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Trees: A Look From the Other Side
Topics: trees, bakersfield, trimming, butchering, power lines, Asplundh, PG&E, utility
Posted by dreamrgirl2001 Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:29:45 PDT
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It is said that ignorance is bliss, but in the case of trees around power lines ignorance is cause for anger, misunderstanding and sometimes the use of law enforcement. I am writing in response to the recent articles by Robert Price and Eric Ziegler regarding the so-called “butchering of trees”.

My first problem with Robert Price's articles is that he says there are at least four arborists that are line clearance certified, however there is only one who is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture as a Utility Specialist. He happens to work for Asplundh. Neither he nor I (also an line clearance certified arborist, but not yet certified as a Utility Specialist) were contacted for this article. Could it be that we work for the offending company?

The problem is not that P.G.&E or Asplundh want to hack the trees up and make them look like a horror movie scene, it's that the California Public Utilities Commission has told utilities to stop the practice of aesthetic trimming and only trim for clearance due to the fact that it is the rate payers that ultimately pay for the trimming. Whether you have underground or above ground power lines you are paying for tree maintenance. If trees were trimmed to be beautiful this would take more time and money, meaning increases in the already high cost of your utilities. Unfortunately for some this means that their tree will be trimmed on a prescribed cycle and may not look very nice afterwards.

P.G.&E does have a program called “Right Tree, Right Place”. They even send out inserts in their bills, but homeowners continually disregard these. Trees around power lines pose many hazards including outages, fires, and dangers to tree trimmers.

I know for a fact that Asplundh along with other utility trimmers follow the guidelines of Dr. Alex Shigo’s “Pruning Trees near Electric Utility Lines”. Dr. Alex Shigo was widely considered the "father of modern arboriculture" and a university trained tree pathologist. His study of tree biology led to a broadened understanding of compartmentalization of decay in trees. Shigo's ideas eventually led to the now accepted way to prune a tree. The trimming may not always look great, but done properly the cuts are the best health-wise for the tree and attempt to direct growth away from the lines.

Some trees however cannot be directed away such as conifers and palms. Sometimes the best option is to have these removed to avoid future problems. Public Resource Code 4293 requires four foot clearance year around (that means at all times the tree must be at least four feet away from the power lines) in State Responsibility Areas and General Order 95 Rule 35 requires eighteen inches of clearance year round in Local Responsibility Areas. More often than not, greater clearance must be taken to compensate for the growth of the tree during the year, especially in fast growing tree species that can grow up to eighteen feet in a one year cycle.

In response to Eric Ziegler’s article, I would like to say that while it Is true that the city issues a permit to do work in its public right of way, in a large portion of cases, the utility has easements that can be used to access property whether it is city property or private. Some easements I have seen have dated back to the 1880s. These easements are stated in the full legal description of the homeowner’s deeds. Furthermore, California Penal Code 420.1 allows ingress and egress to these easements and permits the utility to perform necessary work.

A little research and information about trees around power lines will help people understand why P.G.&E and Asplundh do the work that so many in this community are frustrated with. Instead of knowledge, we choose to remain ignorant and end up angry to the point of threatening violence toward the tree trimmers and utility workers who are trying to do their jobs. I personally do empathize with homeowners; I also have had trees around power lines that needed to be trimmed.

As for the city of Bakersfield, we do not have a full time city arborist anymore because he understood what we needed to do in regard to our tree and the city parted ways with him. So next time you see a trimmed (not butchered) tree, be thankful, it may have prevented a fire or outage and please, PLEASE, plant trees but remember the right tree in the right place.

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