The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Department of Public Works:
Eversource, and it’s subcontractor Tree Tech, is working citywide on tree pruning around power lines throughout January. This work is necessary to maintain safe operations of the power grid and reduce future outages.
Eversource expects to have 2 tree crews in town initially, then eventually increase that number to 5 crews total over the course of January.
Trees are often a great addition to the landscape of any community. However, trees are the leading causes of power outages in our service territory as they are for many utilities across the country.
Some important facts about tree maintenance:
• Pruning trees leads to improved reliability.
• Pruning and removing dangerous trees along electric lines helps eliminate safety hazards for the public and our employees.
• Maintaining clearance around our lines has the potential to minimize service interruptions during severe storms for you, your neighbors and area businesses and community facilities.
If you have any questions about this upcoming work, please call Eversource at 800-592-2000.
Is there any way we could have our tree warden advise on Eversource’s pruning technique? Or a qualified arborist who knows test they are doing PLEASE?? I find it so upsetting to see the few trees we have on our streets all turned into Y-shaped branchless and shadeless trees. I don’t really understand it because there are some towns like Newton and Cambridge that seem to do the necessary pruning near wires without causing such detriment—some of our trees are literally horrific looking along our streets due to this maintenance!! It’s really awful in places. Brings down the whole neighborhood appeal—- And we have so very few big trees left! Thanks for listening.
Dear Concerned Resident,
Your points are well taken but writing them here, in a comment to an online newspaper, is unlikely to have an effect. Perhaps you could contact your city councilor to suggest this or call the tree warden directly.