Tree-Service Test Amended, Free Plants Selected, Christmas Event Dec. 13

MOSCOW – Updates to a city-required test for tree-service contractors were approved unanimously by the Moscow Tree Commission at its regular meeting last week.

“This is our big agenda item today,” said Commission Chair Ellis Eifert.

Plant variety choices for Farmers Market giveaways in 2026 and 2027, and a theme for Arbor Day 2026 also were approved by all on the board. 

And “Tree Cookie” ornament-making will be hosted by the commission during the Dec. 13 Winter Market at the 1912 Center.

Changes to the general knowledge tree-certification test mostly were to align terms with the international arborist community and to address newer science and understanding of pruning.

“It’s not so much about how to prune, but why, and how those wounds affect this large organism,” said Commission Vice Chair David Rauk.

City code requires a license for anyone who plants, prunes or removes a tree on public property for a fee. A license requires the contractor or at least one employee to possess certification. Among other requirements is passing a written exam, which includes general knowledge questions.

The commission amended and increased the test from 90 to 100 questions. The city provides study guides and plenty of time to complete the open-book test, said David Schott, Moscow parks and facilities manager and the city staff liaison to the Tree Commission.

“We are not trying to fail people,” he said. “We are trying to educate.”

In other business, the commission:

* Chose the theme “Planting for Future Generations” to submit to University of Idaho partners for joint city/university Arbor Day celebrations on April 24, 2026. 

* Chose four tree and shrub varieties for its fall 2026 seedling giveaway at the Farmers Market, with a budget of $500. 

The commission added this event to its longstanding spring Arbor Day giveaway a few years ago, in recognition of the prime fall planting season. The University of Idaho’s Pitkin Nursery (https://www.uidaho.edu/natural-resources/outdoor-classrooms/pitkin-nursery), which has provided the plants for many years, requested the commission’s plant preferences so there would be time to propagate the seedlings.

Plants chosen for fall 2026 were western hackberry, blue elderberry, white lilac and Scouler’s willow. 

* Chose four trees/shrubs for its annual spring 2027 Arbor Day seedling giveaway at the Farmers Market, with a proposed budget (FY2027 not yet considered by the City Council) of $750.

Those plants are red-flowering currant, mountain ash, European beech and incense cedar.

Plants previously chosen by the commission to be given away at the Farmers Market for Arbor Day 2026 are oceanspray, serviceberry, red oak and catalpa. 

* Approved Commissioner Rauk’s request to speak about the Tree Commission to the Moscow Garden Club of Latah County at its monthly meeting on Nov. 12 at the fairgrounds. 

 * Briefly discussed making “Tree Cookies” at the Winter Market. Participants will create unique patterns and lasting ornaments by gluing nuts and seeds onto thin slices of tree limbs. 

The free, drop-in workshop for ages 7 and older (younger with accompanying adult) will be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 13 at the 1912 Center.

The commission has hosted the event the past few years as part of its charge to engage with the public and promote trees and planting.  

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Tree Commission will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the first-floor Mayor’s Conference Room of City Hall, 206 E. Third St.