Do you have any faulty or failing trees on your property? Are you hoping to add additional structures to your trees, but want to be sure that they are structurally sound enough? Your property may be in need of tree risk assessment to help you make decisions about the utility of your property. Tree risk assessment (also referred to TRA) is the systematic process of identification, analysis, and evaluation of tree risk. Risk assessments are performed by arborists to give you clarity regarding the health of the trees on your property. 

Tree risk assessment may involve climbing inspection, examination of the root system, and assessing the structural condition to evaluate failure potential, among many other things. For routine inspections, the arborist is instructed to inspect the tree top-to-bottom, 360 degrees around. External characteristics of a tree are excellent indicators regarding the internal health of the tree and its structural stability. Different studies have been performed that demonstrated there are three main indicators related to tree sustainability or failure. These include: decline (tree cover and leaves), trunk condition, and lean. 

Sometimes visual assessments are not encompassing enough, and internal testing is necessary. During internal testing, a biopsy of the tree is taken and compared to decay patterns. This helps determine whether the tree is healthy or is experiencing decay. Other tests that arborists sometimes use to evaluate tree health include: single-path stress wave tomography, micro-drilling resistance, electronic resistivity, and radar. No one piece of equipment is able to provide arborists with the full picture. These tests in tandem with visual inspection typically are able to give a more fully encompassing evaluation of the tree’s health. 

Here at Dynamic Arborist, our professional team of arborists are qualified to perform risk assessments for your trees. We will provide you with helpful feedback about your trees’ condition, the causes for these current conditions, and remedial steps that can be taken to strengthen them. Our combined decades of service have allowed us to survey hundreds of trees over the years, and we would be happy to perform a risk assessment for you, too.