In an effort to "keep our customers plugged in," DEMCO created this section to discuss the reliability improvements being made to the service area. This section will discuss the reliability improvement plans for the Right-of-Way department and for the engineering department.

Since 1938, DEMCO has been providing safe and reliable service to our customers in seven (7) parishes located in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We have employed various methods and techniques for right-of-way maintenance over the years. Since 1993, however, the DEMCO forestry group has adopted a more professional approach to right-of-way maintenance that includes mechanical tree trimming, selective use of herbicides, and natural control methods.

Maintenance is scheduled and performed on circuit basis with an emphasis on the removal of trees that are located under the conductors and pruning of tree limbs on trees that are located on the side of the conductors. Shortly after the mechanical operation is performed, a follow-up herbicide application is used to control unwanted tree and brush species that pose safety and reliability hazards. Growth of native grasses and wildflowers start to occur in the rights-of-way and begin to naturally compete with unwanted tree and brush species.

This method has provided DEMCO the opportunity to meet our primary objective for right-of-way maintenance - Safe clearances around energized conductors. Our overriding goal of providing safe clearances between vegetation and energized conductors is the reason for our right-of-way program. Safe clearances must not only be achieved at the time of pruning but must be maintained over the length of the cycle (usually 4 to 5 years). While providing safe clearances, we are also able to promote native Louisiana plant communities that provide early successional habitat to many of our wildlife species.

Over the years because of invasive, non-native plants like privet (Ligustrum spp.) and Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum), much of the prairie type habitat has been lost. These plants, as well as other invasive plants, have eliminated many acres that are used by quail and turkey. The loss of this type of habitat is one of the biggest problems facing our southern forests. In Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas, nearly 99% of the acres originally in prairie types have been lost. Through the use of professional vegetation management we are trying to reverse that trend.

In addition to selective herbicide applications, it has been the practice of DEMCO to remove trees that are located directly under the energized conductors that never have a chance to grow and develop naturally. Bernhard Eduard Fernow said, "if any one should ask me what he or she should do to acquire the first practical knowledge of trees, I would answer: go into the woods and observe the behavior of trees with regard to the light conditions under which they grow." Trees in Louisiana grow to reach mature heights in excess of 150 feet. These trees do not naturally shed limbs in the actively growing live crown. Instead, tree limbs that are growing in the shade are naturally shed and replaced with limbs and leaves that can provide maximum photosynthesis. Heavy pruning in trees that are located under the conductors is not good for the tree and not for the forest as a whole. Many people know that trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in a process we call photosynthesis.

In normal forest conditions, the lowest limbs are pruned naturally because they receive the least amount of light and contribute the least to net photosynthate production. Consequently, it is neither good for the tree or the forest to remove the main part of the tree?s live crown. Due to rapid re-growth of trees in response to heavy pruning, trees that are located under the conductors will grow to assume their natural shape. This makes it very difficult to provide proper clearances over the entire pruning cycle. Without proper clearances maintained, trees present an unnecessary climbing hazard for young children and adults.

In addition to the removal program, DEMCO has in place a tree replacement program that promotes the placement of trees outside the limits of the right-of-way. By placing the trees outside the right-of-way they can grow to assume their natural shape with little or no impact to overhead electric lines. This also allows the tree to provide the maximum benefits to our Louisiana forest community. DEMCO promotes native tree replacements such as Florida Maple (Acer barbatum), Parsley Hawthorn (Crataegus marshallii), and Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum). There are many other native varieties that range from small low growing flowers and shrubs to large trees. Please feel free to contact DEMCO directly concerning native tree replacements.

All electric utilities have an obligation to provide safe clearances around trees and energized conductors. In addition to clearances for safety, reliability is becoming more important since the Northeast Blackout in 2003. There were four (4) major causes for the Northeast Blackout, with poor vegetation management representing one of the causes. Professional vegetation management will probably be mandated at the federal level in 2005 on all utilities that are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This is another factor that results in utilities being more proactive in promoting clearances over the entire length of the maintenance cycle.

Please be careful around power lines. Please, never touch a tree that is growing into or near a power line. Also, never plant trees under the power line in the right-of-way. Please feel free to contact a representative of the DEMCO Forestry Group at 261-1221, extension 346 or 654-9356 if you have any questions. We may also be contacted at samr@demco.org or fdabney@demco.org.

Thank you for helping us to provide safe and reliable service while at the same time promoting professional management of the forest resource in Louisiana.