Disturbing Sight

RGus

RGus

Location
Minnesota
As I was working today, doing oak wilt inspections, I saw a tree crew pruning trees to make way for a new powerline. As I got closer I realized that they were pruning oaks, which is a big no no right now, being the high risk period for overland spread. I decided to stop to see if these guys knew what they were doing, and what potential problem they were creating. The crew said they were painting all wounds to prevent the spread of OW, but from my observations I didnt see any paint on the trees.

Back at the office I learned the road is being widend, so the powerlines needed to be moved, therefore trees needed to be pruned. Also the landowner at that site had made a big deal about making sure their trees were not to become infected by OW due to the road construction.

I will be watching this site closely to watch for OW. And if it does become infected I hope that the landowner will be compensated for all trees lost by either the tree company or the utility company.
 
You need to get a life,

The Tree company is being told to trim the trees by the utility company and the utility is being told to move the lines for road construction by some government agency. I understand the OW disease thing, but do you understand the time restraints put on the tree company and the utility? No You just see someone doing their job and go preaching the gospel without having all the facts. Alot of times the request to move lines is less that 1 month away from the construction date. Where does that leave the utility and the tree company. You have to do what ever you have to do.

So what do you think is the "Answer" .
 
Hammer,

I fully understand that there are time constraints when working with construction and utilities, and if a powerline has to go in, then trees need to be cut. I dont have a problem with that. The only problem I have with the tree company is if they are not taking preventative measures to try and stop oak wilt spread, such as painting wounds. And if they do what ever they can to prevent it then great, I have no problems at all.

[ QUOTE ]
You need to get a life,



[/ QUOTE ]

Right now oak wilt is my life. I am working as an assistant county forester, and my main job duty is working on an oak wilt suppression program. I spend everyday at work helping landowners with oak wilt on their property. Our county has the highest number of oak wilt infection centers in the state of MN, and possibly the US, but I am not sure of that. It is going to be impossible to get rid of oak wilt in our county, but we are doing everything we can to slow it down. So if I see anyone pruning oaks during the high risk period I am going to stop and talk with them about oak wilt.

Good Day
 
[ QUOTE ]

I will be watching this site closely to watch for OW. And if it does become infected I hope that the landowner will be compensated for all trees lost by either the tree company or the utility company.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just why should the utility or the tree company compensate the land owner for oak wilt getting in his tree. For one you stated yourself your county is infested with it, how can someone prove that this cutting caused the inrtoduction to the trees when the whole county is infested.

On another note: you work for the county correct..... The city or the county that YOU work for requested the line be moved to make room for road work. The tree company owner just did not wake up that morning and say "Hey boys lets go spread some Oak Wilt today".
Nor did the utility have a conference meeting to discuss wasting money on moving a line just for kicks. Both of these companies are doing a job as requested.

Lets just say for the sake of argument that the tree company refused to trim the trees to the utility because this is the wrong time of the year to do so.

I'll answer that for you, the tree company would be driving trucks off of the utility's property because they just got another tree contractor that could do the job.

It just gets under my skin when people, with just enough knowledge to make their self dangerous has this conception that it's the utility's fault for everything that goes wrong out there. Before pointin the finger at someone else look at your own orginization to see that your house is in order.
 
After seeing your profile I now see why you are in this mode of thought. 05 graduate of some college and 23 yoa (I've got socks older than you). You have not been exposed to much of the real world YET, but you will. All or most of your teachings are by the book picture perfect examples. You will understand and relax a bit when you get some years under your belt.

Good Luck
 
Yes I am fresh out of college, and I may not have as much experience in the "real world" as you or others do. I have had enough experience to know how things work, but mabey not enough.

Let me get this straight for you. I saw the crew pruning oaks. I stopped to see if they were familiar with oak wilt, they said yes and that they were painting all of the pruning cuts made, and that they normally dont prune right now, but the job had to be done. I said I was glad to hear that and left. I didnt preach to them about anything, I didnt walk up to the trees to make sure they were painting them or anything like that. As I was driving away I had made the obervation that it appeared they werent painting. And I left the sight.

I understand that they were doing their job. Yet at the same time I was only doing my job as well. If my job was not working with OW then i would have no business stopping and talking to that crew, but its part of my job.

