It is increasingly recognised that trees are good for us, and provide a wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits to society. However, not everyone knows about the profession which is responsible for these amenity trees: arboriculture.
Arboricultural professionals work with amenity trees – those found in private gardens, public parks and open spaces, schools, churchyards, playgrounds, urban woodlands and nature reserves and alongside roads, railway lines and routes for utilities like electricity pylons. This is very different from the management of trees in other situations, for example as part of forestry (silviculture) for timber production.
Amenity trees do many different things at once, including cleaning the air, reducing temperatures, alleviating the effects and environmental impact of climate change, capturing carbon and improving our physical health and mental wellbeing to name just a few. Trees, and arboriculture, make our communities healthier, happier and stronger.
This brief guide has been created by the Arboricultural Association, with input from a wide range of our colleagues around the world, to help answer the question what is arboriculture?