County Road Easement Cleanup

[buckeyefarmer]

That looks like power line clearing, not road clearing.
Wish I had a “before” picture of when I bought my property, where electric ROW trimmers left a huge mess of cut trees everywhere. I have since cleared it out and keep it mowed. ROW trimmers cut a locust tree down a couple years ago that didn’t need cut, left it laying in my creek. They also cut this huge tree that was across the road from power lines, had nothing wrong with it, but left a dead tree that eventually fell and snapped a pole as it took out the power lines.

 

[yanmars]

Pioneer Electric is putting new power poles in along my road. They have done an excellent job. They keep me informed, left me keep the trees I wanted that they cut and said I could have the old poles if I wanted some.
Cleaned the area in the right of way well. No complaints, really could not be happier. Wish it was the same in your situation.

 

[lman]

I wish I could keep them out except with permission. But this particular property is roughly 100 acres with multiple entrances. None of which I can see from the main house. They just come on the property whenever they want.

They *do* have a legal right of way to maintain the power lines. But it's only a few feet to either side of the lines-- just a narrow strip through the property.

I can play hardball by not letting them have any access except their tiny narrow strip. Which is darned inconvenient on them. But they can respond by refusing to do any post-trimming cleanup, saying "we can't get our truck in here ...."

I guess I was confused. Your profile shows that you own 2.5 acres. That must be wrong because now you're saying you own roughly 100 acres with a power line running through it. I guess that's one of the disadvantages of a power line on your property.

 

[kenmbz]

We have PECO replacing a lot of poles in the area, so being proactive.
Unfortunately, they can't do anything about tall dead ash trees not near the lines.
getting short power outages every month from falling trees.

70-90 foot Ash tree meets pole or line, pole or line lose every time.

They did come through today, 2 guys with shovels and a dump truck to get all the rocks and debris out of the road from yesterdays flooding.

 

[plowhog]

I guess I was confused. Your profile shows that you own 2.5 acres.

You were correct, but we own multiple properties. The larger property, in CA, is served by PG&E.

btw, I have found "official" PG&E employees to always be polite, professional, and responsible. But they don't do any of the actual work that occurs on my property. PG&E sub-contracts to perform inspections and identify trees to remove or trim, and sub-contracts with different companies to perform tree work. The communication between those companies has historically been terrible if they communicate at all.

Finally, a year ago I was told the largest PG&E tree trim/removal contractor "bought" the contract from the primary company that inspects and decides which trees to trim or remove. That seems like a huge conflict of interest-- the more trees they mark for trimming and removal, the more money they make.

 

[plowhog]

No complaints, really could not be happier. Wish it was the same in your situation.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I hope circumstances improve with time. Being sued for multi-billions, and losing, has caused a great upset all up and down the entire utility-- touching everyone.

 

[hdmyers]

In my area both county and utility crews do such work. On no schedule and NEVER with notice, they bring equipment, chainsaws, and chippers and start removing every possible thing they think they can get away with.

6 months ago an entire vegetation barrier along side a road was cut and chipped. It was no threat to traffic or power lines-- yet they obliterated it. The county says "we can cut whatever we want back to your fence line." But if there is no fence-- they act as if there is no limit.

A utility crew took out an entire line of trees near power lines-- up to 12" diameter oaks. No notice. When I discovered that later, I asked: "what happened to the oaks?" Answer: into the chipper. So there went good firewood and most they should not have cut anyway. But they were gone. Complaining after the fact is a total waste of time because none of the officials or supervisors care.

The utility crews here don't respect private property and seem to believe they can do whatever they want. A few years ago a crew let themselves through a locked gate and was driving a heavy truck through my pasture while it was being flood irrigated. They were indignant that I told them to get out of the pasture and back on the road. After that I removed all "utility locks" from my gates.

I have complained to officials, removed locks, put up signs, and informed supervisors their workers cannot be on my property unless they remain within the legal utility easement and right of way. Of course, in their eyes, I am now a "problem homeowner."

If they call to arrange access, I try to accommodate. But if they do even call, which is rare, it is usually a call something like this: "We're at your front gate right now, can you open it so we can get through?"

Crews came to our house, and had the gall to ask us if we mind them coming in this coming month to work on our hydro lines, put a couple poles in. HEck, they even used our driveway turnaround when we gave them permission to do it. I was horrified that they did their job so efficiently and politely, taking out the precious Alders in the process... and even repairing my driveway better than it was. Made me so mad.

 

[jacric2005]

My county does that, probably to keep fire danger down. I'm actually looking at having that done to my drainage ditches, drainage pond surround and blackberries thickets by a contractor. They say it will all be mulched down to the ground and I can then use my compact tractor and brush hog to keep it under control. They use a flail mower similar to what is shown in the picture. I'm all for defensible space as we had to evacuate last year due to wildfire. Was glad we had a house to come back to.

 

[jdmeth]

Hugs and kisses to FPL, Florida Power and Light, they take tree trimming seriously. Mostly they use Asplundt Tree Services for the main line trimming but even the small contractors they use for the trees on private property do a good job.

 

[TheMan419]

Our County mows the right of way a couple times a year. I keep mine mowed every time I mow the lawn. I like it looking neat an tidy.

Accross the street is a farm field (row crops). I keep the ROW mowed there too so I don't have to look at the scraggly weeds. Tried to talk the farmer into tilling it up and letting me plant grass. He did not want to get that close to the road or the poles. My tiller is too wide it would take out part of his planted field. Spraying 24D or something also will be a no go over there. So I just keep it mowed down so I do not have to look at the ugly weeds.