 and welcome to Hawaii, the state of clean energy. I'm with you and your host and our sponsor is the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. I'm really pleased to welcome my guest today, Desiree Page, Hawaiian Electric System Arborist. We're gonna be talking today about HECO's vegetation management program and how it protects the grid. So welcome to the show Desiree. Thanks for having me. I have a quick question to get going on this thing just to get us into it. So first of all, for those of us out there in the public, what is an arborist and what do you do for Hawaiian Electric? So an arborist generally speaking is anybody that works with trees. In the industry, we try to keep it professional and try to reserve the term for people who work with trees that seek higher education and strive for a more professional work environment. But ultimately, anybody who works with trees technically is an arborist and yeah, what I do with Hawaiian Electric as a system arborist is I help oversee the contractors who are in charge of our line clearance and the actual operations of vegetation management. We respond to customer calls and inspections on outages. Whenever there's an outage that seems to have been caused by vegetation, we take a look through a little investigation and read up a report as to what happened and why. So we can find where improvements can be made. Okay, so you set us a slide deck full of pictures of trees. Yes. This is really good. So I thought we'd run through the slide deck and highlight the major points about the vegetation management plan for ECO. So our Hawaiian Electric as they call themselves now. So why don't we start off with slide one and we'll quickly go to slide two and you're away. Yeah. What are we seeing here? So let's see. Vegetation management supports reliable delivery of energy by maintaining the vegetation within our easements to keep it clear of the equipment. We have Hawaiian Electric has, I think, nearly 1,600 miles of overhead lines on a Wahoo alone. 900 of those line miles are distribution, which are the ones that feed the customers. So that's the guys you're seeing in that slide are typically doing distribution work through the lines along the road. Let's see. Depending on the area, there's anywhere from 12 to 20% vegetation coverage that we need to maintain on those 900 line miles. There's around 700 miles of transmission and sub-transmission lines as well. A lot of that is in the mountains, rural areas and within the forest. So access is an issue, whether it can be really an issue. But the vegetation coverage in those areas that needs to be maintained is anywhere from 32 to 78%, depending on where it's at. So currently, the Ashland Tree experts are the sole provider of our routine maintenance contract, which is the routine maintenance is pretty much everything that's not a capital improvement. We try to take a preventative approach to routine maintenance of our distribution lines, trying to keep all the circuits on a pruning cycle of anywhere from 18 months to two years in length. We're hoping to finish 600 of the 900 distribution miles by the end of 2021, which is kind of a tall order. And now that the rainy season is about to start, we'll see, you know, it's all weather-depending. It can really affect the flow. The transmission and sub-transmission lines have to, we have to approach those a little differently. The areas tend to have larger easements, which allows us to get wider clearance. So they tend to be on a three to five year maintenance schedule. But a lot of the pruning that we do is more reactive in those areas or as needed. So what kind of technology do you use? Like helicopters, drones, drive-bys, all of the above? We do, yeah. So, well, I guess I should explain. We have 21 of our, we have 21 line clearance crews. These are guys, the guys trimming, they're using bucket trucks or climbing to get the work done. We, as far as scoping goes, so we have four or five guys that are, I say guys, but we have four or five people that are designated for scoping. And a lot of that for the right-of-way or transmission areas is actually done with drone or helicopter. So as far as the actual maintenance of the vegetation, though, we don't use a lot. There are some really cool videos. You can see online of areas on the mainland where they use helicopters with basically saws hanging. And they, yeah, it's crazy, but our wind patterns and the valleys and just the shape of the co-allows in general, it's just not safe here. They're also typically doing that on trees that are like conifers with a straight up and down structure and just very thin branches coming out. Here we have these giant monkey pod-shaped trees and it's just not feasible. But yeah. Let's go to our next slide, number slide three. So what are we seeing here? I see guys and trees. Yeah, yeah, those are climbing crews. So a lot of the right-of-way work is kind of far off the grid. I mean, it'll have, we'll have roads most of the time. They're not normally finished, but some of these areas, they have to hike to get to their jobs. So there's, needless to say, there's not equipment access for bucket trucks and whatnot. So these crews are our climbing crews. And yeah, they're out in the rainforest with all the insects and mosquitoes and sweating and climbing all day and just banging it out and doing a fantastic job. So do you ever get to climb a tree? I actually started climbing trees when I was 17. My dad's an arborist and I started working with him when I was probably 14 and I've been in the industry ever since. I started climbing when I was 17 and after graduating college, I started as a basically a contract climber where I went with different landscape or three companies that needed somebody to climb because they didn't have one and helped them out for a while until I moved to Hawaii. And yeah, and in that, the first job I got in Hawaii, I actually climbed pretty regularly. I was operations management. So, you know, job's gotta get done. And if somebody calls in