Meet your Instructors
We are a group of enthusiastic arborists and urban foresters who, in honor of Ken Menzer (See 'The Inspiration' tab above), want to offer these preparation courses to help raise the bar of our tree care profession and improve the care for trees.
Joe Benassini
Joe is a consulting arborist for 4Leaf Consulting Inc. in their Sacramento area office. He retired as the Urban Forester for the City of Sacramento and was the first City Arborist for the City of Folsom. He has almost 50 years of experience in the green industry having worked in the nursery and landscape industry, commercial tree care, as a consulting arborist, and as an urban forester. Joe attended St. Mary’s College of California and is a graduate of the 2007 Municipal Forestry Institute. Joe is an ISA Certified Arborist and Municipal Specialist as well as TRAQ certified. 
Jodi Carlson
Jodi is an ISA Certified Arborist, Municipal Specialist and TRAQ qualified. She is currently a City Arborist in a major metropolitan city. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Jodi founded Tree Test Prep to honor her mentor Ken Menzer. 
Julia Gowin Julia is the Regional Urban Forester for Northern California/Sacramento Valley for CAL FIRE. Julia holds a Diploma in Horticulture from the University of Hannover, Germany, a Master’s in Horticulture with emphasis on Urban Forestry from Virginia Tech, and a PhD in Forestry with a focus on Urban Forestry also from Virginia Tech. She is an ISA Certified Arborist, holds a TRAQ Certification, and is the Chair of the Women in Arboriculture Committee for the Western Chapter ISA. 
Nicole Harrison
Nicole has experience working in the private and public sectors of the industry in both the oak woodlands and mixed conifer forests in greater Sacramento area and Sierra Nevada. She began her career in the Silviculture Department of the United States Forest Service providing assessment of conifers for condition, surveying for disease, and development of potential disease alteration projects for stand health in the Tahoe National Forest. After the USFS and completion of the study of Environmental Horticulture at Sierra College she began working as a consulting arborist under the direction of her late father, Ken Menzer. Currently, her practice includes arborist reports, tree preservation plans, tree management plans, risk assessments, and health evaluations with a primary focus on tree preservation during development. Nicole is an ISA Certified Arborist, Certified Municipal Arborist, and ISA Qualified Tree Risk Assessor and she is a member of the American Society of Consulting Arborists, ISA, and Western Chapter ISA. 
Kevin Hocker
Kevin Hocker has over 25 years in the tree care industry and is currently the Urban Forester for a major metropolitan city. He is a Board-Certified Master Arborist and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture and Urban Forestry from UC Davis. 
John Melvin
John is Staff Chief for Resource Protection and Improvement for CAL FIRE and former State Urban Forester. John graduated from Humboldt State University in 1999 with Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Forestry and a minor in business. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, a Society of American Foresters Certified Urban Forester, and a State of California Registered Professional Forester. John is a member of the California Urban Forests Council, the Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, and the Society of American Foresters. 
Andrew Misch
Andrew’s career as an arborist started after taking an iTree course as a Senior at Indiana University. He spent time in New Mexico doing hazard tree removals before joining Davey in Chicago to work on EAB infested Ash Trees. Andrew moved to California in 2015 where he is now a manager responsible for welcoming new talent into our industry. He is a Certified Arborist and an ISA TCC competitor and volunteer. 
Mike Ritenour
Mike is an Account Manager and Employee Owner of Arborwell Professional Tree Care, which is Accredited by the Tree Care Industry Association. Mike has a degree from Arizona State University in Environmental Geography and has been working with trees on master planned communities, golf courses, public works development, residential and commercial construction, habitat restoration, mitigation, monitoring and mature tree management projects throughout the western Unites States and Mexico since 1996. Mike Ritenour is an ISA Certified Arborist, California Licensed Landscape Contractor, and has a California Department of Pesticide Regulation Qualified Applicators License for landscape and tree pest control. He is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture, the Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, and the Community Association Institute of Northern California. 
James Scheid
James is a Regional Urban Forester with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) since 2008 and the President-Elect for the Western Chapter ISA (to be President starting the summer of 2020). James earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Forest Resources Management from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry in Syracuse, NY. He is an ISA Certified Arborist since 2009, a Municipal Specialist since 2017, and a California Registered Professional Forester (RPF) since 2010. He is a member of the ISA, Western Chapter ISA, Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA), and Society of American Foresters (SAF). |
James Schubert
Jim Schubert is an ISA Certified Arborist and a CA State Licensed Landscape Architect. Jim has served as the County of Sacramento’s Tree Coordinator and Senior Landscape Architect for over 20 years. His duties include enforcement of the County’s Tree Preservation and Protection ordinance, the MWELO water conservation ordinance, and the County Landscape Zoning Code. This includes design review of private developer projects and design of Public projects within compliance with Federal, State, County and District regulations and standards. Jim designs projects with tree selection and water management as a fundamental consideration during the planning, design, and construction process.
Jim Schubert is an ISA Certified Arborist and a CA State Licensed Landscape Architect. Jim has served as the County of Sacramento’s Tree Coordinator and Senior Landscape Architect for over 20 years. His duties include enforcement of the County’s Tree Preservation and Protection ordinance, the MWELO water conservation ordinance, and the County Landscape Zoning Code. This includes design review of private developer projects and design of Public projects within compliance with Federal, State, County and District regulations and standards. Jim designs projects with tree selection and water management as a fundamental consideration during the planning, design, and construction process.