There is a part of tree work that does not get written about enough.
It is not the newest piece of equipment. It is not the newest truck, treatment, or tool on the market.
It is mentorship.
That is also why an arboriculture scholarship matters. It helps pass knowledge, opportunity, and responsibility from one generation of tree care professionals to the next.
When I started in tree care, the industry was a different world. There were plenty of people with chainsaws, pickup trucks, and strong backs. There were fewer people talking about arboriculture as a profession grounded in biology, safety, ethics, and long-term stewardship.
That has changed, and it has changed for the better.
Equipment is better. Research is better. Safety practices are better. Tree biology is better understood. But one thing has not changed: young arborists still need experienced people willing to teach them not just how to work, but how to think.
That may be the most important part.
A person can learn how to make a pruning cut. A person can learn how to run equipment. A person can learn how to identify an insect or disease. But judgment takes time.
Judgment comes from standing in front of real trees, on real properties, with real people asking real questions. Can this tree be saved? Is this tree dangerous? Is the client asking for the right thing? What is safest for the people around it?
Those questions are not always answered by a textbook. They are answered through knowledge, experience, humility, observation, and mentorship.
Some of the best lessons in tree work do not happen in classrooms. They happen beside a truck before daylight, at the base of a questionable tree, or after a long day when someone older explains why a mistake almost happened and why it cannot happen again.
I have always believed trees are still the best teachers in arboriculture. You can read about decay, root problems, bark characteristics, canopy density, structural defects, and growth patterns. You should read about them. But at some point, you have to stand with the tree itself and learn to see what it is telling you.
Trees are not utility poles. They are living organisms. The work we do to them matters, and the decisions we make around them can last for decades.
The same is true with people entering this profession.
They need education, but they also need guidance. They need to understand not only how to perform a task, but why it matters. They need to learn restraint, safety, communication, professionalism, and respect for the tree as a living system.
I have seen young employees start out dragging brush and later become professionals I would trust with any tree on any property. That does not happen by accident. It happens when people are trained, challenged, corrected, respected, and given enough room to grow.
Like properly supported trees, young arborists grow strongest when given both guidance and enough freedom to stand on their own.
That is one of the reasons I established the Cortese Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Scholarship Endowment at the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2016.
The scholarship supports University of Tennessee students preparing for careers in arboriculture and urban forestry. In plain English, it helps young people who want to care for the trees in our neighborhoods, parks, campuses, streets, historic landscapes, and communities.
I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in forestry in 1976. Not long after that, I began working in tree care in Knoxville. I was young, inexperienced in some ways, and trying to figure out how to build a life and a business around trees.
I have joked before that when I started, I would not have hired myself.
But I learned. I studied. I worked. I made mistakes. I met good people. I listened to people who knew more than I did. Over time, tree care became not just my profession, but one of the great callings of my life.
After nearly fifty years in tree work, consulting, teaching, and mentoring, I have come to believe that the future of arboriculture depends on two kinds of people: those who are willing to keep learning and those who are willing to teach them.
That is what this scholarship is really about.
With the support of friends, colleagues, and former clients, the endowment has grown to more than $56,000 as of 2025. To date, it has awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships to students, helping reduce tuition burdens and, in some cases, making it possible for students to complete their degrees.
I am grateful for every person who has helped it grow.
The current goal is to grow the endowment to $70,000 and beyond. The larger it grows, the more students it can support in the years ahead. Every contribution helps strengthen the future of the tree care industry and carry forward knowledge and experience into the next generation.
The need for good arborists is not going away. Cities are getting hotter. Storms are testing urban trees. Homeowners need better advice. Communities need people who understand trees as living systems, not just obstacles to remove.
That means we need people who know how to think.
A scholarship is not a tree, but it works like one. You plant it because you believe someone will need its shade later.
That is the spirit behind this endowment.
It has been an honor to work with so many people over the years through my company, through consulting, through professional organizations, and through a shared appreciation for trees. This scholarship is a way to give something back and help ensure the next generation is ready to carry that work forward.
I would encourage every experienced arborist to ask a simple question: who are you helping grow?
If this industry has been good to you, consider helping a student enter it with a stronger start than many of us had.
The best arborists continue to grow, much like trees themselves.
And if this scholarship helps even a few more young people take root in this profession, then I believe it is doing exactly what it was meant to do.
To learn more or make a contribution to the Cortese Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Scholarship Endowment at the University of Tennessee, please visit:
advanceutia.tennessee.edu/cortese
The Part of Tree Work That Must Be Passed Down
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Posted: July 12, 2026 by W. Jim Cortese
There is a part of tree work that does not get written about enough.
