Keeping Power Reliable Through Right-of-Way Maintenance

When storms hit, members want one thing most: power restored quickly and safely. Right-of-way (ROW) maintenance is one of the most important — and often unseen — ways DEMCO makes that possible.

In this episode of Co-op Conversations with DEMCO, host David Latona talks with Sam Rosso, DEMCO’s Manager of Lands & Right of Way, about how clearing vegetation around poles and lines gives crews the access they need to respond faster after storms. You’ll hear why DEMCO follows a six-year maintenance cycle, how helicopter trimming helps, and what role members play when debris is left behind.

Even though Louisiana weather will always bring down trees and limbs, ROW maintenance reduces risks, improves reliability, and helps restoration efforts move faster and safer when outages do occur.

If you’ve ever wondered why DEMCO trims trees, uses helicopters, or clears paths around lines, this episode explains how those efforts protect your power and keep our crews — and you — safe.

Episode Transcript

David Latona: Welcome to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO, where we talk about topics that impact your power, (00:05):
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your co-op, and your community. I'm your host, David Latona.
Today we're discussing a vital part of keeping your lights on.
It is right-of-way maintenance, the work DEMCO does to help keep thousands of miles of power

(00:27):
lines clear and safe. Joining me is Sam Rosso, DEMCO's manager of lands and right-of-way.
He'll be here to explain what right-of-way is, why vegetation management is necessary,
and how DEMCO uses tools like helicopter trimming to get the job done.

(00:48):
Welcome, Sam.

Sam Rosso: Good to be here, David. Thanks for having me. (00:49):
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David Latona: You bet. I'm excited to have you here today. (00:52):
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I know that DEMCO is very invested in our right-of-way program, and you and your team play such a big
role in keeping the power on year round, helping prevent outages,
keeping our system safe, making sure crews have the access they need when storms do roll around,

(01:13):
when emergencies do happen, when damage to our lines does occur.
Your right-of-way team is very crucial in that success.
So let's just start with, you know, right-of-way is not a common term.
So for our listeners, what exactly is right-of-way?
It's like one word all hyphenated.

Sam Rosso: Right-of-way is strips of land in which DEMCO's transmission and distribution lines are located. (01:33):
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It gives the cooperative a place to build, construct its lines.
It also allows them to operate and maintain those facilities in a safe manner.
And those rights-of-way are often granted in the form of easements.

(01:54):
A lot of times from landowners who are applying for power.

David Latona: Okay, so it's kind of just like it sounds. (01:58):
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It's our right to be on that property.
Not necessarily, we may not own the property, but it's our right to go through that land to serve those members
on our line.

Sam Rosso: That's correct and have the facilities in those locations. (02:11):
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David Latona: So why is that so necessary for the trees and the vegetation to be managed by (02:14):
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DEMCO?

Sam Rosso: Well, as you know, here in south Louisiana, we have a 9 to 10 month growing season. (02:23):
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So vegetation is very challenging to maintain throughout the system.
But maintaining that vegetation reduces the frequency and duration of the outages that the members experience.
It also improves the safety for the public, the DEMCO employees and the contract employees who are working

(02:46):
for the cooperative. And lastly, it ensures that the contract crews can access the lines quickly
during storms and important where time is of the essence when restoration efforts are ongoing,
and it's also necessary to perform maintenance on those facilities that are located within the right-of-way.

David Latona: Yeah. So as I mentioned in that intro, it's thousands of miles of line that DEMCO manages and maintains. (03:06):
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So how does maintenance support the reliability of power?
I know we talk about storms and when there's damage from a tree falling or contact being made,
or even the poles being damaged as well.

(03:26):
But what about just the reliability day to day?

Sam Rosso: Well, here at DEMCO, we provide routine, proactive right-of-way maintenance. (03:30):
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It is one of the largest maintenance expenses for the cooperative.
We utilize this to minimize the amount of vegetation related outages on the system.
This work is ongoing always throughout the year in order for us to be able to provide safe and reliable and affordable power to

(03:54):
our membership.

