Tree Service Is Just Part of Bluestone Tree’s Role in Community Stewardship An article about one of our sponsors, Bluestone Tree

Like other tree service companies, Bluestone Tree specializes in overall tree health, pruning, and removal, especially after storms. But that’s just the start for this local company. Bluestone Tree has become a pillar of stewardship and tree care education in Bloomington and Monroe County. For example, when a beloved ash tree needed to be pruned on Harmony School’s property, Bluestone made an event of it through arborist demonstrations (above) where several of their arborists climbed into the tree using ropes and harnesses and talked about their procedures.

A crew from Bluestone Tree uses a crane to safely remove a large fallen tree after an emergency call from a homeowner.

February was a windy month in central Indiana, with gusts of winds on some days that surpassed 50 mph, bringing power outages and damaged trees. Tree service companies like Bluestone Tree are on standby during such storms, ready to clear roads, houses, and powerlines from fallen trees and branches. Bloomington resident Richard Hayden found himself in this predicament when a 40-foot-tall pine tree was uprooted and fell onto his property during a wind advisory.

“I called Bluestone, whom I had used before, and asked them to come out to assess the damage,” says Hayden. “Within 30 minutes, someone came out and let me know what they could do and itemized the cost.”

The winter months for Bluestone are less busy than summer months, so their team members were able to respond to Hayden’s call almost immediately. “I accepted the terms, and within another 30 minutes, at least two trucks were at my house and started working,” he says. “During this time another large truck came to help out. The crews worked hard, were efficient, and cleaned everything up before they left. As usual, I was very impressed with their work and how quickly they responded.”

ISA Certified Arborists

Bluestone Tree, founded in 2010, has become a pillar in the Bloomington and Monroe County community. A leader in their industry, Bluestone is not just a tree service but also an innovative and community-oriented company with cutting-edge technology and a drive to push the industry forward. Jerad Oren, the founder and owner of Bluestone Tree, never expected to work in this field. After working a job in the forestry conservation field out West, Oren returned to Bloomington with the desire to pursue a meaningful job that helped people and stewarded his community.

“While not a new strategy, we focus on investing in those that work for us to become better and more employable,” Oren says. “After a couple of years in an entry-level position, Bluestone employees are proficient in the field and can apply to sit for the International Society for Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist exam.”

Using multiple cranes protects the removal area from impacts of tree felling.

Professionals who receive ISA designations are set apart from others in the arboriculture field by their certified achievement of knowledge, skill, and experience. “We continue to grow and expand our services with a vision of providing a professional and competent service that educates everyone on proper tree care,” says Oren.

Bluestone currently has eight ISA Certified Arborists on staff.

Keeping our urban forest healthy

While removal of hazardous, dead, and fallen trees are a large part of their day-to-day procedures, Bluestone plays an important role in the shared goal of many organizations, city entities, and individuals in the greater Bloomington area: to keep our urban forest healthy. Bluestone achieves this through their many services and through education about best tree care practices. Their knowledgeable staff takes the time to build trust with their customers and has their best interest in mind when evaluating trees, using a tree health risk or health assessment. If a customer is unsure if a tree is safe — and suspects it needs to be removed — Bluestone staff will inspect the tree and make a recommendation based on the assessment for the most sound option: removal, pruning, or letting the tree be.

If their assessment shows that removal is the only option because a tree poses an unacceptable amount of risk, Bluestone uses state-of-the-art equipment to ensure that the tree is removed safely and has little to no impact to the surrounding environment.

Invasives, zero-waste operation, and whole tree mulch

Invasive species removal and vegetation management are part of Bluestone Tree’s services. Click here or on the image to view a video of Bluestone’s work managing Asian bush honeysuckle on a private landowner’s property.

In addition to removing trees, pruning them to increase their vitality and minimize risk, and making tree health improvement suggestions, Bluestone has expanded their services to offer invasive species removal and vegetation management. Invasive species such as Asian bush honeysuckle, Callery pear, and Euonymus have spread prolifically in our urban woodlots, surrounding forests, and private wooded properties over the past several years, and the management of them is another important component of keeping wooded areas healthy and resilient. This video shows an example of Bluestone’s work managing Asian bush honeysuckle on a private landowner’s property, with a post-application of their in-house mulch to suppress weed resurgence.

Bluestone’s services undoubtedly result in large amounts of tree and woody material from land clearing, removals, and pruning operations, but they’ve developed an innovative way to turn that waste into usable wood material. Through tree recycling, Bluestone aims for a zero-waste operation by processing the whole tree. While tree trunks and large branches are used for lumber, wood slabs, and wood chips, tree canopies and other healthy woody material are turned into organic mulch and compost. Their high-quality and locally sourced whole tree mulch is loved and used by many in Bloomington, including Indiana University and CanopyBloomington, as well as many local farms, orchards, and landscape companies. By turning their tree waste into nutrient-dense mulch, Bluestone gives new life to removed trees and helps keep reusable products out of landfills, contributing to their goals of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices! Located at 3090 S. Walnut St., Bluestone offers local pickup and delivery of their mulch and wood chips.

Simon Normile (right) demonstrates the proper way to plant a tree at a CanopyBloomington tree planting in the Maple Heights neighborhood.

Community leaders, teachers, and stewards

Having an eye on sustainability shows Bluestone’s desire to give back to and educate the Bloomington community, which is also evident through their collaboration with local schools and community organizations. When a mighty and beloved ash tree needed to be pruned on Harmony School’s property, Bluestone made an event of it through arborist demonstrations where several of their arborists climbed into the tree using ropes and harnesses and talked about their procedures with the students. Bluestone donated trunk cuttings from another tree to be used as a natural playscape for Harmony’s Early Childhood Program. 

Bluestone has generously donated their services and/or mulch and wood chips to the City of Bloomington’s Housing and Neighborhood Development’s (HAND) Neighborhood Improvement Grant program recipients, the Children’s Corner Cooperative Nursery School, the Boys & Girls Clubs, the City of Bloomington Fire Department, the City of Ellettsville, and WildCare Inc.

More recently, Bluestone has helped CanopyBloomington, a new urban forestry nonprofit, lay their roots in the community through board involvement, mulch donations, tree care and delivery, and tree planting and maintenance demonstrations. Bluestone’s Simon Normile, an ISA Certified Arborist, has given several educational demonstrations about how to properly plant and mulch a young tree at CanopyBloomington’s plantings, and he has trained the organization’s Youth Tree Tenders how to properly prune the young trees in Switchyard Park. Jerad Oren and Matt Baldwin serve on CanopyBloomington’s Board of Directors and help advise the organization on best tree care practices and plan logistics for their tree plantings.

Through these partnerships and community/youth education, Bluestone helps foster a culture of knowledgeable tree owners and stewards.

If you are interested in learning more about Bluestone Tree or would like to receive a free estimate for tree service, visit their website at BluestoneTree.com.