Coulson Then and Now —by Anne Walker

Sugar Bush Tree Service

If you’ve driven down the beautiful Horseshoe Valley Road, you know there are a lot of trees around the hamlet of Coulson. And these trees need care. We’re fortunate to have some fine arborists in the area and one is located right in the heart of our community.  Sugar Bush Tree Service, with ISA certified professional arborists and competent ground crew, boasts the most up-to-date equipment and training in the industry. They offer all essential services relating to tree and shrub work such as tree planting, hedging, cabling/bracing, stump removals, pruning/dead-wooding, brush chipping with different sized chippers, lot clearing, fertilization, removal of hazardous/unwanted trees including precision rigging for removals and unwanted branches, and utility line clearing.

They specialize in large tree removals utilizing cranes which provides low-impact tree work (no lawn damage, holes in lawns, things dropping, etc.) With their 30-ton crane and Tree-Mek, (a Palfinger PK40002 grapple saw crane) emergency work is done promptly, correctly and safely. They can reach right over your house and grab that tree from its tricky location.

Company founder, Devon Hutton, started the business in 1998 and it has grown into a successful enterprise employing 10 to 12 people all year round. Side note, he also started advertising with North Simcoe Life that very same year and has been a regular advertiser ever since!

Devon started young in the tree business. He was introduced to the chainsaw and tree work in 1995 while employed as a summer student with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Shortly thereafter, he underwent the mandatory Ontario Government Training program to properly operate chainsaws, fell trees, and operate a skidder in a proficient and safe manner. Training continued under strict supervision of seasoned tree fallers in the Ministry of Natural Resources. Soon, folks started to ask him to fell and prune their trees. Business spread through word of mouth and the North Simcoe Life advertising, and Sugar Bush Tree Service was established.

Devon is a qualified instructor in crane operation and is offering a Canadian Crane Climber School at Bass Lake Provincial Park on October 22-24. This course covers crane-assisted tree removal with a focus on safe crane and climber operations following current TCIA & Industry standards. It will cover stick cranes and knuckle boom cranes, as well as hands-on grapple saw operations and training. There are still some spots available for this course.

If you’re interested in the course, or if your trees need attention, you can find out more about Sugar Bush Tree Service at their website . We’re lucky to have neighbours like these skilled professionals who help keep our trees…and our homes…safe and in good shape!