Horticulture alumna and MATC instructor Johanna O’Boyle gears up for her fifth international tree climbing competition
Johanna O’Boyle practicing her tree climbing.
Out on a limb, Johanna O’Boyle feels no fear. As a certified arborist and owner of a tree care service, she
routinely ascends more than 60 feet up into the air. Secured only by a safety harness, a belt and a weighted rope, O’Boyle navigates a labyrinth of branches, twigs and leaves. “Many trees have been around for hundreds of years. Me moving around in them probably doesn’t affect them that much,” said O’Boyle, who has been lead faculty of the college’s horticulture programs since 2025. “If you trust the tree, it will trust you,” she said. And O’Boyle definitely has earned that trust. For the past four years, she has competed at the International Tree Climbing Championship, sponsored by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The competition has allowed O’Boyle to travel the globe: Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2022; Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2023; Savannah, Georgia, in 2024; and Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2025.
O’Boyle plans on competing at the 2026 international competition, scheduled to be held in October in St. Louis. The city hosted the first international event in 1976. “Johanna’s participation in this prestigious event highlights her expertise and dedication to the field,” said Cassie Panaro, former horticulture lead faculty member. In 2025, O’Boyle placed 37th in the field, and in 2024 she finished 24th among the 35 female competitors at the Georgia event. But winning an international title has never been her goal, she said. She likes traveling to the events and has formed a camaraderie with her fellow competitors from around the world.
“Some of these ladies are phenomenal, and they are all willing to share their expertise,” O’Boyle said. “I set my own goals, and if I can hit them, I’m happy. Every time I go out there, I am hoping to improve.” She has qualified for the international competition by winning the Wisconsin Arborist Association female state championship in 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. At the international and state competitions, the events simulate working conditions of arborists in the field and test agility, speed and precision in tree climbing. Competitors are judged on skill, safety, their command of the tree and how well they use their gear. “These are skills that we have to demonstrate every day in tree care,” O’Boyle said. “You have to trust your gear. I also have a lot of mental checklists that I go through. I’m pretty cautious about what I do because I have a family. If self-preservation is not an instinct you possess, this might not be a job for you.”
Her passion becomes her career
O’Boyle has trusted and respected trees since she was a child, climbing them while growing up in the Fond du Lac area. But she gained a new level of appreciation for trees after earning a Landscape Horticulture degree from MATC in 2017, starting her own tree care business in 2021, and competing in state, national and international tree climbing competitions since 2019. O’Boyle didn’t realize tree care would be a job for her until she moved to Milwaukee when she was 19 years old. She worked several office jobs but yearned for a different work environment. “I’m an outdoors person,” she said. “I discovered that MATC had the Landscape Horticulture program, and I made a career change. Being in the MATC program really got me started. I had some wonderful instructors who got me even more excited about trees.” After earning her associate degree, she worked at a private tree care company for four years before starting her own company, Ursa Minor Tree Care, in 2021. She also became a part-time instructor at MATC that year. “I benefited so much from the program at MATC,” she said. “I knew if a spot ever opened up to teach there that I would want to do it.”
Going to the next level
In March 2024, O'Boyle became a full-time instructor, teaching several classes in the associate degree program and almost all the courses in the colleges arborist apprenticeship program. A year later she became lead faculty for the program.I enjoy what I do at the college, she said. I remember how I learned to love this work when I was a student and now I get to share that with todays students. She actively works to get more women in the program. This is still viewed as a pretty masculine career, she said. Of all the people working in the field right now, I believe only 13% are women. As an instructor and business owner, she stays current on the latest tree sustainability research. Trees help keep heating andcooling costs down, allow wildlife to thrive, and may even lower crime rates in neighborhoods, according to some research, she said. Wisconsin has very few tree removal regulations and unnecessary tree removal is very concerning, O'Boyle said. I think there needs to be more of a process. In my business,I won't remove a tree unless they contain an invasive species or they present an imminent hazard. O'Boyle also is working to become an ISA board-certified master arborist. Its a higher level of professionalism, she said. Its a place where I'd like to be.