Call another arborist. You are asking for an assessment. A qualified arborist should be able to provide one.

Yeah, I wouldn't give up on the arborist assessment just yet. I feel bad for you, but the silver lining may be that others who read this will learn from your misfortune. It's a textbook case of how a seemingly straightforward landscaping job can go very wrong. Hopefully all your trees survive this trauma. I'm not an arborist or botanist, so I won't offer advice, but I'd think a plan of action moving forward is critical.

Thank you all for your comments. I have found an arborist who is willing to work with me to provide an assessment.

smh ....

smh ....

agreed. How does this nonsense even occur? Backhoes to remove ivy? This is like a dentist saying he will remove a cavity with a crowbar! Hedera is easily killed with a combination of cutting from tree tops and spraying with a very strong dilution of glyphosate with a high quality surfactant like Dyne-Amic. I've done it a couple times myself with no damage to the trees.

can you use a shovel? if so you can probably get rid of invasive ivy (I am assuming english ivy)

No need for a shovel. The right herbicide is DRASTICALLY easier and would be far less damaging to the trees.

Thank you all for your comments! I met with an arborist consultant and he is completing a report for me; problem solved...

Once the ivy is out of the trees and cut to the grouns, not a job for a back hoe, the rotary lawn mower will control it.

We have found mother roots of ivy 18inches deep and 5 inches in diameter. We have tried digging with shovels, it's taking forever. We plan to hire someone with a backhoe to dig it up for us. We just planted 5 small trees so we should be ok... my point is, ivy must be dug up. You cant kill it.

I did not try to see the roots, but there was a poison ivy vine on a tree at the edge of our yard. The vine on the side of the tree was about 3" in diameter. It was cut high and then near the ground. With a judicious use of Poison ivy killer, the lawn mower, and weed wacker; I have not seen any poison ivy on that side of the yard for years.