College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

Paul Blome is the Institute of Agricultural Technology Urban Forestry Instructor at Muskegon Community College.

Paul first learned about the urban forestry profession while earning a bachelor’s degree in forestry from the University of Montana. A couple years later he completed his master’s degree with an urban forestry emphasis at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. After one year working in the field, Paul earned his ISA Arborist certification. In 2006 he achieved ISA’s Board-Certified Master Arborist credential.

Paul has over 30 years of experience working and teaching in urban forestry and the tree care industry. He started on a crew as a ground worker then learned to climb and work in trees. Paul has also worked as a utility forester with ComEd in the Chicago area. Paul has diagnosed countless tree problems and prescribed beneficial treatments for their care over his years as a sales arborist with SavATree. He also helped conduct street tree inventories for the city of Chicago and other municipalities in Illinois. Paul has always had a passion for teaching people about trees. He has instructed people from diverse backgrounds, age groups and cultures as a Treekeepers instructor with the Openlands Project in Chicago. On a higher level he has enjoyed years of teaching college students about tree care (arboriculture) and urban forestry at Western Illinois University and the College of Lake County in Illinois.

Get ready for hands-on learning in Paul’s courses! You will learn to climb trees safely with ropes and saddles, prune trees, plant trees, remove trees, use equipment like chainsaws, chippers, and stump grinders. You will learn to recognize and mitigate hazards in trees, diagnose common tree problems, and much more!