Good observation. The same thing goes on here.

With much respect for you and understanding of your love for your trees i write the following, read on.

In this case I am on the power company's side.

At some point we have to put in for the common good.

Lets say Toronado3800 lives down the street from you and has a baby. And it is winter.

If your tree breaks in the ice storm and puts out his lights the sap who may be living paycheck to paycheck has to go find a shelter or get a hotel room.

Dont make another person's life more miserable because your tree is in the wrong place.

Sorry fo the unkind words.

The neighbors across the road have, or rather had, 3 mature, very beautiful sugar maples in their front yard. However, they were entangled in the power lines, as were so many trees in the area, and the power company hired an outfit who massacred their trees, and the other trees too. They look like wishbones. If I were the neighbors I'd just take them down and plant something more appropriate. Where they once added value to the property, now they're merely a very sad looking eye sore.

creekweb:

Where do I begin? A little background. Power came to our county in the late 40's and early 50's of this past century. In order to get the power to the most people the fastest and cheapest, the lines were run by the most direct route possible. In many cases this meant cross-lots through farm fields and forests and up and over hills, as well as along county rights of way. Back in those days, linemen were 'real men', hauling their supplies and strapping on their climbing spurs without benefit of bucket trucks. Things have changed, and that earlier decision by the electric company has come back to bite them. They are in the long term process of moving lines to where they should have been in the first place at great expense in both money and trees.

I bought my place 27 years ago, and at that time there was no house on the property. The power lines enter at right angles to the north boundary and exit at a 45% angle at the south boundary. They are roughly 50-75' inside my line from the county r.o.w. The Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation claims a 40' r.o.w. granted them by state law-even back then deep pockets bought legislators. This r.o.w. takes almost an acre out of use. Of course I knew about the r.o.w. when I bought, I just didn't know greedy MTEMC was. When I applied for electric service I had to sign an easement giving them the right to keep their equipment on my property and access 24/7. Just for laughs I asked them what if I refused the easement. They said they would move their lines off the property and refuse to sell me electricity.

Fast forward 4 years ago. MTEMC begins an aggressive 4 year tree 'pruning' cycle. An advance man is sent to mark trees, green for 'prune', red for remove. He advises property owners what is to be done. I look at my trees and see many marked 'green' that are well beyond the 20' center of the r.o.w. None are marked 'red'. I send MTEMC a firm but courteous email denying them access to my property until I meet personally with their tree man on my property. A meeting is arranged.

I meet the tree man at the r.o.w. and the first words out of his mouth as he looks around are, "you probably know more about trees than I do". He then states his position, the law etc. I state mine, law or no, 40 feet is ENTIRELY too much. He restates. I counter with the fact that most trees are taller than the width of the r.o.w., and if they were to fall it wouldn't matter unless they cleared a swath 150' wide. He persists. I state that what they are doing is pure butchery. The workers know how to operate a bucket and chain saw and nothing else. They make improper cuts that threaten the future of the tree, not to mention stimulate growth that will need to be pruned all the sooner. HE CONCEDES. We discuss storms, prevailing winds etc. In the end, he agrees to 10' from center of r.o.w. and I GET TO DIRECT THE TRIMMERS. When the tree crew arrives all goes well. It's been 4 years and the trimmers are back. Nothing has been marked yet on my place. Trees previously pruned (at my direction) have grown some, but nothing drastic. I believe the same guy is still the tree man. I fully expect a repeat of 4 years ago.

Now if you are still reading lol. I completely understand the need to keep the juice flowing. We all depend on it. I just cannot agree with the way they go about tree pruning.

Whether or not you are able to get your trees trimmed to your and the electric companies satisfaction is anyone's guess. In Nashville, when Nashville Electric is trimming, there is usually stories on the local news about outraged citizens decrying the butchering of their trees. One area, a place of old trees, old houses (mansions) and old money yells the loudest. It does them no good, the trees are pruned to NES's specs. And NES does not cut a 40' r.o.w., to me they prune very conservatively. The good thing is by and large NES follows proper pruning practices, unlike MTEMC.

Toronado 3800:

I certainly agree the power needs to be kept on. The power companies seem to have a handle on the tree issue. Now they need to address:
blizzards
ice storms
tornadoes
hurricanes
straight line winds
haboobs
earthquakes
volcanoes
floods
landslides
tsunamis
CME's
errant vehicles
equipment failure
human error
excessive heat
excessive cold
hunters
errant wildlife
vandals
terrorists
deteriorating infrastructure
I'm being sarcastic, but only slightly so lol. Around here, more power outages are caused by things other than trees.

ilovemytrees:

I love my trees too, and everybody elses lol.

