Athletes Are Taking Care of Your Trees
Written by: Ben Reince, ISA Certified Arborist WI – 0610A
Posted: 2022 | Summer | Wachtel News
Your Arborist athlete – moving limb to limb
You may be thinking, “I thought Arborists were taking care of my trees?” YES, arborists ARE taking care of your trees. According to Merriam-Webster, an athlete is “a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.” As production arborists, we need to consider ourselves as athletes, but we can take that definition one step further in calling ourselves an industrial athlete, someone whose job is in the format of physical training. Our team needs to be proficient in physical exercise to keep your trees healthy and beautiful. To be the industrial athlete our team needs to take care of our bodies, at Wachtel Tree Science we promote, encourage, and look out for one another to assure that we are all taking care of our bodies.
Hydration:
Water is a necessity to perform efficiently, providing essential nutrients for our bodies. Water affects brain functions and energy levels, which are critical when performing day-to-day operations. Wachtel Tree Science gives all new hires a 64 oz metal water container to start them on their way to good hydration habits. On those especially hot summer days, we provide drinks that will assist in replacing electrolytes and carbohydrates.
Nutrition:
The athlete’s body needs the fats and carbohydrates to conduct physical tasks. It can be all too tempting to skip breakfast or meals throughout the day, but the body needs food. Wachtel Tree Science holds safety meetings around appropriate nutrition (and hydration) to educate our team on what the body needs to perform. One-way Wachtel Tree Science promotes good nutrition is by providing our team with an assortment of nutritional items every week while we hold our safety meetings, including fruits, protein bars, beef sticks, cheeses, nuts, and of course what’s a safety meeting without a guilty pleasure of a donut.
Rest and Recovery:
It is important to listen to our bodies and understand when we need to pause and rest and recover. You may see our team stretching before starting their day, to get the muscles warmed up for the day. We start our safety meetings each week with a new stretch, led by various team members. Wachtel Tree Science understands the physical demands of our industry. To accommodate this, we will change job tasks as needed and work together on larger jobs to share the workload and taking too large of a toll on one person’s body.
Are arborists taking care of your trees? YES! Are athletes taking care of your trees? YES! The physical demand is very apparent when the Wachtel Tree Science Arborists come to your home, whether they are planting, pruning, injecting soil amendments, or performing any other services, the physical demands are present. We are proud to call ourselves arborists, we are proud to be industrial athletes, and we thank you for allowing us to keep your trees healthy and beautiful.