The NY Power Authority protects New Yorkers by managing the electric power grid throughout its life cycle, including ensuring regular repairs and improvements as transmission infrastructure ages. The NY Power Authority transmission team members bring their expertise in advanced transmission technology, design, construction, operations, and maintenance to tackle and resolve issues promptly and efficiently. The NY Power Authority employees are your family, friends, and neighbors, and they work hard to maintain and protect the transmission system New Yorkers rely on every day.

• NYPA Real Estate: Supporting Safe Operations & Maintenance
• Transmission Right-of-Way Vegetation Management Program
• Wood Pole Inspection and Treatment Program
  
  

 

The NY Power Authority has a systemwide Long-Range Transmission Right-of-Way (ROW) Vegetation Management Plan and Program to ensure the physical integrity of its transmission lines and support structures through a program of regular preventive maintenance. It is designed to support the safe and reliable transmission of electric power in an economically, environmentally, and sustainably sound manner. The process of Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) is employed to ensure that tall-growing trees and woody shrubs do not interfere with these critically important electric power transmission facilities.

IVM controls the growth of undesirable species while at the same time promoting desirable low-growing plant species, such as shrubs, herbs, grasses, forbs, and ferns, which enhance wildlife and pollinator habitat.

The NY Power Authority is recognized as a "Right-of-Way Steward Utility" through the accreditation program of the Right-of-Way Stewardship Council. More information can be found on the ROW Stewardship Council website.

Herbicide Notification

Vegetation on the NY Power Authority's Rights-of-Way is controlled by a variety of methods. Research has shown that the lowest cost, long-term control is accomplished through the judicious use of herbicides, either alone or in a combination of mixtures. The objective is the creation of a stable right-of-way plant community that minimizes the need for future maintenance.

Herbicides are used either alone or in combination. All herbicide application methods are used in accordance with label instructions:

• Arsenal Herbicide Applicators Concentrate
• Arsenal Herbicide
• Aquamaster
• Escort XP
• Milestone
• Vastlan

Transmission Environmental Stewardship

The NY Power Authority works to be a good neighbor in the communities surrounding its facilities and transmission lines, and that means being engaged in environmental protection and restoration. The NY Power Authority's planning and projects reflect that commitment, and Power Authority experts regularly engage in habitat and wildlife planning and restoration.

In addition to the work in and near NY Power Authority facilities, the  Power Authority vegetation management program maintains approximately 24,000 acres of right-of-way (ROW) along the paths of our power lines. The program's principal goal is to provide safe and reliable transmission of electric power in an economically and environmentally compatible manner.

The vegetation management strategy that has been adopted by the NY Power Authority is known as integrated vegetation management (IVM). IVM recognizes the full range of financial and societal impacts of ROW management. This approach emphasizes the highly selective use of herbicides to completely remove all tall-growing target species of vegetation from the ROW environs while simultaneously preserving all other low-growing desirable vegetation.

IVM maintains a biodiverse ecosystem, promotes pollinator habitat, establishes an early successional plant community, controls invasive plant species, and preserves cultural resources. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI A300 Part 7) defines IVM as “a system of managing plant communities in which compatible and incompatible vegetation are identified: control methods are evaluated, selected, and applied to achieve management goals and maintenance objectives.” This is a long-term process tailored to the species being managed, existing site conditions, and intended outcomes. The NY Power Authority’s vegetation management practices utilizing IVM include economic viability, environmental stewardship, and social sustainability.

Update “What It Takes..” slide deck: Keep the picture of the forester with the crewman near the equipment. Replace the other two with the three new pics Lou has provided. [SEE ATTACHED]

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Video: Environmental stewardship in action.

Video: Evolution of the Vegetation Management.