Summer reflections: Tree trimming

We first went to Camden Pond to meet with Chad and Rachel who own a tree pruning company. We began by walking around the park and looking at different trees while Chad talked about the kind of work he did and how it’s a difficult and dangerous job.

While we waited for people from the community to join us with the workshop, we learned about the different tools and saws used for tree pruning. When more people arrived we got to see a demonstration of how to cut a dead branch off of a tree.

We learned that we have to be careful with pruning oaks in the summer because they can be more susceptible to disease, as well with fruit trees.

Then we got to practice! We used pruners and different saws to practice on a pile of dead branches. It takes patience and precision to get a perfect straight cut. The reason that we have to be careful with the way we cut the branch is to make sure we don’t cause any more damage to the tree.

After we were done practicing we split into groups and worked on our own trees to prune. We had to think about:

• Which branch is the leading branch on the top?
• Are any competitor branches?
• When it gets bigger, will there be enough space underneath for shade?
• Or if there are dead or out of place branches and leaves.

After we finished pruning the trees we walked around and heard what the other groups had done with their trees.

Northside Safety NET (Neighborhoods Empowering Teens) is an internship program for a cohort of North Minneapolis youth. The program is led by Environmental Initiative and has been developed in partnership with public, private, and nonprofit partners.