Vegetation Management

Our Vegetation Management Program

Vegetation management plays a critical role in Central Lincoln’s day-to-day operations. Our tree crews regularly rotate throughout our service territory doing visual inspections – looking for branches or limbs that are close to our lines or could potentially fall into our lines during heavy winds and storms. Despite regular tree trimming, vegetation regrowth in our area is extremely fast.

Central Lincoln’s priority is to ensure safe, reliable power to its customers, while also protecting the trees in our beautiful landscape. Because of this, there are several things our vegetation managers consider when deciding the necessary course of action for trimming or removing a tree. These include:

• Safety
• Tree growth rate
• Tree species
• Tree health
• Environmental factors affecting growth
• Proximity of trees to wires
• Power line configuration
• Power line voltage
• Urban versus rural locations and the fire risk potential

There are times when a tree must be removed. These include:

• Tall or fast-growing species directly under power lines that will require frequent trimming.
• Saplings and brush under power lines, which have the potential to grow into the lines.

High-risk or danger trees with the potential to fall into the power lines or other equipment, such as transformers and poles.

Tree-Related Outages

Tree-related outages can occur in any weather, but the strong winds and storms in our service territory wreak havoc. Trees can handle strong winds up to a certain degree being acclimated to coastal weather, but these factors significantly increase the chances of a tree falling and causing issues:

• prolonged heavy rain
• saturated soil
• slides
• a weakened tree root system

Wind gusts over 40 miles per hour can cause trees to fall. We’ve had recorded wind gusts over 100 miles per hour in our service areas. That’s tough for any tree to withstand – healthy or not.

Reporting Tree Issues

Central Lincoln customers can help our crews by reporting potential tree issues. If the tree or branch is creating an immediate safety hazard, please call us at 877-265-3211 to report the situation.

Planned Outages for Tree Trimming

For the safety of our crews and facilities, there may be times when we schedule an outage to trim trees. For planned outages, we let customers know at least 48 hours ahead of time with an automated phone call, unless it’s an emergency. The automated call will state the date, time, reason, and areas we’ll be working in.

Please make sure we have a current phone number on your account. If we do not have a current number, we won’t be able to notify you. To update your account information, call us at 877-265-3211.