LIPA Sponsors Planting of Over 11,000 Wire-Friendly Trees on Long Island LIPA Chairman Kessel to Address The New York ReLeaf State Conference of 2006 Uniondale, NY-July 10, 2006- As part of LIPA's ongoing effort to encourage proper forestry practices and ensure a future of safe and reliable electric service, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) is co-sponsoring the 2006 New York ReLeaf State Conference. The Conference will take place on July 13th to July 15th at C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY. LIPA Chairman Richard M. Kessel will address the Conference during the welcoming ceremony as a distinguished guest on Friday July 14th at 8:00AM. Over the course of the year many service outages can result from tree limb contact with overhead electric lines. To mitigate this problem, LIPA has a very effective Forestry Program, which features line clearance (trimming tree branches away from electric wires) and planting smaller, "wire-friendly" trees near electric wires. Not only does this enhance system reliability but it also provides a zone of safety for LIPA's electrical workers. As part of the Forestry program LIPA offers rebates to municipalities and civic organizations to plant "wire-friendly" trees below electric wires. Since May, 1998, LIPA has planted 11,741trees, which resulted in over $300,000 in rebates. New York ReLeaf is a state program promoting management and care of NY State's community trees. It is directed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Division of Lands and Forests with funding supplied through the USDA Forest Service. The goal of New York ReLeaf is to create partnerships among tree professionals, citizen activists and volunteers, educators, government, and the private sector. The annual State Conference brings together these interested parties from all the state's nine regions to share experiences, ideas, and new information. The theme of this year's conference is Community Trees: The Next Generation in America's First Suburb. Over the course of the conference there will be several workshops ranging in topics such as, Wood Decay Fungi; Know Them, Eat Them, but Don't Feed Them! and Mitigating the "Heat Island Effect" in NYC by Planting Trees. There are also two tours planned. Tour 1 will be Long Island Community Forestry Projects and Tour 2 will be to the Planting Fields Arboretum and Bailey Arboretum. There are several other workshops and activities. To get a full itinerary please visit Trees New York Web site at www.treesny.com . For eight consecutive years LIPA has been named a Tree Line USA utility by the National Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters. Recently, LIPA was proud to receive a Citation from Nassau County Executive, Tom Suozzi in recognition for enhancement of our region and the betterment of our residents. LIPA donated man power to restore a 12 acre section of the William Cullen Bryant Preserve in Roslyn. For further information on LIPA's Forestry Programs and how you can make your community "wire-friendly", visit LIPA's Web site at http://www.lipower.org/community/tree/. LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric system, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System (T&D) on Long Island and provides electric service to over 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. In terms of customers served, LIPA is the 3rd largest municipal electric utility in the nation and the 6th largest in terms of electricity delivered. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island electric generating assets. ### LIPA Contact Information: LIPA News Center |
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