蘑菇短视频

The Lorax may be fiction, but the job is no joke! In a region like ours that so shines for its expansive and untamed forests, there will always been a great need for conservation work and advocacy.

蘑菇短视频鈥檚 campus alone has more than 3,500 trees, and the work required to maintain and monitor them all is no small task.

The mind behind the evergreen operation? Andrew Thigpen, WCU鈥檚 master arborist and an alumnus of the natural resources management program.

Thigpen鈥檚 story is a reminder of the rewards and fulfillment that come with a career in nature. Our path to the woods isn鈥檛 always a straight one, but what we learn along the way we carry forward.

Thigpen grew up on a farm in Swannanoa, playing outdoors between the creeks and forests on his parents鈥� property like many children of the region. His time in nature set a seed the years would see grow. His first working forays, though, called him elsewhere.

For many years, Thigpen had set his sights on a culinary career, and he followed that interest all the way to New York City. As a professional chef, Thigpen worked across the city shoulder-to-shoulder with colleagues in bustling kitchens. The work carried him through his twenties, but in time, his years in the fast-paced industry took their toll.

鈥淚 realized I was working 13 hours a day in a basement, and I needed green in my life,鈥� Thigpen said. 鈥淪o I got an internship at a botanic garden.鈥�

Starting work at Brooklyn Botanic Garden grew a dormant passion into a budding career as a professional horticulturist, and nearly 17 years later, he's still at it.

Working with all manner of flora, Thigpen was reminded of his keen love and interest in tree care in particular.

鈥淲hat I love about it is that every tree is different. Every branch on that tree is different than every other branch on every other tree, and what you want to do to that tree is different than every other tree,鈥� Thigpen said.

鈥淭herefore, each aspect of every tree and that decision-making process creates an infinitely variable cascade of decision-making and thought-processing. So there鈥檚 no bottom to the information, or there鈥檚 no bottom to the learning process working with trees. It just keeps going.鈥�

The path to 蘑菇短视频was rewarding but laborious, Thigpen describes. Earning his certifications as an arborist in 2018 required consistent studying and many years working in the private industry of tree care, where he had less decision-making power.

Now at WCU, Thigpen is constantly at the helm of the operation, a one-man crew with the respect and recognition of peers both at home and internationally. With the professional development opportunities presented to him while working and studying at WCU, Thigpen was able to earn the title of Board-Certified Master Arborbist, the highest level of certification offered by the International Society of Arboriculture.

He shares this credential with roughly 1,100 others worldwide.

Until his graduation last year, Thigpen continued to pursue a deeper understanding of the risk management that defines tree care through his scholarship at WCU.

鈥淭he natural resources degree has shown me how to see and think about and quantify and qualify huge groups of trees. I see them outside the scale of the individual tree, which has always been how my mind thinks about these things,鈥� Thigpen said.

Other students and staff of the natural resources department have also aided Thigpen in his efforts on campus. Associate professor Diane Styers rallied a group of Catamounts to measure and document every tree across WCU鈥檚 campus, uploading their data into a website called Tree Campus USA. Current students can view and contribute to that datahere.

Thigpen ultimately describes patience and perseverance as the most essential qualities in the attitude of an arborist.

鈥淚f you want to be really great at it, you have to know why things are happening, not just that they are happening, and that involves getting your hands very dirty. It involves reading through a lot of books, trying to figure out what鈥檚 going on 鈥� because there鈥檚 nothing new under the sun. Whatever you鈥檙e dealing with, someone has dealt with it before, and they have written it down,鈥� Thigpen said.

鈥淕o ahead and stand on the shoulders of giants. There鈥檚 no shame in it. And for me it鈥檚 just been about repetitive knowledge. I think that plant care knowledge takes maybe the longest of any profession that I know of to accrue because if you try something and it doesn't work for you, you have to wait an entire year to try your next idea.鈥�

To students who dream of a career among giants, or those who simply appreciate their campus lush and green, Thigpen had this to say:

鈥淪tudents, if they care about trees, can advocate for their protection and their installation. If you want more trees on campus, get organized and tell people about it. If you want to save old trees, get organized and tell people about it. Because I am only one voice,鈥� Thigpen said. 鈥淚 think they have a lot more power than they realize.鈥