How could we prove if the trees become infected with OW due to pruning? It was a healthy stand of oaks before pruning was done. Then pruning takes place, and 4 weeks later the same trees that were pruned have OW. It would only make sense that OW was intrduced to those trees from pruning. This hasnt happend yet on this site, but has happend before on other sites.

Yes I work for the county, and yes it is a county road that is being widend. So mabey you are right, mabey the county should take care of the cost if OW becomes present.

If you would like to argue anymore about this please PM me.
 
Hammer maybe try reading before you jump all over ryan.

"I fully understand that there are time constraints when working with construction and utilities, and if a powerline has to go in, then trees need to be cut. I dont have a problem with that. The only problem I have with the tree company is if they are not taking preventative measures to try and stop oak wilt spread, such as painting wounds. And if they do what ever they can to prevent it then great, I have no problems at all."

and before that


"The crew said they were painting all wounds to prevent the spread of OW, but from my observations I didnt see any paint on the trees."


Take some time to read before you start throwing insults around.
 
I'm pretty familiar with the OW issues in MN. The county in question has a lot of OW. It's been shown that construction is the main vector for spreading OW. It's also been shown that painting wounds is [minimally] effective. If cutting needs to be done, the responsible thing to do is practice what is advised. Don't prune, or wound, during high season. Paint if you have to.

Ryan may not have the years of experience that others do but he is working with a staff of people who have been fighting OW for decades. Why jump on him? He's looking for solutions not expecting that the world stop because of his concern for OW. I also know some of Ryan's instructors. They have years of real world experiences that I'm sure they've shared with him.

Aspludh was pruning oaks in Minneapolis a few years ago, during the worst part of OW season. A combination of homeowner, city and concerned citizens stopped the pruning and got A to agree to not prune oaks during that time of year.

In an ideal world the oak work wouldn't be done during late spring/early summer in Ryan's area. But that's not likely. In the mean time, what is the problem with expecting the utility's contractors to abide by professional performance standards?
 
Keep preaching Ryan, I think someone needed the preaching and is thinking to himself right now "why does it have to be a "schoolboy" to get me on the right track".

We need you out there to keep us doing the right thing Ryan.

DON'T BACK OFF /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Wolter
 
It's not the fact of his position or experience that I have a problem with, It is the statement he made in the first post stating If the trees were damaged the property owner should be compensated by either the utility or the contractor when the county he works for ordered the work. Someone explain that to me, How is either one responsible for damage that the county ordered done. The county should pay the property owner not the utility or the contractor.




Did the county request to have the cuts painted prior to work being done?
 
Prevention of OW is a great idea, however, why not just remove the trees? Sometimes I would rather see a tree removed than see a butchered tree that has a long disfigured death. I have line maintenance experience and I hated disfiguring trees. That was my main reason for leaving.

Wouldn't our utility bills be lower if there was minimal line clearance needed? How about removing all of the trees under or close to the lines? The initial cost of removing all trees under or too close to power lines would be high, but after that it would be much lower. It would be better not to have to look at horrible mutilation of trees every day.

It would be more cost effective if trees were never allowed to grow to a large height to be cut back. For example, sending out a crew to remove a 6 inch diameter volunteer under a power line is safer and more time effictive. Sending a crew out (or 10 crews depending on the size of the city) to maintain a tree with 6 inch over hang, suckers all into the wires and burning, is dangerous and is expensive.

I hated getting into a tree that was neglected and was burning. Especially for $13/per hour. I think someone in that dangerous of a situation should be compensated $200/hour. Cops and firefighters get paid well, not for the danger they encounter every day, but for the POTENTIAL danger they will encounter. Line clearance guys are men with alot of courage. Willing to get into a tree, or bucket truck, and trim so that we can all have electricty. They have the POTENTIAL to die every day, and yet they are not compensated enough.

Anyway, I think line clearance is a government mandated joke. It is criminal to dismember a person's Oak, Maple, Ash, or whatever. Why not educated them in a professional manner and offer tree removal and replacement; such as a ornimental?
 

Attachments

  • 26919-Silhouette1.webp
    26919-Silhouette1.webp
    26.8 KB · Views: 49
As a matter of fact we do ofer tree replacements for trees removed under the lines under certian guidelines. In fact is has gone over so well that we just had to construct a green house to hold the trees until the members want them.



"Threadjack over"
 
The electric utility that used to service the Twin Cities area had a Right Tree, Right Place program. They would replant a tree that would fit the space after removing one that was too big for the space. I don't know if Excel has continued the policy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom