Nyssa Ecological, Inc.

10/19/2020

Business partner callout:

Anisa London for the masks:

https://m.facebook.com/anisamlondon

We ordered 15 masks. Anisa communicated the timeline, sourced fabric, made logos appear on it, and made the masks. We have washed them several times and they look like new. It's a great product and we can't recommend her enough.

10/19/2020

Nyssa Ecological, Inc. installed this rope swing by through bolting an 18-inch diameter sweetgum limb with an eye bolt that we spliced 65 feet of rope into. We spliced the lower end of the rope and linked the rope swing to it with a screwlink connector. We splice the rope arount hot-dip galvanized metal thimble eyes to avoid metal-on-rope friction with the eye bolt (top) and screwlink connector (bottom). It sounds simple, but the details matter:

We prefer through bolting over girth hitching and other around-the-limb installation techniques because the wound is small and the potential for girdling the limb to the extent that it is damaged or dies off is eliminated.

The screwlink is oriented downwards to prevent unscrewing. While likely unnecessary because a weighted swing will not fall out of an oval link with a side gate, it is nonetheless proper.

The threaded portion of the eye bolt that sticks out above the limb is peened to prevent the nut and washer from unscrewing and releasing the eye bolt.

The hole was drilled 1/16th inch wider than the eye bolt, using a custom -ordered 24-inch-long bit. When the eye bolt proved to have an irregularity that prevented it from fitting in the hole, the hole was re-drilled 1/16th inch wider.

A rope was hung from the limb to identify the exact location that would center the swing between adjacent trees. Then, the nearest flat spot on the top of the limb was found (~10 inches away) and used to disperse the weight of the installation + person evenly on the washer and branch.

Eye bolts threaded from the neck have to be custom ordered. Without knowing the diameter of the branch to the nearest 3 inches, standard eye bolts with 3 inches of threading may or may not fit.

05/18/2020

Hi folks, This Bandit 75XP chipper was added to the elephant walk this weekend. The design is optimized to produce the highest quality chips - nutritious, and of a consistent size - from pruned branches. It is a substantial upgrade to NEI plant health care. Trees benefit from being mulched with up to 3 inches of mulch, and fresh arborist chips result in even better mulching outcomes than other types of mulch.

In large part, this improvement to our tree health care model developed because of you, the client, as much as me. I was increasingly frustrated on your behalf by pointed questions about mulching and chips - where do the chips come from? What might be in the chips that I do not want? Do they come from herbicided right-of-ways? Were they molding in the back of a chipper body? What species of chips might I get from Chip Drop? When will it be delivered? Meanwhile, I was hauling away freshly-pruned branches with lots of nutritious leaves and wood than could be chipped and often placed at the base of the very tree that was pruned. Clients were also asking what the fate of the hauled debris was - a question I had few good answers for. This chipper allows you to verify the quality of your chips, get them straightaway, be ecologically sensible, and have the suitability of the chips controlled by a single certified arborist from start to finish. For all of you who asked these questions, this is your chipper. Let's do this.

Jon

03/23/2020

Still in the game... 😅

"Any business that employs five or fewer persons, including management/ownership, where the employees do not come in regular contact with the general public in the regular course of business and the business can conduct its business in a manner that
complies with the recommended social distancing and other requirements of previous executive orders, except to the extent inconsistent with any Executive Order or
regulation issued by the Governor of Florida, the state, or any federal authority"

https://alachuacounty.us/news/Article/Pages/Emergency-Order-2020-09---It-is-Time-to-Shelter-in-Place---Stay-at-Home-.aspx

Nyssa Ecological, Inc. is responding to COVID-19 in several ways, and is fortunate to have a fairly pro-isolation business model. It is straightforward to maintain social distance with clients - we just get to work. Much of my workflow is solitary - consulting, reduction pruning, small and medium-sized tree removals, plant health care, etc. The main concern right now is improving the isolation between climber and my part time ground worker, including that moment when the ground worker unties a rigging line. I have to know the characteristics of many rope materials and constructions to carry out my work safely and efficiently. Nylon, for instance, loses strength and elongates much more when it is wet. If I soak a nylon rope in soapy water I'm losing some strength. I'm not sure how we will deal with isolating rope handling within the company, but I'm going to find out very soon and we are going to do it.

Thank you for visiting the Alachua County website. By clicking “Ok” you will be redirected to a non-County maintained website. Alachua County may not be responsible for the content at the site you are about to be linked to.

