Provo » A tree cutter working for Rocky Mountain Power told Ken Loveland that some of the scrub oak growing for decades beneath high-voltage transmission lines strung along the city's foothills had to be trimmed.
That was OK, Loveland thought. No problem.
But then the worker told him that the hillside was going to need more than a simple pruning.
"They needed to clear-cut under the wires and to 30 feet on each side of the center line (of the right-of-way)," Loveland recalled the trimmer telling him.
That was a problem -- for Loveland, Provo's city forester and other neighbors along the foothills.
And when City Forester Scott Bunker registered complaints with Rocky Mountain, the utility's forester assured him that he was going to talk to the residents.
Then, the utility's spokesman, Jeff Hymas, weighed in, saying the company has no intention of wholesale clear-cutting.
"We're being selective. We're targeting the trees that are the most at-risk," Hymas said.
The utility's tree-cutting program also covers the wires traversing Springville, Mapleton and Spanish Fork, whose officials said they haven't heard complaints.
Now, Loveland and his Provo neighbors will have to wait and see just how far the utility plans to go.
For him, it wasn't just about losing trees. He said he was worried that the foothills would be defaced again, just as they were when Questar Gas did pipeline work several years ago that left a mountainside scar that was visible for miles.
Provo's Bunker has other worries as well: Over-cutting increases the risks of landslides.
"There are some large groves of Gambel oak that are holding up the hills," Bunker said. Commonly called scrub oak, it is suited to arid climates and stabilizes hillsides, he said.
Loveland said the utility's forester did assure him that if trees -- in place long before the power line was routed through the area in the early 20th century -- were trimmed to a certain height, they could stay.
While the oaks could grow tall enough to interfere with the wires under the right conditions, Loveland said he didn't think it was likely -- given Utah's relative lack of moisture.
Some of the terrain could push the trees up within 25 feet of the wires -- the recommended buffer zone for high-tension utility lines. If that happens, Rocky Mountain's Hymas said, they would have to be removed. He pointed out that if the utility clears trees from private property, it gives owners certificates for free trees or shrubs that meet the utility's standards.
Provo's forester, Bunker, said the situation could have been handled better with a bit more public discussion before sending in the tree trimmers.
Hymas said the workers have been told that the project does not involve wholesale tree removal. He said the employee who spoke to Loveland may have not expressed that clearly.
