Will Koomjian & ATP in "Arborist Heart & Hands" Redbull TV

one man against the ultimate power of nature chasing Niagara December 25th on Red Bull TV it ball goes in the same bin in my mind [Music] trees improve the quality of the air we breathe they stabilize our hills and they clean the water that we drink once I realized that I could make a living climbing trees trees became my life take it off there from the world's crowded urban jungles to its vast old-growth forests a tribe of specialized tree surgeons climb high into the canopy clear well their mission defend the world's trees it's not an environment that's been made safe for humans without a safety net they risk it all on every climb we'll kun Jian and his crew of tree Guardians do the work that few others can saving these ancient Giants for future generations that's my job that's what I do this is my life [Music] [Music] [Music] pretty amazing no place in the world that would rather be well you have the GPS yeah right [Music] I move to Oregon when I was 18 to go to college and then I left college and I started working as a gardener and then as an arborist and trees became my life [Music] we'll kun Jian is leading the way for a new breed of tree doctors by combining technical rock climbing skills with a passion for conservation he is redefining what it means to be an arborist [Music] so when I walk through like a grove of trees or a forest I don't feel like I'm just looking at a bunch of green vlogs to me each of those trees have a personality and I can tell sort of how they're doing in their life and how they relate to the other trees around them so I'm pretty sure this should get us at least within the grove yeah we're doing good today will is searching for a pristine grove of trees in the massive Mount Hood National Forest located in the American Pacific Northwest Mount Hood National Forest claims more than 1 million acres of trees it is one of the most productive ecosystems on earth [Music] rising over 11,000 feet above the forest floor Mount Hood is Oregon's highest peak in the shadow of this glaciated volcano 200 year old trees grow more than 300 feet high [Music] yeah why don't you maybe grab the tape and start doing some diameter measurements I'm gonna walk around with the laser call will is joined by longtime friend and fellow arborist Brian French they're hoping to find and record Oregon's largest Pacific silver fir where is that really tall one that you were talking about Wow yeah that's a nice tree yeah that's a really nice-looking tree I just got one fifty four plus seventeen it's better than that this one's just about thirteen and five inches in addition to their jobs we'll and Brian run a nonprofit organization whose mission is to register organs biggest trees in hopes of protecting them [Music] hey guys by mid afternoon fellow arborists arrived to assist in the climb we found a good one oh yeah I mean not only is it a big tree but it's like oh it's it's just mint it's like this perfect straight column with like nice crown it's a proud tree get a throw ball set up we'll start taking some volleys there's only one way to determine if this silver fir is a record-breaker and it begins with an ascent of at least 20 stories I think we have a pretty good location of fire from right here you think there's a lot of brush in the way there is it's a dense crown so I'm not gonna get super ambitious I didn't get any kind of height okay alright this specific type of climbing climbing in really big conifers like this is a very unique skill set this is not a field for people that like to play things fast and loose [Music] they say there's old climbers and there's bold climbers but there's no old bold climbers it's not an environment that's been made safe for humans the things that you really worry about are just not paying attention and just making some super stupid mistake you can clip your carabiner into the wrong thing and you only have to do that once Brian too will be copy yeah what's up Brian I'm gonna start gearing up so I can head up Brian's up next although they climb around 200 trees together each year there's nothing routine about the job I started out scared of heights just the same as anybody else but if you do it every day if that's your work and you know your office is at height you get very used to being at height but then you know if something goes wrong the fear of heights can definitely come back and it can come back with a vengeance Brian I'm going to start lowering this tape a get to the left of that one yeah right there right there will graduate nice okay all right I have it in hand so let me know when you're ready for me to pull it tight well okay I'm gonna take it up and I'm gonna measure the tippy-top which looks like another three or four feet okay all right all right and that's about the tip right there if it's as big as we think it is this could be the largest tree of this species in the state of Oregon anybody want to take any guess as to what the final number is I'm gonna go with 245 pretty close 205 point one nice be the champion to me biggest Pacific silver for an Oregon [Music] one thing that I think a lot of folks forget is that this is what a tree is supposed to look like when we come to places like this we get to see what the world looks like on its own we've nature to its own devices and it does incredible things I'm a great day it was unreal to be in it I mean a tree is amazing one of the things that I love about this is that we get to sort of remind people that nature is amazing and to care about its preservation I have this awesome community we use the term tree tribe to describe our group just this work is so hard it's so dangerous and takes so much out of you I have all of these great friends that share in that and that can sympathize with that tonight's tree tribe gathering is also a going-away toast for will his specialized skills take him on jobs around the world that worked in South Africa Indonesia last year I was in Madagascar in New Zealand and I'm leaving a week from today to go to Hong Kong [Applause] [Music] located in southeastern China Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on earth [Music] that's really incredible still people here share a deep respect for their ancestry and nature in an ever-changing urban jungle Hong Kong's trees are a touchstone for conservation old trees particularly old trees are given a lot of respect in Hong Kong you see a lot of shrines a lot of incense sticks at the base of these trees especially old ficus trees I love it I think that's awesome [Music] [Music] so you can really see this tree has very little room I mean this is somebody's house right here that it's growing right into this is somebody else's house right here the tire is actually doing a really good job of keeping the tree in the temple away so that the cambium can keep dividing and growing that makes me happy [Music] [Music] at the heart of this island city concrete skyscrapers tower over its prized banyan trees for over a century trees which began as seedlings sprouting from cracks in the masonry have grown massive root structures that have become part of the city walls [Music] today over 1200 trees tower above the busy streets and sidewalks below we need to raise up just a little bit here a little bit right here we can take it right there and preserve the branch I think that's gonna be the best thing to do a good arborist feed so look out for the needs of people but they also need to understand trees and really be looking out for what's in the trees best interest the wall trees are a huge source of pride for people in Hong Kong people love that they're these native trees that are flourishing under really unlikely circumstances that they're just able to adapt and overcome I mean it's incredible if you won't see that anywhere else we're gonna need one person that's sort of in charge of that the tail of my rope if there's too much slack one of those double-decker buses will come and click the end of my rope and make a very bad day for me a difficult climb and crowded city streets make this job particularly challenging although the job required a 6,000 mile commute local tree dr. John picker brought will in to lead the trimming of the historic trees in Hong Kong the level of sri climbing and Arbor culture is still in development and so when we really need to get a difficult job done we contact will ask him to come over he's a smart climber intelligent climber and he's able to move around the tree a lot faster than most people before I go up into a tree I just sort of take him in it and just try to let all the voices die down and do a bit of a gut check and make sure that my head is in it every situation is different there's no formula it totally varies from one day to another everything depends on the tree and it depends on the scenario can you run traffic control on me let me know when I'm clear there's plenty of opportunity to really screw things up if you're not careful in order to do good pruning you have to get way out to the tips to the spots where the stems are two inches thick [Music] and be able to work there to shed branches to shed stems that's a normal thing for a tree but if we have big trees over a crowded environment like what we have at forbes street we don't want that okay you guys I'm ready for a chainsaw will removes limbs that can weigh over 300 pounds a serious risk to people and property more than 70 feet below Eddie when we're cutting you're stopping traffic okay okay [Music] I just try to be very focused if you're distracted you can make mistakes and mistakes can have really bad consequences if you're running a chainsaw attached to rope [Music] [Music] we've taken away the hazards and given the people in the neighborhood peace of mind that the trees are safe and sound [Music] it's a really huge honor to be chosen to work on these old and valuable trees [Music] [Music] sir is definitely not getting better much road left that's [Music] three months later will and Brian returned to Mount Hood National Forest to begin one of the most unusual jobs they've ever been part of [Music] in order to preserve this virgin tract of forest they will first help knock down dozens of its trees [Music] right now we're getting set up to drop this douglas-fir over here okay will and Brian first rigged the trees with heavy-duty cables that will allow the dozers to uproot the trees and control the direction of their fall what do you think about up here if you pull my climb line when I work with Brian I've been climbing with him for so long I know his approach to things and he knows my approach to things yeah good [Music] can I get a little bit more attention Jeff [Music] I'm satisfied with that give me a minute to get out of the way we'll and Brian are the expert climbers in an environmental tree tipping project for the Oregon Forestry Service the fallen trees help create new salmon habitat in the river as salmon return upriver to spawn and die here their carcasses will help nourish the entire forest ecosystem this going in the river some old bridge pieces some root wads taken from the tree farm all designed to be better salmon habitat slow the water down prevent erosion make the salmon come home it never ceases to amaze me like the weird places that I end up in this line of work that's good right there yeah we've done a lot of cool projects over the years but like this really like was one of the coolest projects that I've worked on in my career like who pulls trees over with giant cables I mean who does that I'm okay no worries [Music] [Music] hey hey Brian that's right dude are you doing man [Music] trees are my livelihood everything I do is about trees oh and I could just stay right here I would be all right I get to see amazing views I get to go places that literally no person has ever gone before see things that nobody's ever seen before that was really fun I love this work like I can't imagine doing anything else the more time I spend in a tree per day the better I feel I'm always happiest in the tree

Channel: ATP Asia Tree Preservation

Views: 36,258

Rating: 4.8927612 out of 5

Keywords: wall trees, arborist, will koomjian, jon picker, tree climbing, arboriculture, wall tree, sequoia tree

Id: H5ElFlgnIUg

Length: 24min 13sec (1453 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 22 2016