P R E S I D E N T ’ S
Massachusetts Arborists Association, Inc.
Board of Directors
President
Natascha Batchelor, MCA
Davey Tree Expert Company
East Falmouth, MA
Vice President
Trumbull Barrett, MCA
Barrett Tree Service East
Medford, MA
Secretary/Treasurer
Ray Rose, MCA
Town of Wrentham DPW
Wrentham, MA
Past President
Jay Ippolito, MCA , MCLP
Olde Colonial Tree & Landscape
Westwood, MA
MCA Representative
Brandon Maltby, MCA
Maltby & Co., Inc.
Stoughton, MA
Directors
Neal Reilly, MCA
The Reilly Tree Company
Plainville, MA
M E S S A G E
Dear MAA Members,
Thirty-five days. It’s been a challenging winter for many of our fellow professionals
with the longest government shutdown in history occurring at the end of 2018
and deep into the new year. Federal employees have finally gone back to work
or received pay for the work they were performing throughout the shutdown.
The struggles and pain felt by these public service members will not be soon
forgotten. A breath of relief has finally arrived for our colleagues and our natural
resources – hopefully not just the temporary three-week reprieve that’s been
granted as of this writing.
My hopes are that the wounds to families and our national parks will heal. Some
damage cannot be undone as people had to make the difficult choice to leave
their positions as federal employees to ensure their livelihood. The damage to
Joshua Tree National Park, including cutting down of trees, is unfortunate. It
will take lifetimes for them to re-grow and hopefully they will.
My aim in bringing forward these comments is to highlight that while some of us
may not have been directly impacted by the shutdown, we are all impacted indi-
rectly. Research projects were left unfinished, unchecked, and valuable data was
lost. We rely upon government research to understand our environment and its
impact on our livelihoods and passion: trees, people, and society. Many of us
came together during this difficult event to support our friends, family and even
those we did not know because we, as arborists, care. I know I will think about
the impact of the shutdown as I look to the MAA’s Arbor Day of Service on April
26 and this great opportunity to give back to people and our environment.
Kevin Cleveland, MCA
Tree Tech
Foxboro, MA
On a brighter note, the weather has been kind to us this
winter with good conditions for performing work on the
trees we love – and the stage is being set for what I hope to
be a good season for the trees and our people. Thank you
all for being who you are and for representing our valuable
profession so well. Welcome to 2019!
Russell Holman, MCA , CTSP
Hartney Greymont
Concord, MA
Executive Director
M. Virginia Wood, CMP
Management Team
Peggy Benjamin
Kristen Dreyer
Carrie Martin
Charissa Sharkey
MASSACHUSETTS ARBORISTS
ASSOCIATION, INC.
8-D Pleasant Street South
Natick, MA 01760
(508) 653-3320
FAX: (508) 653-4112
[email protected]
MassArbor.org
Natascha Batchelor, MCA
President, MAA
MAA NEWS is a publication of the Massachusetts Arborists Association, Inc. MAA NEWS is published four times
a year for the Massachusetts Arborists Association (MAA) and is distributed free of charge to members. The pur-
pose of the newsletter is to disseminate information to promote general standards and ethics in commercial
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2 MAA NEWS / March 2019