Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards are working to keep some of our most majestic trees standing tall when disaster looms.
Climbing, swinging, and floating 50 feet in the air - they're risking their safety to protect some of the area's oldest living wonders.
"You can't replace these trees. So to be able to protect them from something as violent as a lightning strike is definitely a plus," said Big O Tree and Lawn Service Arborist John Jeffers.
Jeffers and his team are trained to protect trees from one of nature's biggest threats - debilitating lightning strikes.
"Usually a lightning strike from a severe thunderstorm is usually the beginning of the end for one of these older, mature trees," Jeffers stated.
Robin Hanes is a member of the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, a group dedicated to protecting the character of Charlottesville's canopy.
Hanes said, "There are a lot of hazards and diseases that are killing them off, so it's really exciting to protect some of the prettiest specimens we have."
They're working to protect a century-old oak tree at Charlottesville's Maplewood Cemetery.
The system has two lines of copper wiring running up each of the sides of the tree, and right into the ground - drawing lightning away from the tree, and protecting it.
"It's just something we want to make sure we can be a step ahead of," said Jeffers.
And the protection has an incredible success rate.
"I've never seen a tree that had lightning protection installed that received a lightning strike that had damaged the tree. So as far as I know it's 100 percent," Jeffers stated. "In the long run it's a great sense of worth to know that this tree was protected from a severe lightning strike."
