A Certified Arborist is someone who has spent time training and studying to become knowledgeable in all aspects of arboriculture. Usually, a person would be an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) Certified Arborist or an MTCU (Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities) Certified Arborist. In both cases, the arborist is required to have a number of years of experience and has taken a formal examination to attain the qualification. You can find more information on arborist certifications here.

'My breast is at a different height from my tall friend's breast height, how is that accurate?' Diameter at breast is a term used when measuring the diameter of a tree trunk. Breast height is actually 1.4 metres above the ground. Arborists have a special tape that does the math for us but if you want to measure your own tree at home you can simply measure the circumference at 1.4 metres above the ground and calculate the diameter from there. If it is a long time since high school math you can use this helpful link to determine the diameter.

One of the conditions of a tree removal permit application is to replace the tree that is being removed. The rationale is that Municipalities want to have a great canopy cover to reap all of the benefits that urban trees provide. With this in mind, the City has specific requirements when it comes to the species of a replacement tree. The tree must be large growing and preferably a native species.

Unfortunately, a Japanese maple wouldn't qualify for a compensation/replacement tree. The requirements for the replacement are that the tree is large growing and preferably a native species. Examples of such trees are Sugar maple, red oak, red maple etc. A comprehensive list will be coming to the site soon so stay tuned!!

A detailed description of the tree bylaws each municipality within the GTA is coming to the site soon but in the meantime you can click on the link below to read the tree bylaw directly from the source Toronto Vaughan Richmond Hill Mississauga Burlington Brampton