It is not the newest piece of equipment. It is not the newest truck, treatment, or tool on the market.
It is mentorship.
That is also why an arboriculture scholarship matters. It helps pass knowledge, opportunity, and responsibility from one generation of tree care professionals to the next.
When I started in tree care, the industry was a different world. There were plenty of people with chainsaws, pickup trucks, and strong backs. There were fewer people talking about arboriculture as a profession grounded in biology, safety, ethics, and long-term stewardship.
That has changed, and it has changed for the better.
Equipment is better. Research is better. Safety practices are better. Tree biology is better understood. But one thing has not changed: young arborists still need experienced people willing to teach them not just how to work, but how to think.
That may be the most important part.
A person can learn how to make a pruning cut. A person can learn how to run equipment. A person can learn how to identify an insect or disease. But judgment takes time.
Judgment comes from standing in front of real trees, on real properties, with real people asking real questions. Can this tree be saved? Is this tree dangerous? Is the client asking for the right thing? What is safest for the people around it?
Those questions are not always answered by a textbook. They are answered through knowledge, experience, humility, observation, and mentorship.
Some of the best lessons in tree work do not happen in classrooms. They happen beside a truck before daylight, at the base of a questionable tree, or after a long day when someone older explains why a mistake almost happened and why it cannot happen again.
I have always believed trees are still the best teachers in arboriculture. You can read about decay, root problems, bark characteristics, canopy density, structural defects, and growth patterns. You should read about them. But at some point, you have to stand with the tree itself and learn to see what it is telling you.
Trees are not utility poles. They are living organisms. The work we do to them matters, and the decisions we make around them can last for decades.
The same is true with people entering this profession.
They need education, but they also need guidance. They need to understand not only how to perform a task, but why it matters. They need to learn restraint, safety, communication, professionalism, and respect for the tree as a living system.
I have seen young employees start out dragging brush and later become professionals I would trust with any tree on any property. That does not happen by accident. It happens when people are trained, challenged, corrected, respected, and given enough room to grow.
Like properly supported trees, young arborists grow strongest when given both guidance and enough freedom to stand on their own.
That is one of the reasons I established the Cortese Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Scholarship Endowment at the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2016.
The scholarship supports University of Tennessee students preparing for careers in arboriculture and urban forestry. In plain English, it helps young people who want to care for the trees in our neighborhoods, parks, campuses, streets, historic landscapes, and communities.
I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in forestry in 1976. Not long after that, I began working in tree care in Knoxville. I was young, inexperienced in some ways, and trying to figure out how to build a life and a business around trees.
I have joked before that when I started, I would not have hired myself.
But I learned. I studied. I worked. I made mistakes. I met good people. I listened to people who knew more than I did. Over time, tree care became not just my profession, but one of the great callings of my life.
After nearly fifty years in tree work, consulting, teaching, and mentoring, I have come to believe that the future of arboriculture depends on two kinds of people: those who are willing to keep learning and those who are willing to teach them.
That is what this scholarship is really about.
With the support of friends, colleagues, and former clients, the endowment has grown to more than $56,000 as of 2025. To date, it has awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships to students, helping reduce tuition burdens and, in some cases, making it possible for students to complete their degrees.
I am grateful for every person who has helped it grow.
The current goal is to grow the endowment to $70,000 and beyond. The larger it grows, the more students it can support in the years ahead. Every contribution helps strengthen the future of the tree care industry and carry forward knowledge and experience into the next generation.
The need for good arborists is not going away. Cities are getting hotter. Storms are testing urban trees. Homeowners need better advice. Communities need people who understand trees as living systems, not just obstacles to remove.
That means we need people who know how to think.
A scholarship is not a tree, but it works like one. You plant it because you believe someone will need its shade later.
That is the spirit behind this endowment.
It has been an honor to work with so many people over the years through my company, through consulting, through professional organizations, and through a shared appreciation for trees. This scholarship is a way to give something back and help ensure the next generation is ready to carry that work forward.
I would encourage every experienced arborist to ask a simple question: who are you helping grow?
If this industry has been good to you, consider helping a student enter it with a stronger start than many of us had.
The best arborists continue to grow, much like trees themselves.
And if this scholarship helps even a few more young people take root in this profession, then I believe it is doing exactly what it was meant to do.
To learn more or make a contribution to the Cortese Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Scholarship Endowment at the University of Tennessee, please visit:
advanceutia.tennessee.edu/cortese
Category: Blog Tags: arboriculture scholarship, arborist training, forestry students, tree care industry, tree work mentorship, University of Tennessee, urban forestry, W. Jim Cortese