Power play: HCT volunteers help effort to reduce herbicide use under utility lines

Unless you are able to live by candlelight, churn your own butter and cook food with fire, we all need power.

For most of us on Cape Cod, that spark comes from Eversource, the largest energy company in New England. The power comes to our homes via transmission lines that stretch for thousands of miles along rights-of-way throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

It’s important to keep those utility easements clear of encroaching vegetation, and that’s where Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) volunteers come in.

Wielding loppers and good cheer, a crew of clipping comrades recently assembled in the Eversource right-of-way next to HCT’s Pleasant Bay Woodlands, and, like environmental barbers, gave the area a good trim.

In an effort to reduce herbicide use beneath electric lines, Eversource has partnered with HCT to keep vegetation at a low height as an eco-friendly way of maintaining access. “Our role is cutting any species that will grow over 15 feet tall,” said Connor O’Brien, HCT’s Director of Land Stewardship.

Bonus berries

As we ambled out to the work area, a great discovery was made: blueberries were everywhere! Thus began a series of snack breaks that would run through the proceedings, eventually augmented by blackberries. Hard work takes fuel, and the fruity plenty of a Cape summer is the perfect energy food.

There are other joys to an HCT volunteer work party. Camaraderie, conversation and natural beauty top that list, and it’s a real variety pack.

We talked about the plot similarities between the novel “Watership Down” and the epic poem “The Odyssey,” learned that the co-founder of the Friendly’s Ice Cream Company built a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home in Somers, Connecticut, then marveled at a somewhat rare clasping milkweed, standing tall in the right-of-way.

If this kind of enriching adventure sounds like fun, consider becoming an HCT volunteer. We have a ton of cool opportunities available, including trail maintenance, wildlife habitat enhancement, bird nest box monitoring, office operations, citizen science projects and more. Click here to fill out our volunteer interest survey and we’ll be in touch!

Why it’s important to keep utility rights-of-way clear

According to Eversource, encroaching vegetation can interfere with electric service by falling into the power system’s conductors. It can also inhibit access for maintenance and inspection, and possibly ignite wildfires.

One of their vegetation management goals is “to encourage stable early successional ecological communities of primarily low growing plant communities to allow access for maintenance and inspections and ultimately reduce the amount of herbicide over time.”

We saw that initiative in play in the easement next to Pleasant Bay Woodlands, which O’Brien described as a sandplain heathland habitat.

Pleasant Bay Woodlands was established in 2013 when HCT supporters chipped in $3.6 million to help save the 50 acres of woodland, meadow, and vernal pools (plus a dash of Atlantic white cedar wetland) from a 38-lot subdivision. It had been the largest undeveloped property in the 21,000-acre Pleasant Bay watershed. The Eversource utility line easement of low growing shrubs and grasses crosses the property’s western boundary.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, “sandplain heathlands are disturbance-dependent communities occurring on sandy/gravelly outwash plains and moraines near the coast. Plant cover in these nearly treeless shrublands ranges from nearly continuous to sparse with bare soil or lichen between clumps of plants.”

While this habitat does occur naturally, it increased in size in our region through land clearing, grazing and fires when European settlers entered the picture. That kind of activity has slowed, and without regular disturbances, the forest can make a move to reclaim the space. “As forest progression continues, you get these early successional tree species like pitch pine or cherry,” said O’Brien.

To maintain the areas under power lines, under state regulations Eversource uses mechanical controls like periodic mowing, pruning and tree removals, combined with periodic use of herbicides, mainly applied by hand-operated pumps or backpack sprayers.

HCT’s green team hopes that by lending a helpful hand the utility company’s herbicide use will continue to decline and not be needed someday.

It’s good to know that HCT volunteers are doing their part to help reduce herbicide use and maintain the sandplain heathland habitat. And despite the giant poles and wires, the utility easement near Pleasant Bay Woodlands is surprisingly beautiful–especially with all the nearby wild blueberries!

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—Your tax-deductible contributions help fulfill the mission of the Harwich Conservation Trust to preserve land that protects woods, water, wildlife and our shared quality of life. And your land-saving financial support helps us preserve beautiful properties that can become stellar trail destinations. Find out how to donate by clicking here.