About the Arborist
Mr. Mirus holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from the State University of New York, College of Forestry and Environmental Science and a Master of Forestry degree from Duke University in Forest Economics. He is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and holds their designation as Certified Arborist.
In his early years he worked for International Paper Company as a Forester and Forest Economist involved with land and timber management, wood procurement, feasibility studies, appraisal, strategic planning, budgeting and operations analysis. Later he worked for Gulf Power Company as a vegetation right of way manager on electric utility rights of way for transmission and distribution power lines. This position involved overseeing tree pruning and removal, herbicide and tree growth regulator application, hazard tree assessment, landscape plan review, contractor management, interface with local governments (including assisting in writing municipal tree ordinances), and landowner encroachment issues.
Mr. Mirus has been a consulting arborist since 1998. He performs tree and landscape appraisals and has expert witness experience. He works with builders and developers to inventory trees on a development site and make recommendations for trees to be kept, removed, or transplanted. He also develops plans to protect trees during construction and suggests modification of engineering plans to save important trees. Mr. Mirus also treats trees that have suffered root damage as a result of construction or other activities. He performs tree structural analysis, tree health assessments, and conducts tree inventories. Disease and pest management is an important part of his practice as is advising on proper tree care including: tree species selection, planting, soil and root relationships, irrigation, and fertilization. He conducts seminars and workshops on tree care topics and trains utility tree workers on ways to prune trees in the vicinity of electric utility lines without destroying the shape or structure of the tree. Mr. Mirus has completed numerous tree and landscape appraisals for projects involving eminent domain, insurance casualty losses, and trespass.