Cody Fortmann is now a certified arborist.

All it took was a passing score on a test to make that happen.

The Montgomery City resident, who is the owner of Yardbirds Greenhouses LLC, scored an 80 percent on a 200-question test he took on March 21 at Pearson Professional Center in Columbia to be certified as an arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture.

“Whenever I got the test scores, I was extremely happy,” Fortmann said. “I was stoked for sure.”

An arborist is someone who cultivates, manages and studies trees. Fortmann said he has been working in the arboriculture industry since he was 9 years old.

“I’m 33 (years old) and I started working with my dad, who works for the utility company and does tree removal among the power lines,” Fortmann said. “He’s been doing that for 39 years. He has always done tree work for people around Montgomery County on the side.”

Fortmann said one of the most important duties of being an arborist is knowing what trees to plant and where to plant them.

“I’m actually working with the City of Montgomery,” Fortmann said. “Norwood Park had over 10 ash trees in it. The city is in the process of taking those down. They have taken half of them out. There are a few more that they have to take out. We’re going to come back in and plant some trees that are better suited in a couple of different varieties because they basically had 10 of the same style of trees.”

Fortmann said taking the ISA Certified Arborist test is not easy. The exam includes questions that cover topics such as tree biology, safety and maintenance of doing tree work and diagnostics of diseases and pests.

“I’ve got a couple of friends who actually took it,” Fortmann said. “The one who actually passed it was extremely shocked that I passed it on my first time. The other guy who does it is another tree care guy here in the Montgomery City/Wellsville area. He took it over six times and hasn’t passed it. He said it’s probably one of the hardest tests that he has ever taken.”

Test takers must score a 76 percent to pass. Fortmann said he was surprised that he passed it on the first try.

“Whenever I was taking the test, I was really nervous about not passing it because I was second guessing myself,” Fortmann said. “I was like, ‘OK, this is probably a test that I might have to retake.’ Once I got the score that said that I passed, I was like, ‘Holy cow.’ It was definitely a daunting task. I didn’t feel confident that I passed it. I was nervous that whenever I got done, I bombed the test pretty much. It was difficult, for sure.”

Fortmann said he was under video surveillance while he was taking his test at the Pearson Professional Center, which also gives exams on other subjects such as nursing and real estate.

“You basically go in and they watch you on a camera while you’re taking it to make sure you are not cheating,” Fortmann said.

A 2008 Montgomery County graduate, Fortmann works for a company that has trees, shrubs and vegetables and offers tree and snow removal, lawn care services and landscaping.

“(Yardbirds Greenhouses LLC) is the only local business in Montgomery County that is a certified arborist,” Fortmann said. “Any other tree care people can actually do an online search of local arborists. The closest ones are in Wright City, O’Fallon, Columbia and Jefferson City. The biggest towns around us have certified arborists that do tree care.”