Homeowners along Front Street west of Reno are used to seeing all sorts of birds and wildlife across their backyards to the Truckee River. But a letter from NV Energy this week has some asking questions.
"I've lived here for 12 years now," said Craig Libler, a resident of the area. "We see birds nesting here, all sorts of wildlife, hawks fly in these trees, we've seen an eagle and last week we saw a Great Horned Owl. They are huge!. And when I got this letter last week I had to call and ask some questions."Â
He says he was told that the trees marked with an orange x were coming out because they were a threat to the high-voltage transmission lines there.Â
"So I came out and looked and that was pretty much every one of them!" Libler says.
"There are about 58 units that include some brush but mostly cottonwood varieties that we have to get rid of because of safety" said Mark Young with NV Energy. "They do offer a benefit to the wildlife, I get that. And I get the visual benefit too. But the fact is that we've trimmed them in the past and they need to come out. They threaten the lines. And they are a safety concern for crews that need to get to those lines and those poles."
And the land is a legal easement owned by NV Energy.
Libler says he's talked with other neighbors there, some thinking that the clean up will include the brush in the area as well, which is also considered a fuel for any future fires there. Young says it's more the trees that they are concerned with and that trimming them is not enough.
NV Energy crews plan to begin removing the trees next week.Â
