I had no idea what to expect of Oregon
The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside the airport was the heat.
The second thing I noted was the dark green 'offroad' looking Jeep
that was there to pick me up.
You know you are going to be in for an adventure when that is
the vehicle that has come to get you.

I had flown to Portland to spend 2 weeks at a tree climbing school in Oregon City,
a small suburb just south of Portland.
The school is called Tree Climbing Planet and is owned and run by
instructor and self titled 'Argonaut', Tim Kovar.
(​visit www.treeclimbingplanet.com ) 
Tim lives on the farm where his school is located for most of the summer and
spends his winters traveling the globe teaching people Tree Climbing.
 His itinerary for the next few months include Tennessee, Winnipeg,
Malaysia and China with trips to the Amazon and the RedWoods following.  
Tim has been instructing tree climbing for 20 years and has
helped develop the Basic Tree Climbing Course
that I have come to Oregon to learn how to instruct.
The course is taught all over the world and has its roots in direct lineage
to the origins of recreational tree climbing with
TreeClimbers International and TreeClimbing USA.
The course attracts regular folks wanting to to learn to climb,  
​to researchers scaling giant trees in the jungles.

I have come to learn from Tim because I hear that he has the most thorough
instructors program and when it comes to teaching others how to safely hang their life
​from a limb, I don't want to take any shortcuts.
​
The Portland area was going through a heat wave and instead of lush green coniferous forests,
​I found myself in what  resembled an African savannah.
Unless irrigated, the fields rolled in light hues of brown interspersed with
groves of Oaks and tall Douglas Firs.
Oregon City is a small scenic city that boasts a waterfall and a good whiskey bar.
Minutes past the edge of town suburban neighborhoods surrendered to
rolling hills and farmland.   

click here to see the interview

Putting on climbs for the media has been very positive experiences for me.  
One of the best interviews I have had was aired on global last week.  
The piece does such a great job showcasing me sharing my passion for trees,
climbing and connecting people to the natural world.  
Check out the interview and I hope it inspires you
​to come and climb a tree with me.

See the full story and watch the interview on the link below.
​http://globalnews.ca/news/3614353/a-different-way-to-see-winnipeg-from-the-trees/

“It is a divine thing that that we are looking at.  
The order and the beauty of the world around us is startling, 
and do not take it for granted.  
Do not take any of this for granted.  
We are living in some kind of paradise.  
We are living in something that we look over and take for granted 
day after day after day.  
We look at the trees, 
but I want to tell you something now, 
the trees are also looking at us.  
There is a reciprocity between what is in nature and what is us.  
We have not known about that until today.  
The genome of nature is looking at a mirror as the genome of the human being, 
the human family.  
And there is a recognition between the two of us.  
Back and forth.  
And that is called nature disorder when you don’t understand it.

And all of you who are studying.  
All of you who have got brains and want to get through this university system, 
go into nature and suck up the silence of nature.  
And meditate with that silence.  
You don’t have to go into a church.  
Nature holds that silence in a sacred form for you that is identifiable by you, 
by your brain, by who you are and the functioning of your body.  

And make no mistake about it, 
you will be expected to stand up for the world, 
because the last great frontier of greed is not just you as slaves; 
the great frontier of greed is nature.  
The great frontier is the trees, 
the forest, the species of the forest.  
All of the things that are in nature.  
All of the things that are getting rolled over by concrete.  
And you cannot allow that to happen.”

​-Dianna Beresford-Kroeger-
(from a talk given at the West End Cultural Center in Winnipeg Manitoba, March 15, 2017)

How many trees have really caught your eye?  
What about them intrigued you?
Sometimes its the sheer size
or beauty
which may attract you.

It is often the old ones that people pay attention to.
Grandfathers and Grandmothers
Arboreal elders that have stood in place
long before our european ancestors came
to colonize the soil these trees grew in.

Introspection may only deepen when
such trees dwarf our historic sites 
with their age and their size.

