CVPS honored by National Arbor Day Foundation

Central Vermont Public Service has been named a Tree Line USA Utility and winner of the 2011 Tree Line USA Award by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
The award is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters, and recognizes utilities that provide high-quality tree care, annual worker training in tree care and tree planting and public education programs. This is the ninth straight year CVPS has been recognized as a Treeline USA Utility.
‘Utility providers like Central Vermont Public Service are setting a good example about the importance of recognizing the taking of care of a valuable community resource like trees,’ said John Rosenow, the founder of the Arbor Day Foundation.
CVPS is on the cutting edge of forest management in the utility industry, creating practices that have improved reliability and the environment. The CVPS Forestry Department's innovative and cost-effective forestry program has reduced herbicide use by 90 percent, and CVPS was the first utility in the country to replace fossil-based chainsaw oil with oil made from animal fat.
The forestry department at CVPS consists of five certified arborists with degrees in urban forestry, environmental science, forest studies and botany. These employees put environmental policy first, under the belief that sound environmental policy ultimately improves tree health and reduces outage problems.
‘By focusing on the quality and type of trees in our rights-of-way, rather than clear-cutting like most utilities, we have improved biodiversity, plant health and service quality,’ said Duane Dickinson, the systems forester for the company.
CVPS has planted dozens of crabapple orchards in transmission corridors to ease out taller species and reduce the need for cutting, mowing or even selective spraying. The trees selected for this purpose hold their fruit well into the winter, providing an excellent feed source for wild turkeys. As a participant in the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Energy for Wildlife Program, the company also focuses on soil conservation, native plant protection and water-quality in streams, lakes and other bodies along rights-of-way, aesthetics and education.
The company also plots deeryards with GIS, and manages transmission corridors to improve deer habitat by providing good feed and cover.
‘We’re not just forest managers, but stewards of the environment,’ Dickinson said. ‘As a utility, we understand that our work affects the environment, but we strive to incorporate best practices to not only reduce our impacts but actually improve wildlife habitat.’