six, then put me in coach. So yeah, but once I took the job with Hiko, that was the end of my climbing phase. Oh, okay. So now you're pushing it best. Let's go on to the next slide and show us, tell us what we're saying here. Okay. So vegetation management, a lot of what is obvious that we do to the public is gonna be tree trimming. And in most situations, the trees that we are pruning are not Hawaiian electric property. They're growing around Hawaiian electric property, but we have no rights to do anything to that tree that is above and beyond what we need to do to protect the grid. So, you know, trees also, I'm sure you know, actually I've watched several of your episodes, trees provide a lot to the environment and they're just as important as electricity. So we try to find a balance between what's, and this is what all of urban forest management is about, finding a balance between what's good for the trees and what works for the people that live with them. So what you're seeing here is what we call, on the left side is the beginnings of a through pruning where we are just straining the tree to grow around the line and keep it clear. Whereas on the right side is what is called side trimming that other option wasn't available. So we just have to kind of maintain that distance along the way. Okay, let's look at the next slide. I think it also illustrates that. It does, yeah. There you go. Yeah, so that's a before and after of a side trim. Unfortunately, not unfortunately, actually it's a beautiful thing that trees are capable of this, but trees put leaves where they need them and trees know where they need leaves by where sunlight touches them. So when you side trim the way we have to here, leave it bare, it looks nice. We make proper cuts in accordance with ANSI standards, ISA standards, but the tree had leaves there because it needed it there. So what you'll see in the next slide is the trees respond. They will... Next slide, there you go. Yep, there it is. When you have to bare the side of the tree that way, if the root system has enough energy stored to replace it quickly, it will and it'll flush right back out like that. So trees planted too closely to the lines are a constant battle. And like I mentioned, we have the 18 to two year, 18 months of two year pruning cycle. And that's really the best we can do. Take manpower and we have budgets. So, you know, there's a lot of trees on the island. So that's when we run into situations where trees are planted too close, sometimes you know that they're not gonna hold full cycle. And that can be a real issue because, you know, it can lead to power outages, it can lead to fire in some places. Luckily, Hawaii not so likely, but power outages definitely. And yeah, yeah. So we have some challenges with trees planted too close to the line until we're able to directionally prune them and train them around it with that grow back in where the sun is hitting the trunk. Also some trees are susceptible to sunsculls. So when you have to shave them like that, it can cause damage to the trunk. So. All right. So what's your advice to private property owners who are wanting to put a tree on their property? Right tree, right place. Right tree, right place. So there is a during Arbor Day, there's a tree giveaways all around the island and those are something that's helped by the Ka'ulunani Council and there's several different nurseries that will grow trees to give away on Arbor Day. And if you, I strongly recommend if you're looking for a tree to try to pick one up during Arbor Day. And we there are typically certified arborists there to talk to you about the tree and help you pick the right tree. There are other tools. I did not mention this to you before but it might be something that you would want to put into the description. There's a really powerful tool made by Cal Poly called Select Tree. And you can actually search for a tree based off of the environment that you plan on putting it in and some of the characteristics that you would favor like you want a small tree. And then it will fit out a bunch of trees that would work under those circumstances and it will tell you if they are line friendly, if they are an invasive species or if they would be really bad around lines. So that's really, really powerful. But we say in the industry, right tree, right place. Best case scenario, don't plant trees by power line. But understanding that space is limited here in Hawaii, just find the right tree. Okay, so let's look at the next slide. This looks like a real challenge. Yeah, this is fun. So this is actually, these pictures were provided by Rich Walinsky who is my colleague on Big Island. We have four certified arborists working at Hawaiian Electric on Wahoo. And we have Rich Walinsky is a forester who works on with Helco. So this situation, the story was they, this is a, this black pipe that you see is a conduit of some type. And I may be wrong about that, but basically it's transferring energy from one of their hydroelectric facilities. And they had to do an inspection on it, they being a different portion of the company to make sure that it was intact and they couldn't find it. And this, the photo on the bottom left, the photo on the bottom left is it covered completely in vines, completely in vines. So the second photo on the bottom, the bottom middle is as they started to clear it out. And then the bottom right is after they had finished the job. But yeah, it's not just tree trimming and fast growing species include vines as well as a couple of different tree species that mostly vines and alms tend to be an issue too. Okay. Let's go to the next slide. That's amazing. They didn't know where the line was. Yeah. So what are we seeing here? This is fun. We term trees vegetation management, you know, around the grid. Sometimes vegetation takes over the grid and like we saw in Richard's pictures that this is actually several fun photos of trees growing out of the poles. So the one on the right is my favorite. It must have seeded and grown