Joe Samnik, Expert Tree Consultant, LLC, established 53 years in the field of arboriculture and horticulture.
Over 800 litigation assignments involving tree and landscape values, product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death.
Representation of plaintiff/defendant approximately 50/50.
Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Arboriculture.
Licensed by the Department of Entomology in the State of Florida.
Author of Rule Chapter 14-40 of the Florida Statues: Determining the value of trees and landscapes.
Provider Status for Education (Landscape Architects) by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, State of Florida.
Presented at over 100 International, National, and State conferences.
Accepted in criminal, civil, federal, small claims, and eminent domain courts of law.
Founding President: Florida Chapter, International Society of Arboriculture.
Past President: Association of Eminent Domain Professionals.
Practice area: United States.
Areas of Expertise:
- Arboreal and Horticultural Education
- Tree and Landscape Appraisals
- Product Liability
| - Wrongful Death
- Personal Injury
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Among the new publications of note to arborists is ANSI A300 (part 2) - 2011(Soil Management- a. Modification, b. Fertilization, and c. Drainage). If you fertilize trees, or write specificity regarding the fertilization of trees, this is a new publication you must have in your library. You may obtain a copy of this publication from the Florida Chapter, ISA office.
Trends are fascinating and exhilarating phenomena. They allow pundits the opportunity to pontificate upon things which may never happen but are nonetheless given great credence due to the expertise of the pontificator. Trends tend to focus on the minutia of a far greater whole, and more likely than not are short-lived. Trends are fun to watch and a delight to participate in. Trends define goals and give us hope to better ourselves and our communities. We want to become a trendsetter due to its elitism and social stature. We want to follow trendsetters because there's safety in numbers. But lurking in the hallowed halls of this intermittent euphoria lays danger. Nothing can disappear quicker than Elvis Presley sideburns then to follow a trend and ignore the science behind it.
Oh lo, how many years have passed since one of the country's leading property rights attorneys asked me to meet with him and his assistant to go over my deposition prior to giving it. He was the lead property rights attorney for Florida's oldest law firm. He was located over 400 miles away, and wanted me to meet him at a pancake house at 5:00 AM. My deposition was at 9:00 AM the same day. The matter evolved around the governments taking of private property for public use - eminent domain - which may be found under Article 5 of the Bill of Rights. The issue of eminent domain is, and was, so crucially important to our founding fathers that the same number of jurors required for capital murder is also required for eminent domain trials. When you work in the field of eminent domain you are working in the literal heartbeat of our constitution.
Have you ever heard the name Donna Massie? How about Tom McCrum? The former holds the dubious distinction of having identified the very first Asian long-horned beetle (ALB) in Worchester, Mass. Already 1,800 trees have been tagged for removal on 62 square miles surrounding Worcester and four neighboring towns. Tom McCrum is with the Massachusetts Maple Syrup Association and joins economists and politicians in the nightmare scenario that would follow into the tourism and timber industry if the ALB encroached further from its current foothold. Approximately $268 million has been spent on eradication efforts during the last eleven years.
A couple of decades ago I hung a picture on my office wall. I hung it there at the beginning of my career in appraising trees and plants. The caption under the picture reads, "Do you want your assessment to show how much your tree is worth, or how little it is worth - it's a matter of emphasis". Setting aside the naïveté of the statement, the question remains the matter of emphasis in the approach used to valuation - and the ethical repercussions which ensue.
There are no formulas to assist a plant appraiser in valuing a plant that has no value in the marketplace due to its small size (Think, tree farms and liners, seedlings, or other immature plants which have suffered a casualty). Almost without exception, an appraiser will either value the immature plant as if it were a mature plant, or rely upon the weakest of all strong arguments, ipse dixit ("because I said so") to substantiate his opinion; however, the latter approach to value is being challenged more and more in court by judges.
The new 10th Edition, Guide for Plant Appraisals, is currently in the review and comment phase. This long awaited publication (if not Holy Grail) could be available in 2013. Having reviewed the publication I can, at this time, state with some certainty that future depositions will become much shorter and the ranks of the new unqualified landscape appraisers will be filled in large part from the current ranks of the qualified. As a book review goes, I shall go no further until such time that the 10th Edition is playing in a theater near you.
About one century before Davy Crockett entered the Alamo another fight for life was taking place in Safety Harbor, Florida. Amid a forest of oaks and vegetation a single acorn miraculously sent out a fibrous root which drove into the ground and somehow became established. Against all odds this root developed into a small tree and 300 years later it became the fabled Baranoff Oak. For over 300 years it has withstood the vicissitudes and inclemencies of weather. Hurricanes, lightning, and fires could not and did not kill this magnificent specimen. Now it is fighting for its life - and losing.
The title is certainly an old play on words and, perhaps correctly, states the fact that no matter how radical a change the underlying components remain the same, as do the consequences. Such is true in many industries and ours is no different. Take the ANSI A300, (Part 9), and the companion publication, Best Management Practices (BMP) Series Tree Risk Assessment, regarding the assessment of tree risks.
When your area of expertise includes tree preservation, and you have been doing just that for 45 years, a pattern of anticipation emerges from the owner of the tree as it relates to certain inquiries regarding the process and expectations. Wither my client is commercial or residential there are shared common denominators associated with each person. Here is my summation of the most frequently asked questions and my response:
At first blush you may think that this article is about a small, albeit ugly armored animal and you would be justified in doing so. After all, the name Armadillo Partners conjures up a mental image of a corporate holding of armadillos, presumably for sale. Such would not be the case however. In fact, this article is about an arbor area and trees located at a shopping center called Armadillo Square in Broward County, Florida.
John Booth, the Principal Consultant and Practice Director of Sylvanus Arboricultural Consultants Ltd., is a Chartered Aboricuturalist and Chartered Environmentalist and one of the UK’s most widely qualified Arboricultural Consultants. He has over 25 years experience in both the private and public sectors and has written numerous articles and papers for respected publications including the International Journal of Urban Forestry for which he is also a referee.
