NYSEG’s Largest Vegetation Removal Project Informed by Data from Avangrid
Crews will remove overgrown vegetation that has been a major cause of outages along 31 miles of circuits
Part of NYSEG’s commitment to improve reliability for customers, using innovative technology to prioritize work
ONEONTA, N.Y. — October 2, 2025 — New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG’s) largest-ever tree reclamation project, in Arkville in the Company’s Oneonta division, is underway. Crews are currently removing overgrown vegetation that has been a major cause of outages along 31 miles of circuits in this area. This is part of the Company’s commitment to improve reliability for its customers. This work ensures NYSEG can deliver critical power to customers when they need it, decreasing the number of outages.
Work will focus on removing vegetation within the Company’s easements. Arborists will also work to identify and remove danger trees along the circuit. Removing these trees decreases the risk of trees falling on distribution lines, a major cause of outages.
“This work benefits our customers. We have been able to show with data that reclamation, or removal of trees along circuits, has significantly decreased the number of outages in some cases by 50 percent,” said Ashley Wein, manager of NYSEG’s Vegetation Management. “This process will also incorporate these circuits into cycle maintenance.”
NYSEG’s Vegetation Management team worked closely with its parent company Avangrid’s Operational Performance Group, which used data analytics to identify worst-performing circuits and prioritize work.
“Our team provided large quantities of data, including mapping of Arkville and other circuits showing the segments where customers were experiencing the most outages,” said Mark Waclawiak, senior manager of Avangrid’s Operational Performance. “Using this innovative technology ensures improvements to the reliability of the system for customers.”
The goal of reclamation is to incorporate untrimmed circuits into regular cycle maintenance, targeting an average of six years between vegetation maintenance (tree trimming). NYSEG is committed to being a good steward of the environment. The Company will consider different land uses and ecosystems to determine best practices, ensuring lines and wires are free from vegetation encroachment.
“We are very pleased that NYSEG has prioritized our region for its tree trimming and vegetation management initiative. The Central Catskills region has experienced a significant increase in power outages and brush fires due to power lines overgrown with vegetation,” said Town of Middletown Supervisor Glen Faulkner. “Local community leaders and fire departments have consistently advocated for NYSEG to allocate additional resources to address this issue. We hope that NYSEG will expand this program to other areas of our community in the near future.”
NYSEG will continue to monitor the grid for outages caused by trees outside of the maintenance area and remove high-risk trees through the danger tree program.
The project is being broken down into sections, completing work over time. In 2024, approximately nine miles of circuits were completed. An additional 31 miles will be completed in 2025, with the remaining single-phase sections of the circuit expected to be finished in 2026.
Media Contact:
Alexis Arnold