off the top there. And then the other two to the left are what are called strangler figs. And I'm not sure how they're deposited. I'm guessing birds, birds deposit seeds there in the way they do. And they just kind of grow and wrap around the pole and sometimes through the pole and yeah, wreak havoc. So the next slide is probably, you know, storm damage and that must be a really busy talk for you when we have a current hurricane rocketing through. It is. We've been lucky, right? We've dodged hurricanes on Oahu so far for years, but strong winds are strong winds. And, you know, under regular circumstances, under normal weather conditions, trees don't just fall over. And that's something I really urge people to try to repeat and really embrace that concept that just because a tree is big doesn't mean it's a danger. Trees don't fail unless there is some sort of structural defect in the roots, whether you can see it or not, but there's got to be some sort of a structural defect that leads to its failure. But in strong winds and hurricanes, you know, all bets are off, you know, and it's hard to tell what's gonna fall. Like your neighbor's mailbox is just as much a threat to the line as the tree standing right next to it. So, but what we're seeing here is that, yeah, some emergency work. I actually ran some numbers last night just to see how we were doing in 2021. So I could share it with you. And so far we've had almost 100 emergency calls. Some of those tend to be misplaced. So I've filtered some out and the ones I know for sure are not, you know, a little overreactive. It has been about 45 emergency calls mostly at night, mostly right after rain. And typically it's large branch failure or sometimes trees uproot. So as we, you know, we're in the hurricane season now. So what kind of tips should property owners follow as we have to be maybe more proactive than waiting for the tree to actually fall across the line? What would you advise property owners to do? So, you know, it doesn't, this answer is always, I think, a little anticlimactic for people because once we hit hurricane season, once the calls start coming or, you know, we know they're coming, it's really too late to do anything. Your best bet, and this is what we try to do with our routine maintenance is preventative care. You know, take care of your trees. So, you know, take care of the trees that live on your property, you know, you're sharing space with them and try to keep them in a condition where they're not a threat. That means regular dead wooding and, you know, having an arborist come out every couple of few years, maybe just to look at it and give you a risk assessment and determine if there is anything about it that might be concerning if winds were to get too strong. And if you do it that way, a lot of times you can avoid, you know, a whole tree removal just because somebody's afraid, you know, like you get to know your tree better when you talk with arborists and you take a more active approach to carrying for the tree. That being said, when, no matter what you do, when, when, when, when forces exceed anything that the tree's ever experienced before, there's no telling what's gonna break. You know, there's no way to know which tree will stand and which one won't because it's not, a lot of times it's not about a defect. And if it is about a defect, a lot of times it's about one you didn't see. So short of just removing the obvious problems like deadwood and structurally damaged branches, you know, there's not too much you can do. In the past people used to, I mean, people still do, but in the past arborists believed it was beneficial to thin out the canopy. And by thinning out the canopy, the idea was that you would reduce wind sale. And wind sale is the phenomenon of, as it sounds, of, you know, having a large canopy creates a wider sale to catch the wind and therefore put pressure on the trunks and make whole tree failure more likely. But there's been studies and it's been recreated. And it turns out that every leaf, twig and branch on that tree is actually serving a function of dissipating the forces of those winds. As the wind goes through it and the branches jiggle and the leaves shake, it is softening the blow that the trunk feels. So when you thin them out, and a lot of times here in Hawaii, we don't just thin them out, we raise them up, you know? But sometimes to the point where they're lion-tailed and they're just very top-heavy and there's just dead, like naked branches down to there. Turns out that's counter-intuitive and it's actually exposing the trunk to more force than it would have faced had you left all those branches on there. So yeah, I guess it is very interesting, but I guess the point is you can't, preventative all you can do is just take good care of your trees, that's the best. So when you're working near a power line and you're bringing in other arborists that are specifically qualified to work near power lines. Yes, so there is a term we use and Osha uses called lying clearance qualified. And there's not a license, there's not a certificate that deems you qualified. The company itself actually deems itself qualified, but in order for them to be qualified, you have to, I'm sorry, I can't remember all the specifics of what they need to do, but you need to have regular training on electrical hazards. There's e-hap certificates that they would have to keep up to date. Their equipment has to be tested regularly, dielectric testing to make sure that it's not conductive and that all the protections are in place to prevent electricity finding its way to ground through your bucket tracks. And things like that. So yeah, if you are meeting a tree pruned and it's near your power lines, always hire a lying clearance qualified arborist. That being said, we only work with two. So Davey Tree and Asplend Tree experts are the ones we know for sure are qualified for lying clearance. The Aloha Arborist Association does make recommendations on arborists in your area for specific jobs or specific