The Davey Tree Expert Company, also known as Davey Tree, is an American multinational employee-owned corporation that provides tree, utility, lawn care, and environmental consulting services in the green industry throughout the United States and Canada. It is the largest residential tree care company in North America and was founded in 1880 making it the first national tree care company. John Davey, its founder, is considered the father of the science of tree surgery and arboriculture. The company's core services include tree, utility services, large tree moving, commercial grounds management and consulting services. It has been employee owned since 1979 and is the largest employee-owned company in the state of Ohio and one of the top 20 largest in the United States. Davey is organized in two segments, Residential and Commercial, and Utility.
The Davey Tree headquarters are in Kent, Ohio and the company was incorporated on February 4, 1909. John Davey was the President, and his son, Martin L. Davey, became the general manager and treasurer. The company, along with its subsidiaries, provides a wide range of arboriculture, horticulture, and environmental and consulting services to private companies, public utilities, local, state, and federal agencies, and various industrial, commercial, and residential customers.
Video Davey Tree Expert Company
History
In 1873, John Davey at age 27 traveled from Europe to America and began working at Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio. He transformed the cemetery with new plantings of trees, shrubs and flowers.
Davey planted hundreds of trees along the Kent streets and around homes in the community and performed a modest amount of tree work. He became determined to gain acceptance of his methods for the care of trees, and wrote a book.
In 1901, The Tree Doctor was published, a milestone in the career of John Davey and the science of tree preservation.
By 1915, Davey Tree was growing and expanding; during the period from 1915 to 1920, the company expanded more than fivefold. Today, the company has revenues of more than three-quarters of a billion USD.
Maps Davey Tree Expert Company
Employee Ownership
The Davey Tree Expert Company has been employee owned since 1979 and is the 15th largest employee-owned company in the U.S., according to data from the National Center for Employee Ownership. (The 2015 Employee Ownership 100 list includes the nation's largest companies that are at least 50 percent owned by an employee stock ownership plan or other broad-based employee ownership plan.) The recent list also names Davey as the largest employee-owned company in Ohio.
Environment
In 2013, Davey Tree published its first corporate social responsibility report in which its chief executive officer, Karl Warnke, states "We are dedicated to being responsible corporate citizens to ensure today's business practices are not detriments to tomorrow's landscape. As environmental stewards, we must be accountable for our actions each day." According to data from the report, the company achieved a 95-percent wood waste recycling rate. It also reduced its water use and electricity use, as well as moved its fleet to energy efficient vehicles and GPS monitoring.
The company has been involved in many projects to help care for the environment with initiatives such as i-Tree, software created by Davey and the USDA Forest Service used to quantify the benefit of trees, as well as helping the National Park Service care for the trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Additionally, the company's emergency storm response crews assist and help clean up from natural disasters, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina.
Divisions
Davey operates in two segments, Residential and Commercial, and Utility. It also maintains research, technical support, and laboratory diagnostic facilities.
The Residential and Commercial segment is involved in the treatment, preservation, maintenance, removal, and planting of trees, shrubs, and other plant life. The segment's services also include landscaping, grounds maintenance, tree surgery, as well as the application of fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.
The Utility Services segment engages vegetation management around power lines, rights-of-way, and chemical brush control services; and natural resource management and consulting, forestry research and development, and environmental planning services.
Research and Development
John Davey was committed to improving the technology and tools needed to advance tree care research. His passion for scientific study led him to develop the Davey Institute of Tree Surgery in 1908. The training facility was staffed by experts and also provided employees with the skills and tools needed to advance tree science. Today, the company still provides basic tree science as the educational foundation for its employees.
Scientists and technical advisors at The Davey Institute guide field service teams in diagnosing and prescribing products, application procedure, and pest and disease cultural practices. The company also assists college students in the green industry through its Arbor Day Grants.
Davey Tree also partners with organizations to advance tree-care science and provide community outreach programs promoting tree maintenance, such as American Forests, International Society of Arboriculture, Tree Care Industry Association, and TREE Fund through programs like the National Register of Big Trees and fundraisers like Tour des Trees.
References
Further reading
- Pfleger, Robert E. (1977). Green Leaves: A History of The Davey Tree Expert Company. Chester, Connecticut, USA: Pequot Press. ISBN 978-0-87106-081-5.
- International Directory of Company Histories. The Davey Tree Expert Company. 11. St. James Press. 1995. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
Source of the article : Wikipedia