Forestry

Fallen trees and their branches are a primary cause of power outages in New England. Because of this, utilities spend millions of dollars each year on expensive tree pruning and removal programs.

CVPS established its Distribution Forestry Department and instituted a year-round program in 1948 to manage tree and brush growth around CVPS distribution lines, known as right-of-ways.  Our department operates an extensive vegetation management program to reduce tree-related outages. Periodically a tree contractor may come to your property and do maintenance work on your trees.

CVPS's Forestry Department maintains approximately 8,000 miles of power line. Vermont is 90 percent forested. That equates to a whole lot of trees. Our professional team of foresters are working hard to keep your lights on, costs down, and to be good stewards of the environment. Our goals are as follows:

• Maintain a focus on Vegetation Management.  Continue to selectively remove undesirable tree species and maintain healthy compatible trees along the edge of the rights-of-way.
• Maintain a selective herbicide application program to promote desirable low-growing vegetation, reduce future stem density of tall-growing species and increase plant biodiversity.
• Continue to research new technologies and techniques that minimize environmental impacts and reduce long-term cost.

CVPS uses training-qualified utility tree trimmers to perform work. Crews are trained in the latest pruning techniques to maintain healthy trees. The work our tree contracts do is monitored by Certified Utility Arborists who are trained in forestry and arborculture. They have the health of your trees constantly in mind.

A contract tree crew may contact you before beginning work. In some cases, we do not know who owns parcels of land and will perform work without notification. Work is done within the confines of the easement.

CVPS is recognized by the National Arbor Foundation as a "Tree Line USA Utility" using all the best arborcultural practices.