DuPage committees OK ComEd tree replacement plan

ComEd will replace 750 trees along the Great Western Trail and Illinois Prairie Path in DuPage County that were chopped down this year to keep the branches from interfering with overhead power lines.

However, local trail aficionadoes and a couple county board members derided the proposal for its lack of any agreements for future tree removal and the absence of any maintenance plan for the new plantings.

"They offer to replace only 750 trees of the thousands that they damaged on our trails, which they will not water or maintain after planting," complained Don Kirchenberg, voluntary Chairman of the Friends of the Great Western Trail. "There is no agreement to prevent damage to even more trees in the future."

The county board's transportation committee unanimously approved the plan, and the environmental committee also approved the proposal with board member Rita Gonzalez voting against it. She wants the Illinois Commerce Commission to convene public hearings to help set guidelines for future tree trimming along the trails. Gonzalez said ComEd's plan doesn't call tree replantings on private properties. Although board member Tony Michelassi voted in favor of the proposal at Tuesday morning's environmental committee meeting, he said afterward that he had made a mistake and actually didn't support ComEd's proposal.

But environmental committee Chairman Jeff Redick said, "A lot of the comments made today were based on a need for a long-term solution. The problem is you can't discount the fact that this is an activity that needs to take place. But this is a plan to restore the damage that's been done."

Kirchenberg complained that municipalities like Evanston and Burr Ridge were able to set stricter trimming guidelines with ComEd, and the county should follow suit. Redick countered that those towns were in a better negotiating position with ComEd because they could find other electricity providers.

The replantings will occur along a two-mile segment of the Prairie Path between Wheaton and Lombard and a nearly seven-mile segment between Lombard and Winfield along the Great Western Trail.

The county's trail maintenance task force will continue negotiating with the power company to come up with an agreement on future trimming and herbicide spraying, county officials said. The full board will vote on the proposal next week.