In today’s episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Nick and Steve are joined by industry thought leader Eric Brown, Manager of Grid Assets for Electric T&D Vegetation Management at Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). Eric shares the serendipitous story of how he was first introduced to a career in the UVM field—right in a parking lot! Reflecting on his time at PG&E in various roles, Eric highlights the invaluable insights he gained from colleagues, peers, and consultants....

In this episode, Nick and Steve have the privilege of hosting Tim Walsh, a key member of the UVM industry with decades of  experience and a passionate advocate for safety. Tim, a former president of the UAA and current VP of Health and Safety at Davey Tree Company, kicks off the conversation by shedding light on the various committees available for UAA members to join and actively engage with the organization. Highlighting Trees and Utilities as the premier event in the UVM industry, Tim...

In an engaging podcast episode, Nick and Steve are joined by Jeremy Hayward, a member of the Redding Rancheria nation and President of the Redding Rancheria Economic Development Corporation (REDDCO). Jeremy also represents and speaks about the Native American owned UVM company, Essential Vegetation Management Services (EVMS). Jeremy delves into the rich tapestry of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), a treasure trove of indigenous communities' wisdom, practices, and beliefs that revolves...

Part 2 In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Steve and Nick are joined by guest Madelyn Anderson, Senior Policy Officer of the Powerline Bushfire Safety Program at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action in Victoria, Australia. The conversation covers a range of topics related to UVM, risk reduction, and powerline-related wildfires in the State of Victoria. Madelyn introduces herself and discusses her involvement with policy design after significant bushfire events in...

In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Steve and Nick are joined by guest Madelyn Anderson, Senior Policy Officer of the Powerline Bushfire Safety Program at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action in Victoria, Australia. The conversation covers a range of topics related to UVM, risk reduction, and powerline-related wildfires in the State of Victoria. Madelyn introduces herself and discusses her involvement with policy design after significant bushfire events in Australia....

In this podcast interview, Nick and Steve, hosts of The UVM Podcast, interview Dan Gent, Director of Transmission and Reliability at Electricity Canada, a national forum and voice of the evolving and innovative electricity business in Canada. Dan explains his background and role at Electricity Canada, working within a trade association to represent its members to broader stakeholder groups such as the federal government and other regulatory organizations. He discusses the importance of...

In the aftermath of the 2003 tree related blackouts, North America and Europe responded differently to the issue of regulating their electricity grids. North America adopted a highly regulated approach with clear standards and enforcement mechanisms, resulting in fewer large-scale blackouts. Meanwhile, Europe struggled with a lack of centralized regulation and cross-border enforcement mechanisms, leading to disparities in UVM programs, but greater flexibility in adopting new, greener...

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) is revolutionizing the way we manage vegetation around power lines, and the benefits are nothing short of impressive. AI is capable of processing and analyzing vast amounts of data collected from advanced remote sensing technologies like drones, LiDAR, and satellites. This analysis helps to identify potential vegetation risks and prioritize areas that require immediate attention, allowing utility...

In this episode we discuss the “the demarcation issue” with Larry Kahn, the Distinguished Research Fellow at Tulane Law School’s UVMI. This is the second episode, in a planned series of discussions with Larry, where we hope to raise issues worthy of consideration and debate in the UVM industry.  During this episode Larry, Steve and Nick explain and discuss the demarcation issue and present ideas to reduce outages, fires and accidents. As with the Rule of 70 episode, this is an important to...

What is the cradle to grave asset lifecycle, and how do different forms of remote sensing come into play? Is satellite the ‘silver bullet’ of the remote sensing world that will entirely replace LiDAR or is the picture more nuanced than that?  Steve and Nick are joined by Subject Matter Experts from LiveEO (Tony Palizzi), NV5 Geospatial (Jacob Hall) and Planet (Paulina Zubatov) to unpack the asset life cycle and examine, through a remote sensing lens, how geospatial technology can support each...

In this episode we discuss the “Rule of 70” with Larry Kahn, the Distinguished Research Fellow at Tulane Law School’s UVMI. This is the first episode, in a planned series of discussions with Larry, where we hope to raise issues worthy of consideration and debate in the UVM industry.  During this episode Larry, Steve and Nick explain what the Rule of 70s is and why it may be one of the most important metrics a Utility Arborist needs to track.  We hope that you find this episode of The UVM...

In this episode (and at the suggestion of one of our subscribers- thanks Eric Owens at CNUC!) we interview Lewis Payne from the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the largest state-owned utility in the United States. Lewis (Lew) Payne is the Manager ROW/Environmental and a well-respected 30+ year veteran in the Transmission UVM industry.  During this thoughtful discussion, Lew discusses his work on a variety of topics ranging from pollinator habitat and IVM, to the way the transmission industry...