David Latona: So why is right-of-way maintenance so important to DEMCO? (03:56):
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Sam Rosso: Well, as you know, DEMCO is a rural electric cooperative that was founded in 1938, (04:01):
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and "rural" is a key term there.
Electric cooperatives built lines in places where investor owned utilities and municipalities did not have an interest in
serving. You know that rural landscape often contains rugged terrain and heavily wooded areas,

(04:24):
and that is very challenging to maintain.
It's also a tremendous and laborious and costly effort for the cooperative to maintain these lines,
to minimize outages and keep the public and the crews safe on a daily basis.

David Latona: On top of that, I'm sure our trees and vines and everything that you guys deal with, (04:38):
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it grows a little bit faster here in Louisiana.
So that being said, what kinds of vegetation are the most challenging for your teams?

Sam Rosso: Well, anytime a limb touches the line, a lot of people call that burning. (04:54):
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That can cause intermittent blinks for members.
We also have a lot of dead trees on the system right now from the drought and other environmental factors.
Those, of course, could fall onto the lines.
And we also have, anytime overgrown vegetation blocks access for the crews to restore power or perform maintenance.

(05:17):
Those all contribute to, you know, major issues for the electric cooperative when restoration
efforts and maintenance efforts are ongoing.

David Latona: And I mean, just to reiterate, this is 9,000, over 9,000 miles of line we're talking about. (05:26):
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Miles. So that is quite a crew size.
I know you've got our crews, but then our contract crews that work hand in hand with us on our system.
So how does DEMCO pick what areas are addressed with your right-of-way teams?

Sam Rosso: Well, we have a right-of-way maintenance schedule that we go by. (05:52):
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We try to stick to that schedule, but we're on a six year trimming cycle.
We have 137 distribution circuits that we trim once every six years.
So that's how we base our work. Just based off the tree species that we have here on our system and the duration of the time

(06:13):
period between the trimming cycles.

David Latona: So I know with so many miles of lines, so much area to address, sometimes in between those (06:16):
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cutting cycles, you might have an issue.
I know we get calls from members and they'll say, "Hey, look, this tree is leaning all of a sudden." You know,
this area might have been trimmed last year, but this is a new development with the vegetation.

(06:38):
How do you all address issues like that?

Sam Rosso: Well, we have right away vegetation maintenance crews at each of our district offices. (06:41):
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We have six district offices. And those crews are charged with maintaining those types of vegetation issues that occur in
between trimming cycles, and those are based off a customer request or request that the lineman have turned in when they're
out in the field working. It could be lineman. It could be other service personnel.

(07:04):
It could be right-of-way department employees. Anyone that's out in the field and sees an immediate danger to the line, they'll
create a right-of-way service order, and we will address that as soon as possible.

David Latona: So much is out there, and I know it grows so fast. (07:12):
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You know, we're not a utility that's in an arid region of the country where there's not so much growth.
So the tree and all the vegetative growth that we have here is, it's almost immediate.
Whenever you get this cut cycle, you coming back around to that same cycle to address issues.

(07:34):
So Sam, another question about that is what happens with the debris associated with scheduled mechanical
maintenance work?

Sam Rosso: Well, if we're performing scheduled maintenance work, and that's the work that takes place every six years, (07:44):
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that contractor is responsible for disposing of all of that debris that's associated with that work.
But if it's a customer requests for a dead tree, hazard tree or anything like that,
if it's limbs for trimming, we will chip those limbs.
But if it's a dead tree or a danger tree or anything like that, we do leave that debris on site and the customers are

(08:09):
responsible, or members I should say, are responsible for disposing of that debris.

David Latona: Yeah. And, you know, I see you guys working in the field oftentimes. (08:14):
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But also I've had trees cut in my own yard by a contractor that I hired.
And I know that there is a tremendous cost to make that happen first of all.
But then also you have to pay them to haul that debris off.
And if a company the size of DEMCO is doing that, well now, it's the burden of all of the membership to pay for

(08:40):
that. And that's the reasons why we leave that.
Is that correct?

