AgJOBS into law, thus beginning the process of systematically overhauling America?EUR??,,????'???s broken immigration system starting with the one industry where the problems are stark and the bipartisan solution is ripe, though not without controversy.”

“Our anti-immigration adversaries have nothing to offer that can function. They don’t even have the guts to follow the logic of their own talk and [follow through on] deporting all of these workers. Maybe they also know that the country would come to a screeching halt if that was done. So these people stand by the principle that our nation must ‘never reward illegal behavior,’ yet they seem to tolerate the lawless status quo of smugglers, and deaths in the deserts, and farmers struggling to stay out of jail or bankruptcy court.”