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Power companies: Tree work near lines has many benefits
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| By: THERESE APEL, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
April 24, 2009 |
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In a long clearing neatly framing a row of power poles just off Wroten Lane, Entergy employees work with hand tools and heavy equipment to keep trees back from the lines.
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Activities like those in Lincoln County earlier this week have helped Entergy be recognized with a "Tree Line USA" designation from the Arbor Day Foundation. Magnolia Electric Power Association has also received the designation from the foundation dedicated to Arbor Day, which is Friday.
Power company officials said the tree line work has benefits for their customers and members. Entergy Operations Coordinator Frank Childs said keeping the foliage neatly trimmed helps to prevent customers from losing power in cases of severe weather.
"We have to be proactive to prevent future outages," Childs said. "Besides limbs, we try to pay attention to the dead trees, because a dead pine or oak or something falling on the lines can be dangerous as well."
When severe weather strikes, trees that fall on power lines are the cause of most power outages, but they can also pose a threat when they're encroaching on power lines on a normal day.
Southwest Electric Power Association officials are also active in clearing trees from around power lines.
"You don't want the limbs to grow into the power lines because under just right conditions, the tree can be a conductor," said Southwest Mississippi EPA Superintendent of Right-of-Way Jeff Segrest. "If the tree's wet and the ground's wet and there's a tree touching a high-voltage line, it can be energized and someone could touch it."
Magnolia Electric Engineering Manager Aaron Achord agreed, stressing that homeowners with trees that look like they could be a problem need to call the power companies before emergency situations strike.
"If anybody's got any problems, they need to call in now," he said. "Where we run into problems is that nobody calls about taking down a tree until the hurricane gets into the Gulf. The time to do that is now before the hurricane season."
That's one of the reasons local power companies constantly have crews out on the roads, making sure the trees and power lines are kept separate. Part of the tree-cutting process is about the best interests of the trees as well as the power lines.
Entergy Right-of-Way Manager Robert Clark said there is a science to the tree trimming.
"Using correct arboricultural techniques helps us maintain that separation for longer periods of time," he said. "These pruning methods actually train the tree to grow away from the power lines, which means we don't have to trim as often. They also help the tree repair itself afterwards."
Some customers may start off with concerns about the large 90-foot "boom" truck with the rotating saw that cuts the taller limbs, and the mower that can take down small trees up to 6 inches in diameter, but Childs said there is no reason to worry.
"People think these will tear up their land, but it's actually better for it than a regular truck," he said, indicating the large tank-like treads on one of the machines.
And of course, there are the people who just like their trees the way they are.
"The contractors doing the work try to let people know they're coming through trimming, because it's like a marriage, it has to be a 50-50 proposition," Segrest said. "Sometimes we don't get to trim them back as far as we'd like to because the homeowner doesn't want them back that much, so we try to do it in a manner they'd be pleased with."
Entergy employees Tony Durr and Thomas Humphrey were on the ground with hand tools on Wroten Lane. Segrest said Southwest has ground crews too, for those hard-to-reach places where the big trucks can't go.
"With a fenced back yard, you can't get a truck in there and you have to do it by hand," he said. "We also have the insulated 'long sticks' that telescope, they're probably 30 feet long or so, and you can put a hand saw on the end of one of those. It'll work your shoulders and arms out when you use one of those."
Achord said his company makes a point to do only manual work when they're in a residential area. They will also talk to homeowners about good tree choices.
"We'll do it more by hand inside someone's yard, we won't go in there and totally destroy it with the big machines," he said. "We also try to go in and talk to the customer and ask if maybe we can take down this type of tree, and plant more of an oriental or ornamental tree, which tend to grow shorter."
Homeowners can help the effort, though, by landscaping with trees that grow no taller than 25 feet, Clark said.
"In Mississippi, crape myrtles are popular trees because they handle the heat well," he said. "They are also popular with us because they don't grow into power lines."
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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