The benefits of trees range from energy-saving shade to pure beauty that brightens our lives and adds value to our property. At the same time, our way of life depends heavily on the delivery of electricity, gas, telephone service, and cable TV — and we want it without interruption.
Utility company employees strive to meet the demands for good service. To do this, they find it necessary to keep overhead lines free from contact with limbs and out of danger from branches that fall during storms. As the companies respond to demands for buried utilities, they face yet another set of challenges in placing or repairing lines in the same soil where roots grow.
In some communities, the tree-utility dilemma has led to the deformation of trees by topping, mortality from severed roots, and the removal of large trees. In other areas, more enlightened companies have developed methods that allow trees and utilities to coexist — all to the benefit of a better community. In 1992, the Arbor Day Foundation created Tree Line USA to publicly recognize those companies or municipalities that provide utility service while at the same time protecting community trees. Just as importantly, the intent is to inform others about this better way of providing total service to their communities and to encourage them to do likewise.