needs you might have. So they'd be somebody to reach out to if you were looking for other companies. You're the president of that organization. I am, I am the president. Yeah, little secret plug there. But it is, that's something that our admin keeps up with and it is a really great resource. Other than that though, if a company tells you that they're qualified for lying clearance, there's really no way to prove that they aren't. So your best bet is, and this goes for not just lying clearance, but any time you hire an arborist, get proof of insurance. It takes nothing for them to get a certificate of insurance with your property listed as additional insured and you should always request that. And you wanna see that they are, if they have workers, you wanna see that they also have workman's compensation. Because God forbid something happens and somebody gets hurt, at least you'd be protected from being held liable in those two cases if they have insurance and workman's compensation. But if you go with a lying qualified arborist, hopefully nobody gets hurt and that's the big point. So as a homeowner, you shouldn't cheap out and try to do it yourself if you're working by the power line. Yeah, I mean, I've had, I've heard people say some really frightening things and I understand the mentality, you know. Sure, save a few dollars. Yeah, and there's this concept that, you know, it's outside, I mow my grass so I can trim my tree. There's a lot of things that you have to pay attention to when you're working with trees that you're most of the time you're looking up in the air and it's very stressful and there's things you're not going to think of. There's things you're not going to be spatially aware of and the chances of something that you think is way over here falling and hitting a line that you thought was completely clear are much more likely when you're not doing that work every day. Also people, I see all the time I hear people say, well, I just trimmed the side that wasn't touching the line. That's not how electricity works. So if any part of the tree is touching the line, there is a possibility that the, not just the entire tree is live but also the ground that the tree is in. So you standing on the ground could possibly be affected by the electric current. So your homeowner's out there, pay attention. Yeah, just call, just call. You know, that's the good thing. I'm gonna say, I'm sorry to catch you off but always call Hawaiian Electric. If you have a tree near the lines, we will come look and we're happy to give you advice. If it's not something we will handle but a lot of situations that people think they need to take care of, maybe something that we take care of and we might already be in the area. So it's good to, it's a free service. It's good to get some eyes on it. Free fruit? Yeah, yeah. Consultation, free consultation. Okay. But yeah, you know, get eyes on it so that we can tell you like, yes, this is a scary situation. Yes, it's something you should do quickly. I wouldn't worry about it. You could wait, there's, yeah. Okay, so this leads into this great slide, the next slide, which we all got to laugh about before we went on the show. Yeah, it's not funny. It's not funny. It's not funny for two reasons. Somebody lost a tree. And also a lot of people were out of power for hours. And hours. That's not funny. Yeah, it is, but it is kind of funny. It's funny because, well, it's ironic because our- Funny strange, let's put it that way. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm trying, I keep wanting to point at the thing. I know that you can't see what I'm pointing at, but on the right side photo, you can see a white truck in the background. And that's actually a foreman. One of our crew foremen who just happened, this is in Wahiwa and they have a park and a bathroom or restroom right next to that substation. And he just happened to stop there to use the restroom and witness this tree just fall into the substation. It ended up being termite damage is what caused it to fall. And it was behind a homeowner's privacy fence. So there's no way it could have ever been inspected by anybody with the Hawaiian electric. So, yeah, the things you see. Well, we're almost out of time, believe it or not. We're down to about our last minute. I would like- So are there, there's about three or four slides left. So is there any one of those slides that is particular? Yeah, yeah. I would like cut to the second to last slide real quick. And I will quickly preface that one of the larger issues that we have on the island is bamboo near our power lines. And people are very attracted to it and do not let us cut it back as far as we need to. Now click to the next slide, please. This is a family who has a large patch of bamboo right against transmission lines, which are 138 kilovolts in their backyard. If you touch the left side, that is a video and you can press play. A very alarming video of what happens when bamboo makes contact with lines and it just lifts the whole house up. It was a security camera footage. It was just like boom, boom, boom. And just over and over again because it's a transmission line so they don't just fail. They keep trying to turn back on and every time they turn back on, they explode again and yeah, pretty striking stuff. Well. Bamboo away from power line, right here, right there. Well, on that happy note, this is a wrap and today we've had the pleasure of talking to Desiree Page and being informed on the HECO Vegetation Management Plan. So thank you so much for coming out to Desiree and showing us these wonderful pictures and giving us all this great insight to keep us all safe and to keep the lights on so that we can keep our internet going especially from those of us who work from home these days. Yeah, that's me too. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It was nice meeting you. Nice meeting you too. So this is Mitchie Yuen signing off. We'll be back in two weeks for another show on Hawaii, The State of Clean Energy. So aloha everyone.