ROOTED ON THE CENTRAL COAST SINCE 1959

Four generations of tree care

What began with Richard “Dick” Alvarez and Arbor Tree Surgery in Paso Robles has grown through four generations of arborists, climbers and tree care professionals. The names and equipment have changed. The commitment to skilled work, safety and the people who trust us with their property has not.

For more than six decades, tree care has been a family profession — passed from one generation to the next and shaped by years of working in the same Central Coast communities.

More than six decades in the trees

4th Generation Tree’s history begins in 1959, when Richard “Dick” Alvarez founded Arbor Tree Surgery in Paso Robles. His work helped establish a family tradition built around professional tree care, skilled climbing and a respect for the craft of arboriculture.

That tradition extended well beyond the properties the family maintained. In 1973, Richard Alvarez and Bailey Hudson created the Tree Trimmer’s Jamboree at Lake Atascadero Park, giving working arborists an opportunity to test and demonstrate their climbing skills. The competition grew quickly, adding events focused on skills such as roping accuracy and aerial rescue and eventually developing into what is now known as the Tree Climbing Competition.

Tree work changed over the decades, and the family businesses changed with it. New generations brought new equipment, expanded services and a greater emphasis on arboricultural science, vegetation management and large-scale work. But the foundation remained the same: know the work, do it safely and take responsibility for the result.

Today, that history continues through 4th Generation Tree.

From the Family Archives

These photographs capture moments from our family's history in tree care — the crews, equipment and everyday work that helped build a tradition spanning four generations. While the tools and techniques have evolved, the dedication to the craft remains.

OUR ROOTS

1959

Richard Alvarez founds Arbor Tree Surgery in Paso Robles

1973

First Tree Trimmer’s Jamboree held at Lake Atascadero Park

4 GENERATIONS

A family tradition of professional tree care

CENTRAL COAST

Local knowledge built over decades in the field

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TIMELINE

1959

THE FIRST GENERATION

Richard “Dick” Alvarez establishes Arbor Tree Surgery in Paso Robles, beginning a family tradition of professional tree care on the Central Coast.

1973

A TRADITION OF SKILL

Richard Alvarez and Bailey Hudson organize the first Tree Trimmer’s Jamboree at Lake Atascadero Park. The competition gives working arborists a place to demonstrate climbing, rigging and safety skills and becomes part of a much larger arboricultural tradition.

1980s–2000s

THE NEXT GENERATION

Steve Alvarez and Chuck Scovell build careers that began at Arbor Tree Surgery into businesses of their own. Chuck establishes Scovell Tree Surgery, while Steve later founds A&T Arborists and Vegetation Management in 2003. Both also become accomplished competitors in the Tree Jamboree.

TODAY

4TH GENERATION TREE

Morgan Scovell and Casey Guenther lead 4th Generation Tree, combining generations of field experience with certified arboriculture, modern equipment, vegetation management and the operational capabilities required for residential, commercial and public-sector work.

The work changed. The standard did not.

Early tree care depended heavily on the judgment, physical ability and climbing skill of the people doing the work. Those things still matter, but modern arboriculture asks more of a tree company.

Today, 4G Tree combines that hands-on heritage with ISA Certified Arborists, professional risk assessment, specialized equipment and experience managing increasingly complex properties and projects. Crews work with homeowners as well as commercial properties, municipalities, utilities and other public-sector clients.

The company has also expanded beyond traditional pruning and removal into vegetation management, wildfire mitigation, arborist consulting and large-scale land management. What connects those services to the work that began in 1959 is a practical approach: understand the property, recommend what actually needs to be done and bring the people and equipment needed to do it correctly.

Workers handling cut branches beside a roadside wood chipper and truck.

“The equipment and the industry have changed a lot since our family started doing this work. What matters hasn’t — take care of people, know what you’re doing, and leave the property better than you found it.”

Morgan ScovelL – Founder, 4th Generation Tree

Experience is only useful if you build on it

Morgan Scovell founded 4th Generation Tree after growing up in a family where arboriculture was both a profession and a craft. As an ISA Certified Arborist, Licensed Contractor and Qualified Applicator, his background includes tree health, risk assessment, vegetation management, wildfire mitigation and public-safety contracting.

Co-founder Casey Guenther brings the operational side of that same commitment. With graduate and undergraduate business degrees and experience in operations, finance and organizational growth, he helps ensure the company can take on increasingly complex work without losing the accountability of a locally owned business.

Together, they are building the current generation of the company around a straightforward idea: preserve the knowledge that comes from decades in the field while continuing to improve the training, equipment and systems behind the work.

That is what being the fourth generation means to us. It is not simply a reference to where we came from. It is a responsibility to what comes next.