You may not be aware that while trees add significantly to the beauty of our communities, they are also responsible for costly property damage as well as dangerous power outages. In fact, tree failure is by far the leading cause of outages nationwide. The tree that grows into electrical conductors presents a potential hazard to you and others in the community if it becomes energized or wipes out a power line. This is why we see utility line clearance contractors in our neighborhoods trimming trees.

Some residents get irritated and feel that these trees are needlessly damaged. The National Arborist Association receives a lot of calls from residents complaining that their utility company "drastically" cut trees near the power lines. While it is vitally necessary for utilities to trim trees, sometimes severely, it is nevertheless important for them to follow tree care standards of practice. The NAA is the Secretariat for the ANSI A300 Standard, a national standard that governs tree pruning operations, including line clearance.

When one is evaluating the quality of line clearance tree trimming, it’s important to consider that the utility’s primary objective is to prevent outages as well as electrical hazards. Minimally, the tree should be left in a healthy state, with at least some aesthetic value. If this cannot be accomplished, the utility may opt to remove the tree rather than create an eyesore and future problem. The NAA recommends that you plant a new tree that is better suited for growth under a power line.

Why the gaping hole in the canopy? First, the utility company specifies a certain amount of clearance around its wires, depending upon the voltage, the tree’s growth rate and other characteristics, and the pruning cycle - how frequently it will be pruned. Furthermore, scientific research has proven that it is better from the standpoint of tree health if the trimming crew removes whole limbs with a relatively small number of large cuts versus making numerous small cuts and leaving stubbed off branches. Finally, utilities have found that removal of entire limbs helps to train the future growth of the tree away from the wires, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum while helping to insure that the tree won't need the same drastic pruning in the future.