Clark Public Utilities tree trimming near power lines

Where Clark Public Utilities trims

Clark Public Utilities is the customer-owned utility that provides electric service to more than 240,000 customers throughout Clark County. Its pages do not list cities one by one (not stated); if your address is in Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, La Center, Yacolt or the unincorporated county and the electric bill says Clark Public Utilities, this page applies. Across the river, Portland is PGE or Pacific Power territory; see the utilities index for the Oregon side.

What Clark Public Utilities trims

The utility’s tree program clears and trims all trees within 10 ft of its overhead power lines, and its request page says it will trim those trees at no charge. Beyond that it lists three free services for homeowners: a tree assessment by a Vegetation Specialist once your request form is processed, a secondary line drop, and a safety trim before your own pruning or removal that opens at least 10 ft of clearance from the energized primary lines.

The pages checked do not publish a trim cycle in years, a response-time target, or a wood-removal policy (not stated).

Clearance distance

The working figure is 10 ft from overhead power lines, both for the routine program and for the safety trim it offers before private work. Under high-voltage transmission lines the utility’s guidance is that trees should be no taller than 10 to 12 ft.

The service line to your house

The utility does not state in words who owns clearance along the secondary service line (not stated), but its free line-drop service answers the question in practice: a serviceman disconnects the pole-to-house line, free of charge, so that you or your contractor can safely trim vegetation that has grown into it. The pruning, the crew and the haul-away are yours to arrange and pay for.

Book the line drop first and schedule the crew for that window; a crew that works near drops regularly will ask for exactly that. Our tree removal near power lines page explains how the job is sequenced and what to ask a crew.

How to request trimming

Use the online Tree Trim Request Form. It asks for the address, whether the tree is on your property, the property owner’s contact if not, which line is affected (transmission, primary, secondary or street light) and a description of the problem. For anything urgent, call 360-992-3000, where the utility says a live representative answers around the clock. Trees that are not near a line are ordinary tree trimming; the tree trimming cost page has modeled Washington ranges.

A tree touching a line right now

Treat the tree and the ground under it as energized. Keep people and pets back, do not let anyone cut, pull or push it, and call 360-992-3000. If the wire is on the ground, on a vehicle, or there is fire or an injury, call 911 first. The utility’s pages do not give a stay-back distance (not stated); other Washington utilities tell customers 30 ft, and that is a sensible floor here too.

A crew can start only after the utility has de-energized or cleared the line. What happens after that, including a tree on the house, is on our emergency tree service page.

Who may work within 10 ft of a line

The utility’s free safety trim fits that rule: it opens 10 ft so a Vancouver or Battle Ground tree service can take the rest of the tree without entering the zone. Check the company’s L&I registration first with our Washington tree service license lookup guide.

Planting under Clark Public Utilities lines

The utility’s two planting pages disagree slightly: the vegetation page says trees that grow to 25 ft or less are appropriate near power lines, while its approved trees list says 20 ft or less. Under transmission lines the ceiling is 10 to 12 ft either way. The approved list names fernleaf full moon maple (8 to 10 ft), Chinese fringetree (12 to 20 ft), western redbud (12 to 20 ft), crabapple (15 to 20 ft) and Japanese maple (15 to 25 ft), and the utility tells you to look for the TreeSmart tag at local nurseries.

One local caution: Washington’s first emerald ash borer was confirmed in Hazel Dell, in unincorporated Clark County, in August 2026, so leave ash off any replanting list; our emerald ash borer in Washington page has the details.