Since our last update in early May we’ve had a number of teleconference board meetings and our AGM & TCC at Charlottetown, PEI in mid- September. Kurt Laird and his Charlottetown committee did a great job in organizing a successful educational conference and TCC.

Special thanks to John Denovan our TCC committee chair and our VP Dan LeBlanc for their great organization of the TCC. The venue at the University of Prince Island was excellent. Our 2007winner, Matt Follet repeated as our chapter champion after a very close competition with Dan LeBlanc, Trevor Burton and Joey Peters.

International Vice President, Frank Gifford from ISA attended our AGM & Conference in Charlottetown.

Earlier in July, Matt Follett represented us well at the ISA International TCC in St Louis, Missouri last July. He finished in the middle of the pack for his grouping. Brian Phelan, his wife Cathy and I cheered him on during the searing heat the contestants had to endure.

I represented our chapter at the ISA International Chapters presidents meeting & luncheon and took in the three-day educational Conference and Trade show as well. Our ISA director, Brian Phelan represented us at the ISA Board of Directors meetings.

ISA Atlantic Update In October, I attended ISA’s Leadership Conference in Champaign, Illinois at the University of Illinois campus. It was a very rewarding experience and the sponsorship by our chapter and ISA International is much appreciated. I would highly recommend it to present or future executive board members. A highlight was our tour of the new ISA offices in Champaign, which was a state-the-art facility.

We have accomplished the majority of the items on our Action Plan drawn up at the January Board meeting. These include the cleanup of some projects that have been on the go for a number of years.

Our chapter web site was launched in late June along with a link to ISA International’s web site with the help of Ernie Noa the ISA tech guru from head office. In June, we acquired our new trailer for storage and transportation of our Tree Climbing gear to TCC events. To date, we have 6 sponsors who have contributed and five of them had their logos installed on the trailer during the Charlottetown meeting.

Other projects completed included the production of Development Guidelines for hosting future AGM’s and TCC events carried out by our able secretary, Jim Urbanowsky and John Denovan. John upgraded the ATCC Kit with a number of hardware items and ropes to complete our climbing gear required for our Tree Climbing Championship events

Our new static display booth was produced to advertise our chapter at various events and shows and was on display for the first time at the HortEast Conference & Trade show (All Green Industry) in Halifax in November. The folks at Exhibits Plus in Halifax did a great job with the artwork and provided lights and a travel case for ease of transport

HortEast was well attended and plans are underway to hold this event every year alternating between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. My thanks go to Brian Phelan and Matt Follett who helped out in the manning of our new display unit at the HortEast Trade show. During the conference we had an opportunity to meet with Liz Klose, the new Special Landscape Sectors Priorities Specialist for the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA). Liz is the former Superintendent of the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture where Matt Follett and I are grads. She will be involved with a number of certification programs for the green industry. She’s pictured below with Matt and I at the trade show.

For the coming new year, the board will meet in mid-January in New Brunswick to draw up a new 2009 Action Plan for our chapter. We welcome Crispin Hoar to our board from HRM’s Urban Forestry Department. Crispin, a long-time ISA member, former TCC competitor and volunteer organizer for recent TCC events was elected in Charlottetown.

For the coming new year, the board will meet in mid-January in New Brunswick to draw up a new 2009 Action Plan for our chapter. We welcome Crispin Hoar to our board from HRM’s Urban Forestry Department. Crispin, a long-time ISA member, former TCC competitor and volunteer organizer for recent TCC events was elected in Charlottetown.

Next year our AGM and TCC Conference will be held in Saint John, NB with Chris Gaudet as our chair.

Have a happy and safe holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Stan Kochanoff, LPP, MCIP, RCA #427, President ISA-Atlantic Chapter