You may be familiar with one of these historic landmarks.
Perhaps during one of your Festival du Voyageur celebrations
or a visit in summer to Fort Gibraltar
 you took note of it.
An American Elm (Ulmus americana)
estimated to be over 300 years old.
(The fort was first built 200 years ago)

Fort Gibraltar itself was rebuilt in 1978 but gives
rise to a feel of those old fur trader days.
It is easy to begin imagining what stories the fort held.
And then i saw the elm....
Towering over the wooden fort walls with its majestic canopy.
The real wonder is what stories that Elm held.

I had meant to climb it for years.
I love climbing trees that give unique perspective.
Sitting hidden in the higher branches you can
quickly become very contemplative.

There are so many trees on my climbing list
that I still had not gotten up this one 
until one morning on an exploration along the river
I saw the City of Winnipeg's notorious
mark of death...

So discreet that at first glance it looks like
part of the bark but there it was...
The orange dot marking the tree for removal 
due to infection with Dutch Elm Disease

Unfortunately the city has been known to have
condemned healthy Elms to their untimely demise
due to false diagnosis or mistake.
So, one of my climbing partners and I decided to enjoy the view
while we still could and look for signs of the disease ourselves
while we were up there.

What a day for a climb!
The October morning was sunny and crisp.
The absolute perfect climbing day!
I had my thermos filled with some delicious coffee
from the local 'cafe postal' and we headed up​.

The view was amazing!
​The fort displayed its inner secrets beneath us and on the horizon 
we could see downtown, the river and the human rights museum.
As we enjoyed the coffee aloft I wondered about what
all this tree had witnessed through its life
from seed long before the first white fur traders 
to the majestic form it now took in our modern age. 

When you climb trees for a living and your life
literally is 'hanging from a limb' you learn to take care
​of which branches you  choose to put your rope over.
You develop an intuition that manifests
as more of a 'feel' about the health and integrity
of the tree and the branches you choose to tie into.
A healthy Elm is normally very fibrous and bendy and
will tear long before it would snap.
This elm however had the feeling of being very brittle.
Decline and beetle activity were evident when we got into the canopy
and it was clear that this tree was in trouble. 

Apparently a lot had been done already to try and maintain 
its health but the Orange dot of death would remain
and the tree would be cut down in the winter.

Fortunately the planners of this years Festival du Voyageur
were aware of this Elm's historic and cultural significance
and honored it with fireworks and adorning 
it with some artistic lights which highlighted its beauty.

It is important that we notice trees.

Trees reflect so much to us about our own lives.
One thing they can teach us is to look up and notice the beauty around us.
Most people do not realize how much they appreciate trees.
Most people do not realize how much they appreciate the 
other beautiful people and things in their own lives
​until they are gone...

We had a great time getting Erica from City Tv up a tree last Friday.
I'm slowly getting better at interviews.  A lot less Hockey talk (um's and ah's)
It was also great to get the TreeBoat hung up and enjoy a couple hours of Treetime.

You can see the interview here….

​

The weather is warm here in Winnipeg.  We just had our first thunderstorm and everything is green.  This time of year it is always a challenge to remember just how cold and how white and how barren the landscape was just a couple short months ago.  

The trees were bare… their lignified skeletons revealing their amazing arboreal forms.  

The only birds in my neighborhood were crows, chickadees, nuthatches and the odd woodpecker banging away on an old telephone pole.  Now I am woken to a symphony of again celebration.  

Then there were those crisp winter mornings where you try and remember what dirt smells like…

Amazing how quick those memory fades when spring arrives with all her glory!  Birds singing, flowers everywhere, trees putting their summer outfit on (green again) and insects munching. Life everywhere!  

Got my first wasp sting already. yikes.  I hope that's the only time this year.  Wasps are crazy.  I feel it's going to be a good year. though!  Lots happening already and I love when things are in full swing and I'm pruning trees all day.  It's exciting to wonder who the trees will bring my way next.