About Urban Forestry Guide

My Story

I got into this work because I've always seen trees as more than landscaping — they're living infrastructure that cities depend on. Once you start paying attention to canopy structure, root systems, and how trees interact with the built environment, you can't unsee it.

That perspective led me into arboriculture professionally. Over 13 years I've worked my way from climbing crews to running my own tree service company with ISA Certified Arborists on staff, managing crews, overseeing government contracts, and handling everything from routine pruning to large-scale hazard reduction projects.

I earned my ISA Certified Arborist credential because I believe the people advising homeowners about their trees should actually understand tree biology, structural integrity, and proper care standards — not just own a chainsaw.

Why I Built This Site

When Peninsula homeowners search for a tree service, they get Yelp pages, Thumbtack ads, and companies ranking themselves #1 on their own websites. Nobody is evaluating these companies against actual arboricultural standards.

Urban Forestry Guide exists to fix that. Companies we feature are reviewed using an arborist-led rubric that evaluates license status, insurance documentation when available, pruning practices, whether they top trees (a red flag), credentials, and customer experience patterns. Our methodology is transparent and published on our editorial standards page .

I also integrate public tree data from city open data portals to give homeowners real information about what's growing in their neighborhood, what it needs, and who's qualified to take care of it.

My Path

What I Do Today