Part Scientist, Part Lumberjack: Meet Wes Briones

Many people have walked under the redwood trees at , but only a few have climbed up into their branches. One of the few is Wes Briones, the ’s 22-year-old urban forestry intern. Briones said ascending the five-story-tall redwoods to trim their branches is exhausting, but exciting.

"You have that tense feeling because you know you are hanging by a couple of ropes," said Briones of scaling tall trees. "Branches are going to fail at any time, so one fail and you’re toast."

But the view of Albany from the top of a redwood tree, he said, is worth the effort.

"When you reach the top and you look out, it’s something else," said Briones. "You really get to see a sight that no one else gets to see."

PART SCIENTIST, PART LUMBERJACK

Albany’s Urban Forestry Department is staffed by two people: Tony Wolcott, the head urban forester, and Briones, the paid intern. Together, they take care of Albany’s public trees and plants.

Albany has approximately 5,000 public trees, from the towering eucalyptus trees on to the magnolia trees that shade pedestrians on Solano Avenue. 

Briones said an urban forester is part scientist and part lumberjack. An urban forester adapts a wide variety of flora to a city’s micro climate, drainage pattern and soil chemistry. He also uses axes, chainsaws and hand saws.

Briones graduated from  in 2006, then he received an environmental studies degree from Sonoma State in 2010. His body is lean and muscular. He can jump onto a tree trunk and skitter up its bark as effortlessly as Spiderman.

I visited Briones’ house in Albany to hear about his urban forestry work.

LIFE ON A WIRE

Briones said an important part of his job is clearing city tree branches away from telephone and power lines. When a tree branch becomes entangled with an electric wire, the branch may disrupt its signal or, in the worst case scenario, snap the wire completely and cause a fire or electrocution.

This work can be dangerous. 

During the summer, Briones recalled being up on a 30-foot-tall flax leaf paperbark tree near the , trimming away the tree’s branches.

"So I’m just sawing along," said Briones. "And then BZZZZZZZZZZ!"

The wire had split, frying the branch he had just been sawing like an electric chair. Luckily, Briones' saw had rubber handles, by design, so only his mind was shocked.

THE ANIMAL PROTECTOR

Besides taking care of trees, Briones also takes care of animals that live in the trees. He safeguards hummingbird and squirrel nests during trimmings. If he finds salamanders after a rotting tree is cut, he takes them to another damp area.

Briones said he cares deeply about wildlife. He spent the summer of 2010 protecting hawksbill sea turtles, a critically endangered species, during the turtles' nesting season in Hawaii with the Hawai'i Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project.

Briones and other project members would wait all night for mother sea turtles to land on shore. Once the sea turtles arrived, Briones and his team tagged the turtles and guided them to their nesting site.

Briones said one "mama turtle" was disoriented by her journey. The 200-pound turtle crawled helplessly in circles after laying her eggs. So Briones lifted up the confused turtle and pointed her toward the ocean. 

After the mother turtles returned to sea, Briones spent 50 days guarding turtle eggs from opportunistic mongooses and rats. When the baby sea turtles hatched, Briones defended them from hungry crabs and feral cats.

Briones said seeing baby sea turtles poke their heads out of the sand and scramble into the ocean was a very rewarding experience. Today, Briones said, he perks up whenever he encounters little animals while working.

TREES AND PEOPLE

In addition to interacting with Albany's trees and wildlife, Briones also engages with many Albany residents. He recalled one particular meeting.

Briones wanted to trim an eastern redbud tree on Cerrito Street. The tree's branches were dangerously close to an electrical wire. But a car was parked underneath the tree, creating a dangerous situation if the branches were to fall.

Briones knocked on the house in front of the tree, hoping to find the resident who owned the car and could move it to a clear spot.

The first knock recieved no response. Briones knocked a second time. Then a voice cried out from inside the house.

"Hey, just open the door," the voice said.

Briones entered the house and saw a woman sitting on a chair.

"Sorry, I hurt my back yesterday," she said. "I can't get up."

Briones explained the situation to her. Concerned, the woman asked him to move the car for her. Briones agreed and drove her car away from the tree.

"Some of the people around here are pretty nice and pretty trusting," said Briones of Albany residents.

FIGURING THINGS OUT

"I like the work I do," said Briones, who has worked for the Urban Forestry Department for almost a year now. "I like climbing trees, I like maintaining trees and I also like dealing with members of the community."

Briones said he also may want to explore another field, possibly environmental conservation.

But the comforts of living in his parents’ house and earning $14.50 per hour, said Briones, have thus far prevented him from leaving the nest.  

"I hear all the people talking about how bad the job market is and how tough it is, so I have something that is relatively good," said Briones. "So, you know, I’m not ready to give that up right away, even though I should."

Briones’ mother, Chi-Kwan Shea, said her son is more than welcome to live at home until he discovers his true passion.

"I feel, as a parent, what I want is for him to have the wings to fly away and take care of himself, but also be happy,” said Shea, who recalls having to fend for herself after graduating from college. “I mean, sometimes you can be flying, but be really unhappy."

Overall, Briones said he is optimistic about the future. Even the tallest tree sprouts from a humble seed. 

"I’m still confused, still kind of lost, but at the same time, I look at people who had a lot less and have done just fine or even better," said Briones. "So I figure, in the end, I will be at least OK. I’ll figure something out." 

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com.