Victorian Tree Industry Organisation

Habitat Creation Workshop will be held on 19 or 20 June, location to be advised.  Stay tuned.

QAA Arbor Camp will be held on the Sunshine Coast (Landsborough) on 14/15 September 2012.

This years Australian Tree Climbing Championships and Arboriculture Australia Annual Conference are being held in Hobart Tasmania on 27th of April until the 2nd of May. It is also going to be the venue of the Asia Pacific Tree Climbing Championships over the same weekend.

Defending national champions Joe Harris and Kiah Martin will be going against the nation’s best climbers for the top spot.

The VTIO and all its members would like to wish the follow representatives from Victoria the best of luck in the ATCC:

Gerard Reynolds 4th place VTCC

Matt Weatherhead 6th place VTCC

Matt Benn 7th place VTCC

Juri Megarrity 10th place VTCC

Matt Sauvarin 11th place VTCC

For more information on the AA annual conference and ATCC please refer to the PDF below.

http://vtio.org.au/Content/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2012-Conference-rego-Brochure-Web-Email.pdf

Worksafe has supplied the VTIO with the following links to provide those looking for further information about OH&S in the tree industry with the relevant documents.

The first link is to the Worksafe website. The second is Worksafes incident notification page. And the third is Worksafes guide to working safely with trees.

www.worksafe.vic.gov.au

Incident notification

Working Safely with Trees

I am sorry to have to inform you that we have had to postpone this year’s Australian ArborCamp which was due to be held Friday to Sunday, 23-25 March at Erica Scout Camp, Victoria.

Following extensive consultation with VTIO committee members and volunteers, and given prior volunteer commitments and schedule clashes; resignation of the long-time Camp co-ordinator and difficulty attracting a new Camp co-ordinator; low volunteer numbers and insufficient event management assistance, it was determined that going ahead with ArborCamp with only weeks to co-ordinate all the necessary behind the scenes and front-of-house activities would mean genuine and unacceptable compromise.

We did attempt to resolve alternatives to a major event; suggested alternative dates; considered a scaled-back event and an informal-style gathering, but felt that all of these options were compromising the expectations of regular camp-goers and would mar the overall experience for any newcomers.

Therefore, on behalf of the VTIO committee, I would like to sincerely apologise for the cancellation of the 2012 ArborCamp, especially to those who may have already made travel or accommodation plans. Unfortunately these were a collection of circumstances which were beyond the committee’s ability to control.

We intend to work hard behind the scenes getting our event management and administrative affairs in better shape in order to deliver better event preparation and management and to bring you an ArborCamp worthy of fond memories.

Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss any matters pertaining to ArborCamp or if you’d like to register interest as a volunteer for any VTIO activities.

We aim to ensure our next Camp is a fun-filled, family event full of opportunity to network and relax and we do hope you will join us once we have regrouped.

Yours sincerely

Leading tree climbing photographer Rob Fisher was at the recent 2011 VTCC, and has been kind enough to let the VTIO use some of his pictures (see below).  For more great shots of the day please check out his website, where he has posted a gallery of VTCC shots.