Most of us like trees.  Here in New England, we particularly enjoy them during the changing-of-colors Fall foliage season.  Might the price of that appreciation, particularly in our business and residential sections however, simply be too high?  After doing our best to deal with a full two business day power outage here at the Central/Western Massachusetts gateway due to an extremely unusual Halloween weekend Nor’easter, that question arises.

It is widely acknowledged that the cost of taking power lines underground is an exorbitantly priced luxury which still holds drawbacks.  Is it time to consider a much more aggressive approach to what seems to be the primary problem?  This would appear to be our heavily tree lined streets, roads and highways.  Downed tree and limb damage to power, phone and cable lines, as well as personal property, is staggering.  The time and cost involved with recovery is huge.

Though we may love the look, is it time to concede the seemingly obvious?  Major tree pruning and removal operations could be the only real answer.  This too would be another very expensive, involved, and environmentally and aesthetically disturbing, yet perhaps essential, undertaking.