HomeMy Public PortalAboutWatertown Utility line clearance 8510Christopher J. Hayward, MCA
Conservation Agent
Tree Warden
chayward@watertown-ma.gov
Memorandum
To:
From:
Subject:
Date:
TOWN OF WATERTOWN
Department of
Community Development and Planning
OFFICE OF THE TREE WARDEN
Administration Building
149 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Phone: 617-972.6426
Fax: 617.972.6484
www.watertown-ma.gov
Trees for Watertown, NSTAR Electric and Gas Corporation
Christopher Hayward, Tree Warden
Utility Line Clearance — Watertown MA
August 5, 2010
Due to the recent debates about standards used by Nstar in Watertown to prune trees
around the power lines I spoke with several town tree wardens about what their
communities expect from Nstar and what standards are being used. I spoke with
individuals from the Town of Brookline, Town of Acton, Town of Lincoln, City of
Newton and the City of Cambridge, None of these communities have any home grown
dimensional standards that Nstar has been required to follow when it comes to utility line
pruning.
The only community that had any additional requirement was the City of Cambridge
which requires Nstar to provide a certified arborist with each tree pruning crew. The
certified arborist then acts as the first line of communication with both concerned
residents and the tree warden. The Tree Warden in Cambridge stated that this
requirement has been very helpful in calming tense situations.
After my discussions with the communities listed above and also reviewing many
national pruning standards and arboricultural journals, I am requesting that Nstar and any
other utility line pruners in Watertown please comply with the following requests when
doing work in our community:
1. Please have a certified arborist (either Massachusetts or ISA certified) as part
of each pruning crew. The City of Cambridge has found decent success with
this requirement and hopefully Watertown will as well.
2. Please consider the stress level of our urban forest. During the summer
months our street trees are under extreme stress due to many factors. Pruning
in most cases up to one third of the canopy of these trees during the heat of the
summer only adds to their stress. When scheduling utility line pruning in
urban locations, please attempt to conduct this work in the spring or the fall
when the trees are not as stressed.
3. Please consider the type of tree and relative stress level of that tree before
pruning. In most cases the 8-8-12 standard is much too aggressive for these
stressed trees to withstand. The rate of decline occurs much faster when the
trees are aggressively pruned.
4. Please make every effort to notify private property owners that their private
tree requires pruning ahead of time. In many cases, if the private owner knew
the pruning was needed, the job would be completed by the property owner's
hired certified line clearance arborist.
I ask that Nstar make every effort to comply with these requests as closely as possible.
The community must understand that Nstar and other utility companies have a right to
maintain their property. Many times a tree will need to be drastically pruned depending
on its condition, how frequently it has been pruned and to what risk its current state put
the utility wires in. I feel that with better communication on both the utility company's
and tree warden's part we can come to agreeable terms.
Thank you,
Christopher Hayward, MCA
Watertown Tree Warden