Keeping Our Community & Power Lines Safe
GRU's Vegetation Management Department maintains approximately 650 miles of distribution lines and is required to maintain minimum clearances around all overhead electrical power lines for both the public’s safety and reliable electric service.
The distribution vegetation maintenance program is based on nationally recognized standards of tree care and vegetation management practices and adapted to Gainesville's environment and specific operating concerns. Prioritizing of these lines is based on reliability and visual inspections.
These standards and practices include, but are not limited to the following:
- National Electric Safety Code
- ANSI A300 (Tree care - standard practices)
- ANSI Z133.1 (Tree care - safety practices)
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Shigo - Pruning trees near electrical utility lines
- Shigo - Tree Pruning
- Matheny and Clark - Evaluation of hazardous trees in urban areas
Components of the distribution maintenance program are:
- Routine utility tree pruning
- Selective tree removals based on hazardous conditions
- Selective use of herbicides
- Selective use of tree growth regulators
- Wood chip recycling
- For more information or to submit a request to tree trim, visit our Tree Trimming and Removal page.
Right Tree, Right Place
A healthy community forest begins with planting the right tree in the right place. You can help prevent tree-related outages by following the “right tree, right place” guidelines when selecting and planting trees and caring for your trees properly. More information on planting the right tree in the right place can be found on the Arbor Dy Foundation's "Right Tree, Right Place" page.
Frequently Asked Questions