Dahl named 'True Professional'

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) named Andy Dahl of Washington a ?True Professional of Arboriculture? in August. Dahl is a certified arborist at the University of Iowa (UI), and a longtime volunteer on the Washington Tree Beautification Committee.

"I've seen some of the past winners and these are big names in the world," Dahl said about the award during a recent interview. "There's been international recipients of this award and to hear my name ? I was humbled and honored. To go to Milwaukee, to the conference and to accept the award from your peers was pretty neat."

According to the ISA, the True Professional recognition program honors arborists and tree care professionals for their positive impact on the industry in and around their communities. He is one of five arborists selected for the award in 2014.

Dahl and his crew at the UI take care of 8,000 trees, an ISA press release stated. He is responsible for the UI becoming the first Tree Campus USA in Iowa.

One of the projects Dahl began on the UI campus is a learning orchard.

"Each generation that comes ? it's almost like we're forgetting how to grow our own food," he said.

The learning orchard is a way to supply food the dining halls on campus and to educate people on how to care for fruit and nut trees.

"To me, apples in particular hold a lot of history," Dahl said. "Iowa was the top-producing state until the 1940s' Armistice Day freeze. The varieties we know of today, for instance, the red delicious, came from Iowa. I just think it's neat to mirror the history with functionality of growing your own food."

Dahl said that he tracked down a person who had cut a piece of wood off of an apple tree planted by Johnny Appleseed. The tree he spoke of was still living in the 1960s or '70s.

"I dressed up like Johnny Appleseed for my daughter's kindergarten class," he said, "with a tin pan on my head and the whole bit. We talked about Johnny Appleseed. It's actually at Stewart School, we planted one."

Dahl also has a graft of the apple tree made famous by Sir Isaac Newton. An apple dropping from the tree helped Newton develop the law of gravity.

One of the grafted trees is in an orchard on campus.

"To think of the tree ? it's still alive in England," he said. "Newton was sitting under [the tree] when the apple fell on his head. That's pretty cool."

Dahl would love to create an arboretum in Washington, perhaps at Sunset Park. He would plant the progeny of state champion trees. In fact, there is a state champion tree in Sunset Park ? a black gum tree. It is the biggest one in the state of Iowa.

"People would be interested to see how trees grow and that way, you could go look and say, 'Oh, that's how a black gum looks,'" he said.

Trees hold special meaning in his personal life. When he and his wife were married at the Danforth Chapel on the UI campus, they planted a tree.

"It's made it through a few floods," he said. "It's just like a marriage ? some years it's better than others. It's pretty neat to see how it's grown. [We] take the kids up every year on the anniversary to get a picture taken."

ISA President Mark Roberts spoke of Dahl at the conference in August.

"Andy Dahl helps people better understand the importance of trees and all aspects of their stewardship," Roberts said. "Whether setting up a tree protection program plan for a state champion gingko or planting trees with first-graders, Andy is committed to the industry and his community. He has truly found his calling as an arborist."

Dahl thinks it's important to plant and care for trees.

"I want future generations to look at some of the work we've done and think, 'Wow. They knew what they were doing,'" he said. "And all the while, we were making the world a better place."