Your Trees
Questions about trees on your property?
Our goal is to keep your family safe and connected to the power grid. Sometimes we receive customer requests to prune or remove trees on private property. To provide you with the best service possible and to keep you and your family safe, we focus first on requests for trees that are near dangerous high-voltage power lines. We will also complete tree work near the lower-voltage service lines that connect your home to the main power source.
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BE SAFE
Never attempt to trim or prune trees near power lines. Contact with a power line can be fatal.
Tree Planting Advice
Trees make our communities and properties beautiful. That’s why we’re working together with Landscape New Brunswick to help you choose trees and shrubs which will not interfere with power lines. Choosing the right tree and the best place to plant it will ensure you have a healthy and safe tree that needs little maintenance.
| Some helpful tips: |
|---|
| Never plant any trees or climbing vines directly under power lines or any public utility lines or equipment. Consider smaller, slow-growing shrubs instead. |
| Avoid planting next to buildings, sidewalks, roadways, street lights or signs. |
| Ensure a minimum of half a metre space between the edges of fully grown plants, shrubs or trees and low-level NB Power equipment (transformers, switch-mount cabinets, or tops of underground vaults) to ensure it can be serviced safely. |
| Call before you dig. Some power lines are located just beneath the ground and can cause serious injury. If you are planning to plant, call NB Power at least two days before you start work and someone will visit your site and mark the location of underground lines. Call 1 800 663-6272 for help. |
Planting the right tree in the right place
There are many types of trees that are safe to plant near power lines: Contact the experts at Landscape New Brunswick or your local nursery to be sure you're choosing the right one. They will know how large a plant or tree will reach at maturity and which type of plant is best suited for your needs.
| Site 1: | ||
|---|---|---|
| The area directly beneath the power line and extending 4.5 metres in any direction is reserved for low, slow growing shrubs that will never exceed 4.5 metres in height. Nothing should be planted within 3 metres of poles, guy wires or other structures as this could impede maintenance work and inspections. | ||
Here are a few varieties of shrubs that you can plant in this site: |
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| Burning Bush | Dogwood | Elderberry |
| Forsythia | Honeysuckle | Japanese Yew |
| Junipers (compact and spreading) | Mugho Pine | Privet |
| Purple Leaf | Sandcherry | |
| Site 2: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planting between 4.5 metres and 10.5 metres should be limited to small trees that will not grow higher than 9 metres or any of the shrubs listed in Site 1. | ||
Here are a few varieties of small trees that you can plant in this site: |
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| Amur Maple | Downy Serviceberry | Flowering Crabapple |
| Fruit Trees (dwarf) | Hawthorn | Lilac |
| Mountain Ash | Nannyberry | Russian Olive |
| Saucer Magnolia | Smoketree | Sumac |
| Site 3: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Medium-sized trees may be planted 10.5 metres to 13.5 metres from the centre of the line. This includes trees that grow to a height of 21 metres, or small trees and shrubs listed in Sites 1 and 2. | ||
Here are a few varieties of medium-sized trees that you can plant in this site: |
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| Austrian Pine | Fruit Trees (standard) | Green Ash |
| Honey Locust | Northern catalpa | Norway Maple |
| White Birch | White Cedar | |
| Site 4: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Large trees that may grow more than 21 metres tall should not be planted within 13.5 metres of the power line. | ||
Here are a few varieties of larger-sized trees that you can plant in this site: |
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| Colorado Spruce | Silver Maple | Sugar Maple |
| White Ash | White Pine | White Spruce |