Ken

I'm actually curious as to why some communities do have well pruned trees and others are a hack job as well.

Its the same energy company around hereso I don't get it.

In the end if you intend to hack at it, just take the dang thing down and plant a smaller more quaint tree in its place that won't interfer with the lines.

I actually got fired up about an Autumn Blaze maple that was planted under a powerline just last year at a gas station! I called the village and they said the owner needs to get the utility company to approve. So in this case the utility company approved it....again I don't get it why they'd approve this.

Utility pruning requirements are ENTIRELY different than for other purposes. Yes, in many instances, the utility contractors don't know what the heck they are doing; I've certainly seen plenty of that in my career.

However, a well-trained arborist who has the job of doing pruning in utility rights-of-way has a challenging list of criteria. Safety and uninterrupted utility service are the top two. There is also a community desire for overhead shade trees...not just for aesthetic purposes but because we know that overstory trees provide much needed relief from the sun. Overstory trees also filter the air, buffer noise, prevent soil, water, and air pollution. And more!

Trained utility pruners have knowledge in HOW and WHERE to make those cuts that will also a tree to remain healthy and viable, though not aesthetically pleasing. YOU many not see the difference between a street tree that has been butchered and one that has been properly pruning according to ANSI Standards, but I do.

I suggest to creekweb and others with concerns about the quality of utility pruning in their community that they let their concerns be known to their city arborist, their utility company (who often hire contractors to do the pruning), and to their city officials. Find out if these contractors are 'tree guys' who do power washing on the side (they have removable magnetic signs on their trucks, lol) or are ISA Arborists.

Then, become educated about how utility pruning works. Only then can you have reasonable expectations to become a policy changer in your community.

If the utility lines go right through the canopy of large trees or pass just a few feet in front of them, would you do without the tree (and its enormous benefits) entirely? Or would you rather see a trained arborist carve a safe pathway for those wires, creating a homely but healthy tree? Both opinions are valid.

You can also become an educator in your community by encouraging homeowners and city beautification clubs to select appropriate species for under wire plantings. There are thousands of such tree lists around the country.

I've been fortunate in the communities I've lived in. One, a small, historical city on the SC coast was once victim to jack-of-all-trade tree guys who put in low-ball bids to prune the street trees. It didn't take but a handful of years for policy to be changed. Soon, no municipal pruning could be done by any other than ISA Certified arborists (did THAT ever cause a stink.... but who cares) and all street pruning had to be approved of by the City Arborist (ISA certified). The tree guys could still do their crappy work for homeowners, but community property was protected.

The city in which I now live has had an arborist for many years and it shows. There is a large utility company with their own terrific arborists, many of whom I've had in refresher classes.

SO...it's not hopeless unless you do nothing. Proper utility pruning can sometimes look as bad as plain ol' tree whacking, but learn to know the difference. And if you find out that the pruning criteria is different in the wealthier neighborhoods, begin a letter to the editor campaign, bring the problem to the attention at your public city board meetings, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Utility Pruning information

Have seen it happen down here where the whole neighborhood was up in arms about proposed expansion of ROW cutting. It would have taken out or disfurged a lot of older Live Oaks. The power company backed down somewhat and everyone seemed ok after that. Cutting older Live Oaks down here can generate hard feelings in a hurry. Other trees are not so lucky.

Common practice here, when the utility poles have reached the end of their service lives, the Utility company moves everything, lock, stock, & barrel, to the other side of the street. The claim it's cheaper but it does a real number on the urban landscape....mature trees butchered on both sides of the street. There was also a drive a couple of years ago to ensure the 240V lines to houses had a 6' clearance radius....what a mess & why? They're not going to get shorted out on contact & 6' isn't going to help if a big branch falls.

I consider this to be an excellent pruning job for a utility company.
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That is a great one. In STL we just turn the trees into a "U" shape.

More proof trees and power lines move too quickly and unpredictably for humans to keep up with or plan for.

On my street we have underground powerlines and yet there are hardly any trees on our street. In older areas of the city the trees tend to get hacked by the power company. They take too much of the tree off yet their pruning cuts are actually pretty good. From what I've heard they ask the homeowner how they want the tree pruned unless it can ony be done one way. It's sad to see but the homeowner must look up before planting a tree. Every power company is different.