OSHA set an October date for the tree care rule

OSHA finally put a month on the tree care standard. Half a million Kobalt yard tools got pulled over battery fires. And a Twin Cities climber is in a hospital bed after his climbing system let go 25 feet up.

The big one

OSHA published its 2026 regulatory agenda on July 3, and the tree care standard is on it with a real date. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is scheduled for October 2026 (JJ Keller). We have been tracking this for weeks as a maybe. Now it has a month.

The same agenda lines up with ANSI Z133-2026, which came out May 27. TCIA has spent years arguing that tree work needs its own federal rule instead of borrowing from the general industry and construction standards, so an inspector citing a bucket operator has something written for the job in front of him (TCIA).

Read the calendar carefully. October is when the proposal drops, not the rule. After that comes public comment, hearings, and revisions, and OSHA's own Emergency Response final rule on the same agenda is not due until April 2027 (Ogletree Deakins). A proposed tree care standard you can read this fall is real progress. A standard you can be cited under is still a couple of years out, minimum. Jordan Barab, who ran OSHA policy, called the broader agenda thin on heat and silica, so nobody should read this as a sudden burst of enforcement energy (Confined Space).

The canopy

USDA loosened the Tree Assistance Program

The Farm Service Agency changed the Tree Assistance Program on July 8, retroactive to January 1, 2026. FSA dropped the 15 percent normal-mortality threshold that used to cut orchard and nursery growers out of relief, raised the reimbursement rate for pruning and removal of storm-damaged trees and vines, and extended the window to complete replanting to 24 months (USDA). TAP is now reauthorized through crop year 2031. This is aimed at growers, not tree services, but if you do storm cleanup for orchards you are working alongside a program that just got easier to qualify for.

EPA cleared six pesticides, three with PFAS in them

On June 30 EPA approved four new pesticides and expanded the use of two more. Civil Eats reports that three of the four new herbicides meet the OECD definition of PFAS, the forever chemicals (Civil Eats). The new active ingredients are fluoxapiprolin, epyrifenacil, diflufenican, and trifludimoxazin, plus expanded uses for chlormequat chloride and bifenthrin (Newsweek). These are farm registrations. They matter to plant health care work because what gets approved for crops tends to drift into the label options for landscape use down the road.

The tree trimming business is a $39.5 billion market

A QuoteIQ software roundup cites IBISWorld data putting US tree trimming revenue at $39.5 billion in 2026, growing 5.3 percent a year since 2020, spread across more than 175,000 businesses (QuoteIQ). That is a fragmented market where most outfits are small. The pitch is that scheduling and job-costing software is now table stakes. Take the vendor framing with salt, but the market size is the number worth keeping.

Safety report

Sean Kopka, co-owner of Grizzly Tree Care in the Twin Cities, fell about 25 feet after what coverage calls a rare equipment failure in his climbing system. He broke his pelvis, ribs, hip, and scapula, and collapsed a lung (AOL/Star Tribune). There is no OSHA finding or formal cause yet beyond the description of an equipment failure. He faces a long recovery.

Separately, the CPSC recalled about 554,780 Kobalt 24V and 48V tools sold at Lowe's and online from January through May 2026: trimmers, blowers, mowers, chainsaws, and pruning saws with USB-C lithium-ion batteries. There have been at least 34 reports of batteries smoking, sparking, or catching fire while charging through the USB-C port with the battery in the tool. No injuries reported (ABC27, WSAW). Stop charging these batteries through the port while they sit in the tool. Contact Greenworks for a free replacement battery. If you run a Kobalt pruning saw off the truck, check it before someone's gear bag melts.

Pest and disease watch

Emerald ash borer keeps turning up in new ground. North Dakota Forest Service confirmed a second Cass County site north of Mapleton, more than 12 miles from the first find earlier this year. Cass County is under quarantine with civil penalties up to $5,000 for moving hardwood firewood, ash logs, or chips (North Dakota Ag Connection). Texas A&M Forest Service confirmed EAB in Young County, Texas (Graham Leader). And Multnomah County, Oregon is now reporting impacts after the beetle's 2022 arrival in Forest Grove and a September 2025 confirmation in East Multnomah (Sandy Post). EAB is in 37 states.

Spotted lanternfly quarantines are going statewide. Ohio put its whole state under quarantine in February, up from 18 of 88 counties, and Marion County logged its first sighting July 1 (Akron Beacon Journal). Maryland's agriculture secretary issued a quarantine for all 23 counties plus Baltimore City (UMD Extension). Pennsylvania now has verified populations in 56 of 67 counties, and Penn State Extension is reminding summer travelers the insect hitchhikes on vehicles and gear (PennLive).

In Humboldt County, California, the Hoopa Valley Tribe declared a state of emergency after sudden oak death showed up on tanoak between Hoopa and Weitchpec in May. Tribal forestry staff are testing samples and say the occurrence looks localized so far. A wildfire is burning roughly 80 acres in the same area (Lost Coast Outpost).

Species spotlight

Black cherry grows from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to Texas, reaching 50 to 80 feet, and it is a good tree to know for two reasons. The wood is prized cabinet stock, moderately hard at around 0.50 specific gravity and strong, but the small branches are brittle and will snap on you without much warning. Prune it in dormancy, mid-winter, to keep black knot and silver leaf out of fresh cuts.

The part that bites on rural removals: wilted foliage and bark carry cyanogenic compounds that are toxic to livestock. Drop a black cherry in a pasture and leave the brush where cattle or horses can reach it, and you have created a real hazard. Haul the wilting brush off or fence it out. The tree also runs to tent caterpillars and black knot galls, so a hazard cherry often comes with company.

One for the lunch break

High winds early on July 9 took down the Kansas state champion sugarberry in Topeka's Gage Park. The tree stood 66 feet, the largest of its kind in the state, planted near the park carousel where crews spent the day cutting and hauling the trunk and limbs (Topeka Capital-Journal). Champion trees earn the title by outliving everything around them. Then one storm settles the account in a few hours.

Stay safe out there,

The TreeNerd crew

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