Trees & Power Lines

31 December 2008

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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Trees are valuable assets in commercial, private, and public landscapes. Trees add aesthetic beauty, modify and enhance the environment, serve architectural and engineering functions, and increase property and community economic values. These same trees that enhance landscapes, however, are a major challenge for utility companies. Most people have grown accustomed to reliable, uninterrupted electric, telephone and cable service in their homes and offices. Unfortunately, trees are one of the major causes of power outages in areas of overhead utility lines due to direct tree contact with lines, or to trees or tree limbs falling on the lines.

The conflict between trees and utility lines is one we can see every day. Many homeowners have experienced either the loss of a tree or a significant portion of a tree due to the need to keep the limbs from damaging power lines.

While it is difficult to watch the symmetry of a beautiful old tree destroyed by a chain saw you also do not want to interrupt your power supply. For some homeowners, older trees may have sentimental value. Either they were planted by a relative long ago, or planted in memory of someone, or are simply where their children played happily during an earlier time.

It is not uncommon for large species of trees to be inappropriately planted near utility lines. These trees were probably pretty small when they were planted, and perhaps it was never imagined that these little trees would eventually grow and spread to interfere with power lines. Unfortunately, the only options for these trees are either repeated pruning that may leave them disfigured or complete removal of the tree.

The good news is that you do not need to remain completely treeless near utility lines. There are a number of tree species that remain small enough so they do not pose a threat, even when they are mature.

Whether you are planning to replace an existing tree or starting from scratch, the following list of tree species will give you some options (there are more!) to choose from at your local nursery or garden center when you are looking for a small tree for a restricted space.

Common Name	Scientific Name
Trident maple	Acer buergerianum
Amur maple	Acer ginnala
Shantung maple	Acer truncatum
Serviceberry	Amelanchier arborea
American hornbeam	Carpinus caroliniana
White fringetree	Chionanthus virginicus
Smoketree	Cotinus coggygria
Washington hawthorn	Crataegus phaenopyrum
Russian olive	Elaeagnus angustifolia
Winged euonymus	Euonymus alatus
Franklinia	Franklinia alatamaha
Magnolia	Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'
Flowering crabapple	Malus species
Sourwood	Oxydendrum arboreum
Accolade flowering cherry	Prunus sargentii 'Accolade'
Canada Red choke cherry	Prunus virginiana 'Canada Red'
Swedish mountain ash	Sorbus intermedia
Columnar Oakleaf mountain ash	Sorbus thuringiaca fastigiata
Japanese tree lilac	Syringa reticulata
Evergreen oak	Quercus myrsinifolia
Japanese stewartia	Stewartia pseudocamellia
Japanese snowbell	Styrax japonicus
Doublefile viburnum	Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum

If you would like to learn more about trees and utility lines I encourage you to visit the Virginia Department of Forestry web site http://www.dof.virginia.gov/urban/index-mtrp.shtml.

Virginia Cooperative Extension will be offering Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, and Tree Steward Volunteer training in early 2009. Please contact your local Extension office for more information.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.