Certification

International Society of Arboriculture

Photo Credit: Blake Hampton

Certified Arborist Program

The program:

Certification is a voluntary program providing recognition of one’s professional knowledge by one’s peers. International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist recognition is given by the ISA to those who (1) meet the eligibility requirements for admission to the examination as set forth in the application, (2) successfully complete the examination, and (3) maintain the necessary number of continuing education units to recertify after three years.

The objectives of the certification program are:

• To be an educational program that will improve technical competency of the personnel in the tree care industry.
• To create incentives for these individuals to continue their professional development.
• To provide the public and those in government with a means to identify those professionals who have demonstrated, through a professionally developed exam and education program, that they have a thorough knowledge of tree care practices.

The benefits of the certification program include:

• Certification builds an individual’s self-image. By studying for and passing the exam, individuals reaffirm to themselves and their peers a thorough knowledge and dedication to arboriculture.
• Certification affords the public and those in government the opportunity to make an informed selection of services based on the knowledge which is represented by the Certification designation.
• The process of becoming Certified and maintaining the designation provides incentives to the individual to continue his/her on-going professional development.
• Certification is a tool to help the employer both in training their personnel and selecting new employees.

For more information, go to www.isasouthern.org or www.isa-arbor.com