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Tree Trimmers and Pruners

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Using sophisticated climbing and rigging techniques, cut away dead or excess branches from trees or shrubs to maintain right-of-way for roads, sidewalks, or utilities, or to improve appearance, health, and value of tree. Prune or treat trees or shrubs using handsaws, hand pruners, clippers, and power pruners. Works off the ground in the tree canopy and may use truck-mounted lifts.

Related: Fallers Farmworkers & Laborers, Crop, Nursery, & Greenhouse Forest & Conservation Workers Landscaping & Groundskeeping Workers Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, & Applicators, Vegetation

Industries: Administration & Support Services

Summary
Details

Inspect trees to determine if they have diseases or pest problems.
Apply tar or other protective substances to cut surfaces or seal surfaces and to protect them from fungi and insects.
Remove broken limbs from wires, using hooked extension poles.
Load debris and refuse onto trucks and haul it away for disposal.
Clean, sharpen, and lubricate tools and equipment.
Water, root-feed, and fertilize trees.
Load debris and refuse onto trucks and haul it away for disposal.
Collect debris and refuse from tree trimming and removal operations into piles, using shovels, rakes, or other tools.
Spray trees to treat diseased or unhealthy trees, including mixing chemicals and calibrating spray equipment.
Hoist tools and equipment to tree trimmers, and lower branches with ropes or block and tackle.
Transplant and remove trees and shrubs, and prepare trees for moving.
Provide information to the public regarding trees, such as advice on tree care.
Operate shredding and chipping equipment, and feed limbs and brush into the machines.
Operate boom trucks, loaders, stump chippers, brush chippers, tractors, power saws, trucks, sprayers, and other equipment and tools.
Plan and develop budgets for tree work, and estimate the monetary value of trees.
Cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers.
Trim, top, and reshape trees to achieve attractive shapes or to remove low-hanging branches.
Supervise others engaged in tree trimming work and train lower-level employees.
Supervise others engaged in tree trimming work and train lower-level employees.
Split logs or wooden blocks into bolts, pickets, posts, or stakes, using hand tools such as ax wedges, sledgehammers, and mallets.
Prune, cut down, fertilize, and spray trees as directed by tree surgeons.
Spray trees to treat diseased or unhealthy trees, including mixing chemicals and calibrating spray equipment.
Spray trees to treat diseased or unhealthy trees, including mixing chemicals and calibrating spray equipment.
Trim jagged stumps, using saws or pruning shears.
Cable, brace, tie, bolt, stake, and guy trees and branches to provide support.
Cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers.
Climb trees, using climbing hooks and belts, or climb ladders to gain access to work areas.
Prune, cut down, fertilize, and spray trees as directed by tree surgeons.
Scrape decayed matter from cavities in trees and fill holes with cement to promote healing and to prevent further deterioration.
Operate boom trucks, loaders, stump chippers, brush chippers, tractors, power saws, trucks, sprayers, and other equipment and tools.
Clear sites, streets, and grounds of woody and herbaceous materials, such as tree stumps and fallen trees and limbs.

Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

61750/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

29.69/hr

Currently Employed

1,970

Yearly Projected Openings

290

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Cooperation
Concern for Others
Dependability
Integrity
Self Control

Acoustic ear muffs or defenders
Aerial working platform truck
Augers
Axes
Backhoes
Blocks or pulleys
Dump trucks
Ear plugs
Facial shields
Fall protection lanyard
Flatbed trailers
Front end loaders
Garden chainsaw
Garden shredder
Grab hooks
Hacksaw
Hand sprayers
Hard hats
Hedge clippers
Ladders
Lifts
Light trucks or sport utility vehicles
Lopper
Material lifting clamp
Mixers or agitators
Pocket knives
Power chippers
Power saws
Power trimmers
Protective gloves
Pruning saw
Root cutter
Safety boots
Safety glasses
Safety harnesses or belts
Safety shoes
Secateurs or pruning shears
Shovels
Soil probe
Sprayers
Swivel carabiner
Tape measures
Wedges

Electronic mail software
Spreadsheet software
Web page creation and editing software
Word processing software

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Tree Trimmers and Pruners

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