Down the power lines
I’ve been worried about the thick trees surrounding the power line on the neighbor’s property. We share a power line and any time you can get trees away from electricity, you do it.
I was told he was adamant that he would cut no trees under any circumstance but the recent fire at the nearby Bluebell area that was started by trees vs. power line changed his mind. A firm believer in never, ever cutting down a tree, that fire helped him see that sometimes you have to sacrifice a tree or two.
Taking down 18 trees from around the power line is a big step towards my neighbor’s understanding of mitigation’s importance. I wish I could get him to cut down more trees in his yard, there are a few dead ones and spindly lodgepoles. It needs a quick (but rather expensive) trim.
Over the past three years I’ve come to believe that mitigation is something you do every year, you’re never really done.
A local firefighter came by to take a look at the work I’ve done and he’s been impressed. He had looked to buy this house before I saw it but was almost bitten by the previous owner’s dogs and set him on a different real estate course. He knew what it looked like before and said we had done a really good job of cleaning up and choosing which trees stay and which go. He had recommendations for the area back of the fence where two huge aspen trees live. He said removal of the small trees under the power line in the right-of-way would prevent future problems and would encourage the aspens to send out runners and fill in the area over the septic system’s leach field. The trick now is getting the aspens to grow and keep the local elk and deer from eating the newly sprouted trees. I’m hoping aspen runners make their way into the back yard where they’ll be protected from the local nibblers.
Trees. It’s always something.