San Marcos Electric Utility to begin tree removal, pruning around city

The City of San Marcos Electric Utility will begin tree pruning and removal in the Millview, Springtown and Rio Vista areas on Monday. 

This comes as an effort to improve the safety and reliability of the city’s electrical system. McCoy Tree Surgery is the contractor for the project, which is generally the area bound by the Blanco River, InterstateHighway 35, Post Road and South Guadalupe Street. 

SMEU worked with Citys Urban Forester Kelly Eby to idenfity predominantly non-native hazerdous trees to be removed along with the planned tree pruning to cultivate a long-term approach to scheduled grid maintenance.

“The tree removals will reduce the number of trees required to be pruned during the next cycle and address issues with damaged and hazardous trees,” Eby said in a statement. “This helps the City to maintain a safe distance between the trees and the powerlines, while also fostering a healthy urban forest throughout the SMEU service territory.”

The city said that largely invasive trees are targeted for removal, which includes chinaberry, ligustrum and paper mulberry, which have outgrown native trees in certain areas.

“These non-native trees have weak structures, so they are more likely to cause power outages and safety issues from branch debris during high-wind weather events,” the city said in a press release.

The city has pre-marked trees that will be removed in this area. Tree debris will be recycled into mulch for use by the public and city improvement projects, the city said. 

SMEU has plans for additional tree pruning and removal in other parts of its service territory in the coming years as the city’s budget allows.