On the Line
by Mike J. Olberding
Here’s What’s Happening this Fall
I just want to go over some of the things that will be happening in the next few months here at DSO on the operations side. The first part of October if all the leaves are off, DSO linemen will be trimming and cutting trees in the city of Solomon. This will be the fourth cycle of this event. Every two years we trim the trees back in the city of Solomon. This has been a very successful project and we greatly appreciate our members’ support of this effort. Two years ago, we had an 80 mile per hour windstorm that came through two weeks after the trimming took place, but only caused two outages in town. You can’t get any luckier than that! We will put calls out a week in advance to all the members in Solomon on the tree trimming.
We currently have several tree trimming service orders open from all over the service area. But it needs to be said that DSO isn’t a tree removal company. We have a limited budget for tree trimming and tree cutting and do our best to work our way around the system over the course of many years. Of course, if a tree is in the power line, DSO needs to cut it away as soon as possible, but if you have trees that can be safely cut without getting into the power lines, it is your responsibility to hire a tree service or take care of them yourself. DSO spends a lot of time and money on tree control. Piling, chipping, or hauling brush off adds to the costs, so any help we can get from our members would be greatly appreciated.
There will be some right-of-way spraying on the Solomon, Magnolia, and Bennington substations. Much of this work will be basal bark spraying trees, which is an effective method to control most woody plants that are less than six inches in diameter. The herbicide mixture is applied directly to the bark of the individual undesirable plant. This is a very cost-effective way of controlling trees in the power line. We will be sending calls out to members when someone will be in their area.
As you know, trees can really be a big problem when they grow into or too close to power lines. If you are planning to plant trees, please pay close attention to where the power lines are and consider how large the trees may grow. A good rule-of-thumb is to plant trees a minimum of 30 feet away (to the left or right) from any overhead power lines, although some tree species may require a greater distance.
Finally, DSO will be inspecting its underground electric lines at the Crawford metering point west of Salina. We will also be doing underground inspections on the I-135 substation northwest of Salina and on the Solomon substation. DSO will send out notifications to members in these areas when we get started.