In this episode we interview Eliecer Viamontes, the recently appointed President and CEO of Entergy Texas. Entergy serves about 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and they are no strangers to Utility Vegetation Management or the implications of tree and power line conflicts.  During this inspiring discussion Eliecer not only outlines current priorities and accomplishments of Entergy Texas, he talks about his own background and experiences in running UVM...

In this episode we interview Steve Martin from Powerlink Queensland. Steve is the Senior Strategist for Land, Research and Development for Powerlink and works out of the greater Brisbane area of Australia.   During this lively down-under discussion, Steve and the podcast hosts discuss a wide array of issues ranging from animal grazing on transmission ROWs to managing our UVM workloads as an asset - not a liability. It is also another episode where “the tyranny of distance” plays a role in UVM...

In this episode we interview Teri French, Vice President, Forestry Services, and Patrick Howe, Vegetation Management Front Line Manager at Hydro One. In this thoughtful discussion, Teri and Patrick talk about running an in-house UVM program in Canada’s most populous province, Ontario. Hydro One is a utility that is committed to operating safely in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.  During this discussion we cover several topics including: Hydro One’s unique and...

In this episode we interview Matt Palmer, Vegetation Specialist - Standards, at Ergon Energy Network and Energex, part of the Energy Queensland group.   Ergon Energy Network and Energex are distribution service providers that together deliver approximately 35,000 GWh of electricity right across Queensland to around 2.3 million customers. The network consists of more than 178,000 km of overhead powerlines and 29,000 km of underground power cables.  During this discussion we cover several...

In this episode we interview Professor Richard Hauer from the College of Natural Resources at The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point (UWSP). An academic institution known by many of our listeners, UWSP continues to be a source of education and research to the UVM industry.    During this thoughtful discussion, Professor Hauer discusses his work on a recent report he published about Utility Vegetation Management in North America. The report was based on a 2019 utility forestry census of...

Centre for Energy Advancement through Technological Innovation (CEATI) This episode features an interview with Rob Young, Executive Director of the Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia, and Technical Advisor to the research organization CEATI. Rob spent over 25 years developing and leading Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) programs at Nova Scotia Power for 5,500 km of transmission and 27,000 km of distribution lines.  In this interview, we discuss the research...

** 1 CEU credit from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) is available to Utility Arborist Association members. Complete the questionnaire on the UAA website here. ** In this episode we interview Randy Gimple, a founding partner of Carlson, Calladine & Peterson LLP, a litigation firm in San Francisco, California. Over his 34 years in the practice, he has handled hundreds of catastrophic and mass tort cases involving wildfires, explosions, floods and various other calamities....

** 0.5 CEU credit from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) available to Utility Arborist Association members. Complete the questionnaire on the UAA website here. ** This episode features an interview is with a Professional Engineer, Otto Lynch, President & CEO of Power Line Systems. Conductors can move during the course of a day under different electrical loading and weather scenarios, a phenomenon known as sag and sway, which is not always well understood. Sag and sway can...

In this episode we interview David Bayard, the Vegetation Manager at Seattle City Light, the 10th largest publicly owned utility in the United States. With a job that includes oversight and involvement with both UVM and the municipal/urban forest, David provides insights into what some have wrongly considered to be competing interests. During this thoughtful, and at times philosophic interview, we discuss a range of topical issues including: How an English Literature major moves from prose to...

In this episode we interview Sven Przywarra, Co-Founder of LiveEO, to discuss satellite remote sensing for Utility Vegetation Management. In recent years, the privatization of space and a reduction in the costs of accessing space has led to a proliferation in the number of earth observation satellites and the capabilities of these constellations. This raises the question of whether the T&D industry, and in particular the vegetation management community, can benefit from the technology....

This episode includes a short round up from the Trees and Utilities conference in Minneapolis followed by an in-depth interview with our first Australian guest, Heath Frewin, Manager Strategy - Vegetation at Essential Energy. Essential Energy is one of Australia’s largest networks delivering electricity to a staggering 95% of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, including some 865,000 homes and businesses. The service territory is a whopping 737,000 square kilometers, from the...

Liberty Utilities is an operating company of Algonquin Power, serving over 1 million customers across 13 US States and 1 Canadian Province with some $6.8BN in regulated utility assets.  On this episode, our guest is Jason Grossman, Manager - Vegetation Management at Liberty Utilities (Missouri). In this discussion, Jason will cover:  How he got started in Utility Vegetation ManagementThe impact of ice storms on the grid and the role of vegetation management in response effortsThe role of the...