Johnno
The Living Force
Tree lopping has become quite common down under by electrical companies who lop trees near power lines to prevent short circuits and bushfires (wildfires) and class action lawsuits. There's quite a few leafy streets which have been reduced to matchsticks by ham fisted contractors. Here's the latest.
This story from my local paper which make the local energy company the human equivalent of Douglas Adam's Vogons from Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Vogons destroyed Earth to make way for a Hyperspatial Express Route.
The "spokesman's" response is the usual bland "we're just looking after your best interests" spin.
Here's the poor blighters tree.
This story from my local paper which make the local energy company the human equivalent of Douglas Adam's Vogons from Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Vogons destroyed Earth to make way for a Hyperspatial Express Route.
The "spokesman's" response is the usual bland "we're just looking after your best interests" spin.
A Lawson family was shocked to see the once proud and prominent tree in their front yard cut back to what they described as a toothpick by Integral Energy recently.
Aside from the appearance of his family’s own yard being ruined, Andrew Warrilow is concerned the aggressive approach to pruning around power lines has been expanded across the Mountains.
Branches encroaching on power lines are now being lopped off at their base rather than trimmed since a change in pruning practice by Integral Energy. The method has been used in towns below Woodford for two years but since November, 2009 has been adopted in Blue Mountains towns from Woodford all the way to Mount Victoria.
“Anyone could come home from work and find that the look of their property’s been ruined,” said Mr Warrilow. “It could ruin the whole leafy streetscapes of the Blue Mountains, which is why we live here.”
Mr Warrilow said the tree had been pruned many times in the past without causing any problems. His “jaw just dropped” when he saw the result of the latest work.
Despite being home at the time Mr Warrilow was not warned by workers about the new approach, nor was he told they had cracked a paving stone and broken the fence in two places.
“They’ve taken this ‘hack first, ask questions later’ approach and you can see the results,” he said.
The council’s arborist has been to inspect the tree and also “came to the view that the pruning could have been done to a higher standard in this instance”, according to a council spokeswoman.
An Integral Energy spokesman said the new approach, in line with Australian standards, was designed to protect trees from infection. He said trimming to the clearance distance produced “weak and spindly regrowth”.
“Pruning trees near powerlines . . . ensures a safe and reliable power supply to customers and reduces the risk of bushfires caused by trees touching electricity wires,”said the spokesman.
More information on Integral’s pruning approach can be found in their Tree Management Plan at _www.integral.com.au.
Here's the poor blighters tree.
