Tree-m work: Get to know our arborists

At Wellington City Council, as part of the Parks, Sport and Recreation team, 13 arborists look after Wellington’s trees. 

There are two avenues of work – the emergency call outs or reported issues, like when a tree has fallen over, and regular routine maintenance across areas such as the Town Belt, Cemeteries, Botanic Garden ki Paekākā and Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush. 

While many people believe an Arborist only cuts down a tree, their goal is to retain as many trees as possible says Customer Liaison Officer Justin Garbutt.

“It’s a constant cycle of planting trees, pruning trees and removing trees. Trees might have a sell by date on them, and they might outgrow their useful size in a space, but we try and retain them as best we can. 

“We also have our proactive schedule, which is like routine maintenance that cycles through the suburbs of Wellington, so we wouldn't need to have resident inquiries for us to be busy.” 

Arboriculture Team Leader Thomas Becker adds that this workload is no easy feat.

“There’s endless work for only 10 operational people in the team. Wellington has about 13,500 street trees, as well as the reserves and green belts.” 

While each job is different, they normally start off in the same way, says Justin.  

“You have to look at your surroundings as soon as you arrive on site and make sure the whole area is safe. If there is damage, you need to see what effects of that damage has had to the tree and whether it’s safe to climb. If it’s not safe, we use an elevated work platform.

“We try to mitigate the risk to the public, but to ourselves as well.”

As commonly seen in Wellington, trees can often be damaged from storms or strong winds, which is when the going gets tough, says Thomas.

“When there’s a massive storm happening and you're on storm response and you know the tree has already failed with things hanging off it, you are the one who needs to remove that danger for the public.” 

While these jobs sound risky, fear doesn’t hold the team back, says Arborist Ben Anderson.

“You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t get scared. But you trust your training, trust your harness, trust your gear and trust your team. We’re a close team because we have to trust each other with our lives. We could be up a tree, and we could be rigging, which is a heavy bit of rope used to lower branches out of a tree and a person is attached, and you need to trust your person on the ground. We’ve got good communication and trust.”

The camaraderie is part of the joy of the job, which makes it a sweet deal with being out in nature all the time. 

“You’re not doing a mundane thing. It’s dynamic and changes every day. We go from our work yard to the South Coast, to Tawa. I’ve seen more of Wellington since I’ve been in the role,” says Ben.

Not only that, but the team are never short on work stories. Their depot is full of gear for the job but also doubles as a treehouse full of treasures, says Justin.

“The things we find in the trees is pretty crazy. Trampolines, drink bottles that have grown into the trunk of a tree, and so much more. We love to collect weird things. It’s part of the fun of the role.”

Arboriculture Manager Oliver Pease echoes this.

“Working in the arboriculture for Wellington City Council is incredibly rewarding because it allows us to protect urban green spaces while making a lasting impact on community well-being and the environment.

“I’m proud to work with a passionate, skilled team that’s dedicated to keeping our urban trees healthy!”

Fun facts about our arborist team

• One thing you wouldn’t expect is the ‘eau de Arborist’. They all claim that they consistently smell like trees.  
• The team work in all conditions, wind and rain won’t stop them. 
• There are apprenticeship programmes so you don’t have to have all the skills up front. Arborist Ben was a rafting Instructor before he became an arborist! 
• To get up into a tree, the team use ‘throw balls’. These are the size of a pear and have a string line attached. Once they have thrown these balls up into the canopy and around the desired branch union they were aiming for, the climber then takes the throw ball off and attaches their climbing rope (which can hold up to two tonnes) to the string line. They can then pull the string line with the climbing rope attached back up through the tree, around the union and back down to the ground, setting the rope in place to climb.
• There are regional climbing competitions, held every year. These competitions consist of five events which emulate different aspects of the job (Throw ball, Work climb, Speed belay, Speed ascent and Aerial rescue). The top climbers from each regional comp get the chance to compete in the National Climbing Competition, held at the end of each year, for a shot at the title. From there, climbers can even progress to overseas international competitions!