Aerial Inspection
Aerial inspection by an Arborist in Des Moines,Iowa can be the eagle of arboriculture. An Eagles Eye is nearly the size of a humans, but even the ground is a limiting factor for an eagles eye. The same could be said to be true of an Arboriculturists Eye.
Level 2 Basic Visual Tree Risk Assessments should often, if not always, be followed up with the Level Three Advanced Assessment technique of Aerial Inspection.
Too many details can be missed from the ground.
Take for instance this honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) that Olson Tree Care inspected in Des Moines, Iowa.
- From the ground, the excessive pruning (gutting) that an unknowing Tree Service in Des Moines, Iowa performed looked bad, but to what extent Olson Tree Care could not tell from the ground. From the air we could measure that it was about 50% of the live crown ratio.
- From the ground the wound to a major stem over the house appeared to be about 1/3 the size of total circumference. From an Aerial Inspection we ascertained that is was 50%.
- From the ground reduction of the stem and cabling seemed a viable option in Arboriculture. By Aerial Inspection it became obvious to the ISA Certified Arborist at Olson Tree Care that the stem was dominant and the resulting increase of wind loading to the remaining stems would result in branch failures due to prevailing wind directions, loss of protection factors and decay cavities everywhere that could not be seen from the ground.