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Tree Surgery and Forestry are two completely different industries, but some of the skills required are common to both. Tree Surgery, or Arboriculture, involves the care of amenity trees, including crown reductions, removal of dead wood, felling, or more frequently, dismantling trees that need to be removed. It is undertaken in a wide variety of venues - in private gardens, on commercial sites, in public parks, along power lines for utility companies, adjacent to railway lines for track safety, etc, etc. Virtually anywhere there is human habitation, there is potentially treework to do. It is not surprising therefore that there is a very wide range of companies offering services in this sector, from ‘one man bands’ to national organisations. However, they all have one thing in common – every operative has to have been trained and certified as competent to undertake whatever tasks the work involves. The work is often skilled and potentially dangerous, and formal training is compulsory. You must have a ‘ticket’ to work in the industry. Forestry work, or Silviculture, involves the felling and processing of trees to produce timber. Whether the end use of the timber is for building, fencing or papermaking, somebody has to fell the trees and extract them from the forest. Wood has its others uses too apart from the traditional for example, production of videotapes, glue and washing powder. In the future more and more wood will be converted to fuel for cars, by-products for industry and other materials with completely new properties. So this type of work is becoming increasingly mechanised, with highly expensive tree harvesting machines becoming more commonplace. Work in this industry is clearly limited to the geographical areas where timber is grown commercially, and these are traditionally areas where there is little other outdoor employment. Like tree surgery, the work is skilled and potentially dangerous, and the same Health and Safety legislation applies. All operatives must hold the relevant certificates of competence. 
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