Sam Rosso: Yes. That's correct. Due to cost, the debris disposal is roughly half of what it costs to have (08:44):
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these maintenance crews out performing this work.
So that means that it would double if we did pick that debris up,
and that cost has to be spread over the membership, and it's just another maintenance cost that we would have to
endure, which all goes into the cost for the members itself.

David Latona: So let's talk about something exciting. (09:05):
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Let's talk about the trimming that you guys contract for with helicopters.

Sam Rosso: Okay. Well yeah, we do that work about once a year. (09:15):
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It ranges anywhere from 15 to 30 miles of it can be transmission or distribution line.
The contract crews that we have to do that type of work specialize in it.
There's a lot of planning that goes into that.
Notification of customers and safety is of utmost importance when that work is ongoing.

(09:39):
The crews have a safety meeting every morning with the helicopter crews.
We have DEMCO line crews on site.
We also have right-of-way contract personnel.
We have multiple meetings sometimes.
Communication is of utmost importance when that work is ongoing to ensure the safety of not only our contract workers.
The aerial saw contract company workers and the general public, and membership as a whole.

David Latona: That's great. And I know that you've mentioned a lot of things during this short time we're together, (10:04):
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but in DEMCO's mission, you know, we're enhancing the quality of life by safely providing reliable
service. And we're keeping those costs down as much as we can.
And you've mentioned some things in just your right-of-way department alone,
where you've addressed all of those.

(10:26):
And I know it's good to hear that safety is certainly involved when you've got a giant helicopter that's trimming limbs
on our system. So, Sam, I know that there are areas of our infrastructure you've talked about that,
they're in rural communities, but the helicopter is not used everywhere.

(10:47):
So how do you guys make the decision on where those helicopters are necessary to make that trimming happen?

Sam Rosso: Yeah, it's only used in landscapes, you know. (10:53):
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That aren't densely populated or in areas where, you know, workspace is limited by a bunch of infrastructure,
houses, businesses or things of that nature.
You know, we do have to safeguard when we are doing that work.
We have to sometimes block off traffic.
We do try to notify all the landowners that will be affected when that work is taking place.

(11:15):
And, you know, we do have to ask the public.
I mean, of course, everybody is interested in seeing what's going on.
You do have a helicopter out there with a large apparatus hanging from it,
cutting trees, so that sparks everyone's interest.
So we have to make sure that we safeguard the public and keep them away at all times,
because it is very dangerous. You know, in the case of an emergency,

(11:35):
the work is dangerous, period, much less having the public involved and their exposure out there as well,
while work is ongoing.

David Latona: Yeah, that's a great point. Again, we're to safely provide that power for our members, (11:42):
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but also the communities, we want to keep them safe as well.
So how is the debris from the helicopter trimming handled?
Is that something different? How does that job work?

Sam Rosso: That is handled a little bit differently. (12:00):
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We do have a mulching company or mulching contractor that comes behind those crews and ships that debris up soon after the work
takes place. That's how all of that debris is disposed of.
And that's a lot of debris, so that's the most feasible way for DEMCO and the membership to dispose of that debris is via
mechanical mulching equipment.

David Latona: Just one more question. How does right-of-way maintenance help with outage response and restoration after storms? (12:21):
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Sam Rosso: Well, it allows you have properly maintained right-of-ways. (12:30):
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It helps those crews get in there safely, especially if that work has to take place at night and ensures
that you know they don't have obstacles that they have to endure to get in to those necessary equipment and facilities that they
need to perform repairs on to get everyone's power put back on in the area or restored in the area.

David Latona: That was a tremendous amount of information, Sam. (12:52):
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I know that what you all do, your team does, it's expensive.
The members are invested in this for that reliable service, but we appreciate the safety that your team places
a high importance on when you're dealing with such equipment.

(13:13):
But that does wrap up today's Co-op Conversations with DEMCO.
Right-of-way maintenance may not always be visible, but it's one of the most important ways DEMCO ensures safe,
reliable, and affordable power to our members.
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
If you liked what you heard, leave us a review and like and share the episode with a friend.

(13:39):
For Sam Rosso, I'm David Latona.
Let's keep the conversation going.