AUGUSTA – Nine Waldo County towns will benefit from Central Maine Power Co.’s tree care program now through the end of December.

The work along utility lines in Searsport, Frankfort, Knox, Lincolnville, Prospect, Thorndike, Union, Unity and Winterport is part of an extra push by the utility to get ready for winter storms and winds. CMP spends about $12 million annually for vegetation management to improve reliability throughout CMP’s 11,000-square-mile service area.

Motorists are urged to exercise caution when they encounter tree crews working alongside Maine roads.

Managing tree growth around power lines is a big job for the utility, which operates 23,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. Trees and tree branches are the most frequent cause of outages.

CMP’s team of licensed arborists and qualified contractors carefully prune and remove trees along hundreds of miles of public roads every year to help provide safe, reliable electric service. Because protecting the health of trees is important, contractors adhere to standards endorsed by the tree care industry. Tree crews consider the shape, strength, growth rate and appearance of a tree before working on it.