`Mother raccoons won’t leave their nests; they go down with the trees,” says Chris Scott of Geneva, a tree climber with the West Chicago office of Hendricksen, The Care of Trees, a tree-care company with posts in Illinois, New York and Washington, D.C. “But the squirrels try to chase me away. They actually jump onto my pole saw or hard hat. They finally give up on me or panic and jump. They can jump 50 feet out of a tree and walk away.”
Although Scott says he knew little about trees or tree critters before he took this job, climbing came naturally. “As a kid, I climbed trees and roofs,” he says. “I’d sit in church and think about climbing the cathedral ceiling. So I guess becoming a tree climber was fate.”
Scott has worked his way up, literally, from groundsman to climber/crew leader. He spends most of his waking hours in trees, trimming or felling.
“The groundsman is always the newest guy,” says Scott. “He cleans up the branches, feeds them to the chipper and chops the larger trunks into logs. The climber is in the tree, working from top to bottom with a chain saw, hand saw and 13-foot pole saw. The only time we use ladders is when the bottom branch is too high to reach. I either work as a climber or the crew leader, which means I run the job and talk to the homeowner about which trees need work.”
Scott says he’s seen climbers come and go after realizing their fear of heights or the danger involved.
“A good climber is cautious but not fearless,” he says. “When I started, a guy told me, `It’s good to be scared. It’ll keep you alive.’ I’ll never forget that. I’m very careful, but I’ve had nine stitches in my hand from a chipper blade and a concussion from being hit in the head with a log. When a tree falls, we yell `headache’ instead of `timber’ because that’s what you get when a tree falls on you.”
Scott works 55 to 60 hours a week, six days a week, year-round, slowing down during the holidays and quitting early when the wind chill plummets below 40 degrees and during summer heat waves. Scott’s busiest month is April, when warm weather sends homeowners into a botanic panic.
“In the spring, people start working on their yards and see what trees need care. Or, the trees are damaged or knocked down after storms,” says Scott.
Scott’s jobs range from a few hours to an annual gig at a Winfield horse farm that involves a month of trimming.
“The trickiest jobs are clearing lots for new houses,” Scott says. “We try to work with builders to save the nice, old trees. But we have been asked to take down some good ones. That’s sad. A lot of people are surprised to find out we’re not hackers. We’re on the trees’ side. We love trees.”
Before Scott’s crew arrives, a Hendricksen representative looks over the property and gives an estimate to the homeowner. “The homeowner decides what he wants done and signs a contract,” says Scott. “I arrive with a work order that tells me which trees to trim or remove.”
Sometimes Scott must settle neighbor disputes before he begins. “Legally, the branches hanging in the neighbor’s yard belong to the neighbor, not the tree owner,” he says. “That causes a lot of problems. We don’t do anything until we’ve talked to both neighbors.
“Or sometimes neighbors get upset when they see us cutting down a tree, even if it’s not on their property. Being an environmentalist is no longer just hip; everyone is more sensitive to trees now. I’ve seen the change since I started seven years ago.”
On the job, Scott wears lineman boots with thick heels that hold spurs he straps on before climbing dead trees. “You should never climb a live tree with spurs,” he says. “The tree’s bark is like skin and holes are like open wounds where they get disease and decay.”
In cold weather, Scott wears layers of sweat shirts and T-shirts, peeling during the midday sun.
Scott wraps up his workdays by taking the wood chips and logs back to Hendricksen’s West Chicago office. “We give the chips to homeowners and landscapers,” he says. “We take the larger logs, especially oak and black walnut, to a mill.”
The upbeat Scott takes the Chicago weather in stride. “I tell the new guys, `If it’s cold, it’s cold. If it’s hot, it’s hot. You have to get used to it,’ ” he says. “A lot of them quit because they don’t want to be outside all the time. But I love it.”
Lunch is hot soup in a thermos or, in the summer, a sandwich and fruit. “Homeowners often bring us coffee or pop,” he says. “On Saturdays, especially, a lot of people ask about what we’re doing. That’s great; we like to tell them.”
Scott tells curious homeowners how to care for their shady characters: “When you trim a tree, trim close to the trunk. Don’t cover it with paint; that slows the natural healing. And, don’t leave a stub that will eventually spread rot to the tree itself.”
Although many of Hendricksen’s crew members have degrees in forestry, arboriculture or landscaping, Scott learned on the job.
“Now I know a sugar maple from a Norway maple and can tell how old trees are,” he says. “You can tell the age from the rings; that’s true. I’ve learned to tell how long a tree has been dead, too, because you have to be careful climbing a dead tree. If it’s been dead a long time, it can fall over.”
Off duty, Scott relaxes with his fiancee, Jami Frigolett, and his dog, Reachin (a nickname resulting from a long-ago poker game). He follows every Chicago sports team and reads crime novels and biographies of musicians.
Reflecting on his career as a climber, Scott says: “I’m fortunate to have a job I love; too many people hate their jobs. My idea of success is working hard, having a house and kids– a slice of the American dream. And, a big oak tree.”
For more information, contact Hendricksen, The Care of Trees, 395 Industrial Dr., West Chicago, Ill. 60185; 630-584-0123.
