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The Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation (ESEERCO) contracted with ACRT, Inc. Environmental Specialist to research the status and efficacy of Tree Growth Regulators (TGR's) and their applicability for the electrical utility industry. The project included the preparation of an annotated bibliography, a TGR practitioner survey for usage data and unpublished reports, a synopsis of the bibliography, and an information dissemination/storyboard session for ESEERCO members and TGR scientists. The user survey had 160 respondents and their responses are tabulated and discussed. Various TGR application methods—trunk injection, bark banding, trunk implant, soil application—are discussed and evaluated. This presentation summarizes the user information and the pertinent results of the storyboard session.

There are more than 46,000 tree and landscape service companies in the U.S.A. according to the most recent government census. The majority of these firms are good, experienced arborists/landscapers, but they have little or no formal business training. Assistance to Green Industry small businesses is available from numerous government agencies, educational organizations, commercial and trade associations, financial groups and business consultants. Some of these free or low-cost businesses management assistance resources are available to tree or landscape service companies wherever they are located, but they need to look for them. Tree and landscape business owners must truly "Become Business Professionals as well as Tree Professionals" in order to prosper and survive in today's economic and regulated society.

Utility line clearing has developed into a major industry. Many utilities today employ professionals (arborists, foresters, etc.), to direct their programs. Increased federal and state regulations have changed work procedures, tools, methods, equipment, etc. Basically the line clearance industry, with the exception of telephone/telegraph, has reacted to crisis. There is a need for a research coordinating committee to establish priorities, goals and ultimately stabilize or reduce maintenance line clearing cost.

Tree care, pruning and removal operations have been difficult to price because each tree, each location, and each situation is different. Traditionally, tree care salespeople have learned to estimate jobs by the trial-and-error method. Many times, the salesperson has not been in sales over a long enough period of time to gain pricing experience. The concept of pricing using fixed and variable factors for the different tasks can accommodate the differences in trees, locations, and situations. The system can, and should be modified to each company's operations. The use of man-hours required to perform specific tree care operations provides the key to calculating costs and also provides a measurable basis to evaluate crew performance.