Two separate tree-cutting and pruning operations have been underway in town this summer, one by National Grid and the other by the Department of Public Works. Both operations have been carried out “with the tree warden’s blessing,” according to DPW Director Rich Nota.
Tree Warden Christian Bilodeau explained he had gone around town both with Nota and with a National Grid representative to see the trees they had marked for removal or pruning.
DPW crews took down 50 dead trees along roadsides during June, Nota said in a phone call. Most were on Old Schoolhouse, Old Mill, Under Pin Hill, and Bolton roads, as well as parts of Littleton Road. The DPW used $20,000 approved at the 2015 Annual Town Meeting for tree work in fiscal 2016. Those funds had to be spent before June 30 of this year.
Nota said 60 trees had been marked and numbered for removal, but the 2016 money ran out before the last few were done. He will compile a new 60-tree list for this fall, when DPW workers shift from road work to tree work. This work will be paid for with another $20,000, approved by this year’s Annual Town Meeting for use in fiscal 2017. Nota expects to start marking the next batch of trees soon, he said.
While all the DPW work has involved cutting dead trees, National Grid has been working on “high-risk” trees, whether living or dead, Nota said. By high risk, he said, the company means trees along the main power-feed lines coming into town, such as the line from the substation in Ayer, along Ayer Road and up Poor Farm Road.
National Grid is using two crews, one to do full take-downs and another to do standard pruning along power lines. The company’s website says it does routine trimming every five to seven years to keep 10 to 15 feet of clearance between tree limbs and power lines. The company also says it will chip branches in residents’ yards when possible, but will leave wood and brush to decompose if the area is “natural and not actively groomed.”
