About
Douglas Smith, Owner
Douglas has been an ISA Certified Arborist since 2006 and has been assessing tree risk since 2009.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Evergreen State College and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Goddard College.
Douglas founded Seattle Tree Consulting in 2016, largely out of necessity. After working as a climbing arborist for nearly 15 years, he was recovering from two separate arm surgeries and needed to find a way to continue providing for his family while staying in his field. Becoming a consulting arborist was a natural progression, though he was initially unsure of what to expect.
Despite his academic background and extensive experience, Douglas was not quite sure what it meant to consult. He recalls being intimidated about giving advice on his way to his first appointment and, not knowing what he was going to say, decided to just listen. It turns out that was the right approach. Douglas believes that while he knows a lot about trees, he doesn't know the specifics of his customers' situations. Just as each tree is unique, each scenario is unique and requires a tailored solution.
The owner of the previous tree company where Douglas worked had informed him upon his promotion to bidder/estimator that the company's primary mission was to educate people about their trees. Although he had been with the company for a long time, he hadn't fully realized this was their focus. Once he understood this, he was fully committed to the idea.
Seattle Tree Consulting has adopted that mission, as well as several others. The company does not side with either trees or people. Instead, at Seattle Tree Consulting, the preference is to find solutions in which everyone wins, and they strive to prove that this is possible.
During its first six years, Seattle Tree Consulting has worked hard to establish relationships with all local municipalities and to become more acquainted with their individual processes. Seattle Tree Consulting is ready to assist with all tree-related questions anywhere in King or Snohomish Counties. To date, they have helped thousands of customers resolve tree health issues and proceed with development projects near trees. He looks forward to many more years of doing the same.
John Wells, Construction and Development Specialist
John joined Seattle Tree Consulting in spring 2024 and has been an incredible asset to our team, especially with development-related projects. We're grateful to have him on board.
After a 30-year career in sustainable furniture design and custom manufacturing, he developed a deep appreciation for trees and chose to dedicate his “third act” to their care. Now working as an arborist field technician, he brings fresh dedication and a lifetime of hands-on experience with wood and nature.
His training includes an apprenticeship with Douglas Smith at Seattle Tree Consulting, coursework from the International Society of Arboriculture, Plant Amnesty, Edmonds College, and Oregon State University’s permaculture program. He plans to earn ISA arborist and TRAQ certification in 2025.
John is especially passionate about soil health and urban mini-forests, including the Miyawaki Method. He approaches every day in the field as an opportunity to learn and contribute to the long-term health of the urban canopy.
Jordan Rengo, Consulting Arborist
Jordan joined the team in March of 2025. He spent the last ten years working as a production climber in the Pacific Northwest, so her really knows his way around a tree’s canopy.
During his career as a climber, Jordan was very motivated to learn about trees and advance his eventual career as a consultant. He has been working hard on attaining credentials and is a qualified tree risk assessor with the ISA (TRAQ), board certified master arborist (BCMA PN-8610-B) and a registered consulting arborist (RCA #873) through the American Society of Consulting Arborists. He comes with a lot of acronyms and is ready to help with everything from risk assessments to appraisals.
Jordan is originally from Gig Harbor, Wa. And currently lives with his wife Selay in Redmond. When he is not working with trees, you can find him camping in the backcountry, riding his gravel bike, practicing his Turkish, or in front of the mirror waxing his mustache.
A Note From Douglas
Sometimes I feel like I'm working with a pretty big advantage. For a long time, trees have been my teachers. Trees are patient, wise, reliable; not to mention the oldest and largest living creatures amongst us. They hold their ground, persevere, and usually don't fight back. Tolkien rendered them well. Trees are true egalitarian organisms. If it's a hot day they would love a drink, and it doesn't matter who is pouring the water. Everyone is allowed to read a book in their shade, everyone is allowed to eat their fruit, and everyone is allowed to build with their wood.
I have planted a lot of trees and been to the top of plenty of old ones and there is no end in sight for me. I keep waking up honored to be able to spend my days with these quiet, sentient beings. I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for what they have done for me.
I also have a lot of gratitude for the people who have helped me along the way. Some of these folks know who they are and some do not. The tree business is full of big personalities, but let's face it, no one is here for the money. Being an arborist means sacrificing the body to barely get by. They come home hungry and tired, with lots of laundry to do and things to sharpen. Maybe it's hard. It's definitely rewarding. I don't have a whole lot of colleagues retiring wealthy, but they do seem to be retiring happy. Assuming they get to retire at all. Being an arborist isn't something that you get to turn off. My previous bosses, and all of the friends that I've made working on crews, training, and eating lunch in the rain are very special people. They are brave, engaged, funny, hard-working, authentic, and often imperfect. Seattle Tree Consulting is a business. But it is not a business that competes with other arborists. Seattle Tree Consulting exists to help other tree companies every bit as much as it does to help our customers.
Let's talk about your tree
Ready for a consult? Send us an email!
doug@seattletreeconsulting.com