Defined
Vegetation Management is managing the vegetation that could come into contact with electric distribution lines along our 3,200 miles of overhead lines in eleven counties. Vegetation includes trees, shrubs, brush, vines, etc., within a utility easement or right of way corridor.
Primary Goal
As with Wayne-White Electric Cooperative as a whole, the primary goal of the Vegetation Management plan is to serve the entire body of our membership first and foremost. In managing member requests, our practice is to complete work that is for the entire body of membership as a whole. When vegetation or trees are assessed, we are looking at the impact to the whole membership, and whether the work should be completed by our crews or private contractors.
Our Approach:
Wayne-White Electric applies an Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) strategy/approach as well as industry best management practices regarding ROW clearing. IVM incorporates the use of both manual and mechanical clearing and the selective application of herbicides. Right-of-way crews will work a cyclical, whole circuit, whole segment vegetation management planning schedule. We will promote sound arboricultural practices that maintain environmental quality while adhering to all local, state and federal regulation.
Vegetation in the Right-of-Way can:
- Cause power outages and lights to blink.
- Waste electricity by providing a path to the ground.
- Be a fire hazard.
- Be a safety hazard for workers and members.
- Block visual inspections, making repairs difficult and increasing outage length.
Our Utility Line Clearance Professionals
The crews at Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative will be happy to help you with an evaluation of your trees near our power lines.
- Our highly-trained crews of utility line clearance professionals prune or take down trees that are causing problems like blinking lights, etc.
- We fully understand that the appearance of your trees is important to you. After all, we have trees of our own.
- Our crews follow the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) tree pruning guidelines. (These guidelines emphasize proper pruning techniques while allowing adequate clearance for the overhead electric lines)