03/11/2020

Standard morning 18" diameter sweetgum winch-and-drop... ☕

02/24/2020

Hi folks, just a few pictures from a volunteer work day this past Saturday at the Fairchild Oak in Ormond Beach. I work in Ormond Beach occassionally with Don Spence (Ph.D, BCMA) of Native Florida Landscapes, who coordinated this maintenance day. I felt honored to be out with the local tree professionals in their amazing southern live oak. The diameter measured at 95 inches, and the height at approximately 82 feet.

I started out by removing deadwood, which entailed removing a few smaller limbs near my tie in point, and a few ~20-inch diameter limbs on the underside of the canopy, which is where I was when these pictures were taken. Aided by soft-soled pruning boots and a high tie-in point, I did my best not to disturb the substantial duff and epiphyte ecosystem on these interior areas of the limbs. We rehomed several greenfly orchids that came off with the dead wood.

Elsewhere, new friends deadwooded, and I kept Doug LaFortune supplied with hardware as he renovated the lightning protection system. Thanks to Kestrel Ecological Services for donating hardware for the lightning protection system.

📷 Doug LaFortune

08/09/2019

This statement from the EPA essentially says that, after review, glyphosate cannot be labeled as a carcinogen, as California was requiring. Feel free to read up on it.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-08/documents/glyphosate_registrant_letter_-_8-7-19_-_signed.pdf

By circumstance, NEI rarely uses glyphosate, and uses herbicides with client agreement, in a sensible manner, under Florida state certification, and according to label rates. If you don't want an herbicide on your land, we do not want it there either. If you want to use herbicides as part of a holistic management plan, we provide the most precise application possible.

08/01/2019

Hi folks, the state of Florida recently passed HB 1159, shifting much of the control of the tree removal and replanting mitigation process from local county and municipalities to arborists. I thought you should know a bit more about it. Here is an excerpt from the bill:

"(1) A local government may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee, or mitigation for the pruning, trimming, or removal of a tree on residential property if the property owner obtains documentation from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture or a Florida licensed landscape architect that the tree presents a danger to persons or property.

(2) A local government may not require a property owner to replant a tree that was pruned, trimmed, or removed in accordance with this section."

NEI is supportive of the past and continuing role of our local governments, and also supportive of a property owner's right to manage their trees where it does no harm to others. NEI will keep providing the best consulting on tree structural risk, risk mitigation, health, and aesthetics. NEI will keep providing the best work available in Alachua county and North Florida.

With the increase in your agency to make decisions about your trees comes greater responsibility - if you choose - to access the best available information when considering removal, structural pruning, and plant health care. Give us a call. Use that extra mitigation pocket money to get consulting on your terms. Enjoy your expanded role in managing our shared canopy.

05/27/2019

This last week was all about pines.

Two dead pines were removed safely using a climbing line anchored in an adjacent live pine. One was rigged in small pieces on a zip line to a natural area opening in order to preserve the landscaping (ginger, holly, etc.) below it. The other - a casualty of pine beetle attack - was pieced out in 3 large pieces with a tag line to pull them in the right direction with an arborist winch. The 50 foot spar was dropped onto it's own branches across a yard and residential road. For this project, I had to advance my climbing line from its initial tie-in point in the live pine to a higher one at about 90-100 feet in the same pine, then traverse across to the dead pine to initiate the removal.

A living slash pine was dropped whole in a back yard. There were targets on both sides and the precise formation of the hinge wood made it possible to acurately direct its fall. When cross cut, the two leaders fell apart, exposing a festering mess of pine sap and dead bark in the acutely-angled branch union. Further down the trunk, the pine was growing wound wood around the junction to re-attach it - a very good response, but often too little, too late.

In between, I took time for a rec climb into the crown of a 90-foot pine with a view of Orange Lake, and did a light prune on a laurel oak to help out a 25-foot-tall avocado tree.

Glad to provide these services during this time of year as thoughts turn towards hurricanes... You all love me when I remind you of that, right? 😅 Just a reminder that I can evaluate your trees and recommend mitigations in an 8+ page written report. I am ISA Tree Risk Assessment-Qualified.

06/02/2018

Jonathan Colburn, M.Sc., ISA-certified arborist (FL-6572A) and ISA-qualified tree risk assessor, is available for a limited number of appointments June 3-17 in Williston, ND for ANSI-standard crown pruning and formal tree risk assessment.

Nyssa Ecological, Inc. is a North Florida-based company specializing in tree health care, consulting, and technical tree removal.

Call 352.328.7610 to schedule.