ISAAC E-news #11 - November 2003
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This edition's feature article - ISA Arborist Certification Examination and Trees Are Good Website
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ISAAC Australian ArborCamp 2004
2004 is Kids' Camp. Watch out for ArborCamp Australia 5, 26 - 28 March
2004. http://www.isaac.org.au/arborcamp
Queensland Arborist Association Arbor Camp 2004
Look out for details on this exciting event.
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ISAAC National Conference and Australian Tree Climbing Championships 2003
This year's conference and ATCC were a roaring success, thanks to our terrific sponsors, our Conference Partner SASA, our excellent range of speakers and of course, our 200 delegates. Everyone involved should be proud of their achievements.
We are also excited that Active Tree Services have already agreed to sign up as Gold Sponsor for 2004. We'd like to thank Mark Wilcox and Active Tree Services for their fantastic support of ISAAC and our aims of spreading the arboricultural word throughout Australia.
This year we kicked off with the ATCC on Saturday. Our 2003 Champions are Brett Hamlin and Kiah Martin. As Kiah is the defending World Champion, they will be joined by this year's female runner-up and Victorian Champion, Cherrie Neale, in representing ISAAC and Australia at the World Championships in Pittsburgh next year. Congratulations to the champions and all competitors for putting on a great show, despite a bit of water around! Full ATCC results will be available on the website soon. ISAAC and SASA are pleased to be able to sponsor Brett and Kiah to attend the International Tree Climbing Championships next year. An auction of tree climbing championship memorabilia at the Conference Dinner raised a further $3000 to sponsor Cherrie to the USA for the ITCC next year.
Sunday saw eleven heads down at the ISA Certification Exam. Seeing the Austrtalianised ISA Certification program kick off is an exciting development for ISAAC and Australia. For more on Certification go to the website http://isaac.org.au/certification.htm
Later in the day 90 people turned up for food, drink and conversation at the Welcome Reception at the Adelaide Oval. This was an excellent opportunity to get to know some of the speakers and delegates and ease in to the conference program.
Monday and Tuesday were jam-packed with interesting and at times challenging speakers from right around Australia as well as the UK, USA and New Zealand. Monday saw a lavish Conference Dinner attended by 145 people. A presentation to World Tree Climbing Champion Kiah Martin was well received.
2004 will see the ISAAC National Conference back in Sydney in October. We look forward to seeing many of you there for what promises to be another fantastic conference.
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
E N S P E C and The South Australian Society of Arboriculture
Bronze Sponsors
Austral Arborists, Civil Skills & Asplundh
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ISAAC Membership
Membership of ISAAC links you to the professional world of practicing
arborists and tree managers in Australia. As a member you get discounted
entry to ISAAC events as well as the locally produced newsletter 'The
Bark'. Full ISA Members also get the ISA's publications 'Journal of Arboriculture'
and 'Arborist News'. Membership supports the continued growth in professionalism
of arboriculture in Australia. Now is the time to join. If you already
are a member, now is the time to recruit someone else. You can download
a membership form right now - membership application.
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ISAAC Award of Merit for Service to Australian Arboriculture
An ‘Award of Merit for Service to Australian Arboriculture’ may be presented at an ISAAC National Conference. It is offered to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to arboriculture in Australia. The two previous winners have been Dr. Gregory Moore and Philip Kenyon. Nominations may be submitted for an award. A nomination form can be downloaded from the ‘Online Documents’ page in the ‘Members Area’ at the ISAAC Website.
Please note that nominators and seconders must be current members of ISAAC. Nominees need not be members of ISAAC.
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Subcommittees
Volunteers are required for the
following ISAAC Subcommittees.
Show your commitment and have your say on these important programs.
Certification
Education/National Curriculum
Standards Australia
Contact ISAAC via the website or the National Administration Office.
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------------------ FEATURE ARTICLE
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ISA Arborist Certification Examination
Clive Sorrell (Examination Proctor)
On Sunday, September 7, eleven candidates for ‘ISA Certified Arborist’ status, sat for a certification examination at the Corus Grosvenor Hotel, in Adelaide, South Australia. (The examination was timed to coincide with the ISAAC National Conference & Australian Tree Climbing Championship 2003.)
Situated in formal examination conditions, and with jugs of iced water and bowls of mints on each desk, the candidates, provided with multiple-choice answers, had three hours in which to respond to 200 questions.
There are very few ISA Certified Arborists in Australia. Those who are, obtained their qualification in the USA.
The ISAAC Board eventually managed to obtain ISA Head Office approval to ‘Australianise’ the wording and the focus of the ISA’s Arborist Certification Examination Question Bank. At long last, an ‘Australia Version’ of this computer-generated resource of 4,000 questions has been created. Now, after lengthy, intensive, work on the certification process by members of ISAAC’s Arborist Certification Sub-committee, examinations consisting of questions relevant to Australia, can be offered in Australia.
However, it is still the ISA Head Office in the USA that generates the examination papers, and grades the candidates’ answers to the questions. This implies intensive liaison between the ISAAC Board and the ISA to ship the documents to and fro, before and after each examination.
The completed examination papers from Adelaide, and supporting documents, have been shipped back to the USA for assessment. The candidates now await the results of their studies.
Feedback questionnaires that candidates submitted following the examination, praised the process.
The Board of Directors of the ISA-Australia Chapter will schedule more Australia-based ISA Certified Arborist examinations. For more information, visit the ISAAC Website at www.isaac.org.au
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If you're looking for great information to pass on to your clients, check
out the ISA's new website, Trees Are Good, dedicated to providing tree
care information for the general public http://www.treesaregood.org/
For ISA members the ISA has also redesigned it's website and it is worth
a look.
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International Society of Arboriculture Australia Chapter takes no responsibility
for loss or damage resulting from its use. ISA, ISAAC and associated logos
are for use by members of the ISA and ISAAC only. © 2003 ISAAC.