By GLYNIS HART
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CHARLESTOWN – According to Liberty Utilities’ website, the company schedules tree pruning to clear around power lines every four to five years, “adhering to the industry ‘best practices.’”
However, a homeowner in Charlestown begs to differ. “They left a tremendous mess,” said Kathleen LaRock, who lives on Main Street.
“Liberty Utilities uses a technique called ‘directional pruning’ in order to naturally train and direct growth away from the wires,” the website assures homeowners. “This pruning practice was developed in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service and is endorsed by the International Society of Arboriculture, the National Arbor Day Foundation and other tree-care professionals around the world.”
Further, the company states they attempt to notify customers “by postcard, door hanger or a Liberty Utilities work planner.”
“None of that happened,” said LaRock. “They didn’t do any of that.”
Instead, two months ago LaRock found a crew of Liberty Utilities tree cutters had taken down at least 20 trees on the edge of her property, where the trees formed a screen between her house and the road. At the very least, the “pruning” removed all but the largest trees in the hedgerow.
“This is my beautiful prospect,” said LaRock, gesturing where the trees used to be.
LaRock is trying to sell her house, and one of its selling points is its privacy. The almost three- acre lot with gardens and an antique carriage house sits back from Main Street on the west side. On the south side, a wooded lot with venerable old locusts and tall maples screens the property from Lower Landing Road — or at least, it did until the tree pruners went through in August.
Again, according to the Liberty Utilities website, “Liberty Utilities prunes trees to maintain a minimum of 15 feet of clearance above, 10 feet below and 8 feet to the side of our power lines.”
However, pacing from the stumps to directly below the power line show trees had been cut between 12 and 20 feet from the power lines.
“It looks like they cut it so they wouldn’t have to cut again for 15 years,” said LaRock bitterly.
LaRock complained to the company after the cutting happened, and a woman in their vegetation management department came out to speak to her. After two months of battling with the company, she said they admitted fault.
“They wanted to replace one tree,” she said. “And they said they’d give me four lilac trees. But these were valuable maple trees.”
The trees that were removed ranged from 8-10 inches in diameter to 3-4 inches.
“They said they had to do it because they were having power outages,” said LaRock. “But when we have a power outage, it was always with a storm.”
Since the trees were cut, have there been any power outages?
“I can’t say it’s made a difference,” she said.
Contacted by the Eagle Times, John Shore of Liberty Utilities’ media relations department said he’d look into the problem.
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