Expect to see more Southern California Edison (SCE) crews in town trimming trees beginning next week, April 15-19, according to information provided by spokespeople at the Monday, April 8, Malibu City Council meeting.
The first trimming will occur in the Bonsall area of Point Dume, and will move from there toward the west and east.
The program, which SCE refers to as its annual vegetation management plan, has been the subject of controversy, not only in Malibu but across Los Angeles County.
“[It’s] not a new program, not a tree removal program; it’s the same annual compliance program we’ve had in place year to year to year,” Matt Saddler, SCE vegetation management specialist, described at the meeting.
According to SCE, the program has been largely misunderstood by residents who raised passionate complaints about healthy—sometimes lawfully protected—trees being destroyed by the utility company, in what they saw as nothing more than an insurance policy against future fires. According to Edison, the program will run about the same as it does each spring.
“I don’t see a huge increase in numbers; typically we’ve trimmed right around 5,000 trees every year in the city of Malibu,” Saddler said. “I don’t think the number will increase.”
Council Member Mikke Pierson raised a question about the large SCE staging lot located on Stuart Ranch Road below City Hall.
“I’ve never seen such a large lot for tree trimming,” Pierson commented.
SCE government relations manager Rudy Gonzales assured council the lot was for “enhanced overhead inspection work”—not tree trimming.
Council Member Skylar Peak requested SCE begin by trimming trees in Eastern Malibu, where fire danger due to unburned vegetation is cause for heightened fire danger; SCE spokespeople did not confirm they would change their schedule.
Later in the meeting, Pierson mentioned he had received photos from residents, ostensibly showing other areas where trees had been trimmed by Edison.
“They are, admittedly, pretty scary, some of them,” Pierson said.