late). To this end, developing new policies for health
and safety by considering field worker perspectives
and listening to their lived experiences is critical.
The third narrative (Bardekjian, 2015: Chapter 6)
provides a closer look at arborists' interactions and
feelings about non-human agency (Bardekjian, 2016).
Interviews revealed how arborists negotiate the urban
forest physically and emotionally as a place of work,
play, and community. Participants spoke of a constant
struggle to juggle human and non-human priorities and
motivations and how these tensions impact their per-
sonal lives and the urban forest in its own right. For
example, tree species made a difference in how some
arborists felt about their work on a given day; maples
and oaks were considered good trees to climb, while
honeylocusts and willows were considered less favour-
able. Building on the notion of governance, Jones and
Cloke's (2002) framework for dominant themes for
culture, agency, place, and ethics helps with an analysis
to reveal the intricacies and challenges of these rela-
tionships. Thus, understanding arborist relationships
with, and perspectives on, non-human agency is para-
mount in developing better urban forest decision-making
systems and more mindful management practices.
Finally, the fourth narrative (Bardekjian, 2015: Chapter
7) discusses new ways of knowing and producing knowl-
edge in urban forestry with respect to social dimensions
and considerations. Interviews with urban tree workers
revealed that the lack of standardization of a com-
prehensive and inclusive urban forestry education
creates knowledge divisions both within the industry
(formal education) and externally (public education).
Participants expressed their desire for a more com-
prehensive urban forest education and provided
recommended inclusions to formal curriculum at the
college level. In addition, interviewees felt that there
are many opportunities to better engage the public
and raise awareness about the role of the arborist in
maintaining urban trees. Lastly, urban forestry in higher
education operates at different levels and can appeal to
less technical scholarship; as such, we need to provide
a solid baseline of formal education that incorporates
critical thinking and social theories to better prepare
learners for the interdisciplinary aspects of the field.
Identity constructions influence pride, and this
impacts behaviour and job performance. More point-
edly, a closer examination of field and climbing arborists'
relationships with trees offers useful insights for plan-
ners and policy makers when visioning for the future
of urban forests, given that the change must happen
systemically. The respect and care with which field
arborists tend to trees presents novel and enticing
insights into human-nature connections. Their col-
lective narratives can be explored, communicated,
and propagated through urban forestry networks.
Trees live through time and space in ways we cannot
imagine. More pointedly, they live through temporal/
generational changes as well as physical and geograph-
ical changes. For example, a tree living for 200 years will
survive a forest, a farmland, and perhaps a sub-division
development. The continuous physical changes over
time also have many social and cultural variances that
impact and influence the tree (Rangan and Kull, 2009).
My interviews revealed that field workers' voices offer
a bridge for effective and considerate communication in
urban forest practice that can help narrow the human/
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