Swooning admirers aside, many fans of the video also seemed enchanted simply by the idea of spending one’s days up in the trees, making sure that these living landmarks continue to thrive.
Dylan Barrett-Smith didn’t grow up dreaming of being an arborist—but that’s only because he didn’t know it was a job. “I always liked working outside, I always liked working with my hands,” he tells me, taking a break to chat after pruning a tree. “And this is kind of the best of both worlds, because you get to be in Central Park every day.”
He knows the ins and outs of the whole park by now, and one of his favorite areas is the East Meadow; he likes the “beautiful mature beeches and elms,” and he likes seeing the doctors and nurses on their breaks from nearby Mount Sinai. His favorite part of the job, however, is the cohesion and camaraderie of the arborist team: “We often get to work all together.”
Photographed by Hana Mendel
The Boston native studied biology in college, but his passion for the outdoors led him to work at a land trust and at Brooklyn Bridge Park, before landing at Central Park two years ago.
What did he make of the fanfare about the videos of the team? “I don’t even have an Instagram,” Barrett-Smith says, laughing. “But my mom actually texted me after the video was posted and was like, ‘Your video has a lot of views.’ The next morning, I looked, and I was like… this is weird. I was really surprised.”
