ISA offers a variety of educational materials to help arborists improve their arboricultural knowledge. Each week we will feature a product, or group of products that will enhance your arboriculture education. This week, ISA is featuring Trees and the Law in Canada. Written by Julian Dunster, one of Canada’s leading consulting arborists, this publication provides the reader with in-depth analysis of legal principles and case law, and shows how these affect practices in the field.

“Many of us who do consulting work get involved with all sorts of court cases such as trespassing, appraisal damages, claims of nuisance or dealing with damage caused by roots and branches,” said Dunster. “An arborist is often called and, realistically, an arborist needs to have a basic understanding of what the law allows or doesn’t allow.”

According to Dunster, “Trees and the Law in Canada" is “essentially” a second edition to an earlier publication, “Arboriculture and the Law in Canada,” which was originally published in 1997. However, in addition to being more technical, “Trees and the Law in Canada” includes the first-ever comprehensive review dedicated to tree law in Quebec.

“Quebec is a province that is govern by a completely different legal system than the rest of Canada,” Dunster said. “Because of that the principals are the same, but the application of those principals is quite different.”

For his work, Dunster earned the 2019 ISA R.W. Harris Author’s Citation Award, which is given to authors who consistently publish timely and valuable content related to the field of arboriculture.

“My hope is that it will raise awareness of the many legal issues involved, and perhaps it will give people pause for thought before they go and cut their neighbors trees down,” Dunster said. “Also hopefully it gives the average person on the street a better sense of what their legal rights are, and of course gives the lawyers and the judges a much better understanding of tree law.”

All of these publications, along with many more resources, are available in our online store.