We help understand and guide our clients and their trees towards safe, beautiful and full lives together. Whether it's matching a site with trees that can reach their full potential or working to preserve an ancient forest one tree at a time, our work with trees is informed by ancient and modern knowledge and grounded in appreciation for these magnificent organisms.

Is this tree healthy and safe? Why did that tree die and this one live? Are there any trees that can survive on this site with these soils and this wind and light exposure? These are some of the questions that we grapple with as we assist our clients in maintaining vigorous, long-lived urban forests.

Trees and forests require light, air, water and soil. Creeks crisscross our lands, carrying water and fallen wood through our hills and valleys and serve as arteries,  feeding life into our oceans. Wildlife and understory plants are also part of our forest homes, playing their roles in forest life as they shelter in the niches provided by large trees. Fire is also an integral part of life in many ecosystems; its suppression has supported the build-up of certain types of vegetation at the expense of others. Yet we seek to live inside and around the edges of our native forests and to emulate them in our urban forests. Is it possible to plan the interaction of human and non-human elements in the landscape in such a way as to balance the needs of trees with the desire of humans to live in the forest? In our best work we present ways to work with forests in order to maintain tree health, wildlife habitat, minimize fire hazard and increase creek and water quality.

How can we reconcile human habitation and infrastructure with tree's needs for light, air, soil and water? In our best work we become the tree's advocates, collaborating with architects, builders, engineers and homeowners to achieve a compromise that allows our trees and forests to coexist with houses, streets and new landscaping.

This holistic approach to pest problems focuses on assessing pest and beneficial organism populations and using control methods that are in harmony with the environment. As human beings we have created many pest problems by the way we live, and the plants we choose to grow in our gardens. At Baefsky and Associates we believe that it is our responsibility to find ways of solving those problems and preserving the biological diversity that sustains our planet.

Public parks and schools are two entities that we have evaluated in order to assist in providing superior, intelligent and safe IPM. We begin by interviewing all those that are involved in the pest management process, from janitors to administrators. What do they perceive as the important pest problems? How do they deal with those problems? Then we do our own fieldwork, looking at the whole landscape - soils, water and plants. We identify the key pests and beneficials. Finally, we provide recommendations for long-term management and the education needed to improve on-site pest management practices.

Routine monitoring is the key to implementing Plant Health Care, or preventative IPM. Noting the fluctuations of potential pest and beneficial populations, measuring soil temperature and watching plants grow helps our clients take action in their gardens before small problems become large problems. We provide IPM, Plant Health Care, Construction Site Tree Preservation & Routine Soil Monitoring in residential and commercial landscapes.

When plants don't grow well we begin by looking at the soil. All plant life begins in the soil, and is sustained through food and water webs that join plant to earth. From the roots up we analyze abnormalities and compare them with other plants are growing in similar conditions. Sometimes our problems boil down to having the wrong plant in the wrong place. Rather then fight to keep an inappropriate planting alive, we offer our clients the option of replacement. Matching species with environment is the ultimate solution to many of our dead and dying plant problems.

Disturbed ecosystems have lost the plant and animal populations that made them full and healthy. Soil erosion, polluted water and the disappearance of rare and endangered species are the result of disasters natural and man-made. We assist clients in putting back the missing pieces of our landscapes and recreating healthy, functional ecosystems.

Physical and biological parameters are analyzed with particular notice of which plants are doing well on the site to be restored. Nearby successful examples of areas where the species to be used are doing well is compared with the restoration site and the differences are studied with an eye towards matching the conditions. Plants, soils and animals are evaluated and a design prepared that pays great attention to soil and water conditions as well as the optimum species, size and protection of new plant material.

SOILS ECOLOGY - Unraveling the Mystery
All of our work is anchored in reverence for the earth, both for the thin skin of dirt from which we derive our food, clothing and shelter, and for the larger ecosystems that sustain us all. Analyzing a soil's physical, biological and chemical attributes has been the first step we take in unraveling the mysteries of why and how our soils are helping or hindering our landscape.