PG&E Concedes, Plans to Bury Power Lines by Potter Valley Eagles’ Nest

January 31, 2023

A Ponderosa pine tree in Potter Valley, and the decades-old bald eagle nest high in its branches, appear to be safe from PG&E crews that tried to remove them two years in a row due to their proximity to power lines. Now, after protesters from all over the state joined local activists and a nearby tribe to ensure that the tree remained standing, PG&E has declared that its “preferred solution” is to bury the lines. That would relieve the utility’s stated safety concerns about the tree possibly falling onto the line and sparking a fire. The pine, which is dying and shows damage from a beetle infestation, did not budge during the recent series of atmospheric rivers, though other trees went down all over the county.

Joseph Seidell, a tenant on the property, grew to love the birds. Their nest is just a few yards from the driveway on one side, and a few more yards away from the public road on another, making them local celebrities in the bird-watching community. Seidell started a GoFundMe campaign to underground the lines last year, but it fizzled.

“It made the most sense,” he said. “It was a very obvious solution because the nest was very happily sitting up there with plenty of years to go, according to the arborist. So we said, why should we take it down? It’s provided all this habitat, and there’s an obvious solution to put the lines underground. PG&E didn’t want to [bear] the expense, so we started a fundraiser. And we weren’t raising the money. It was a very large amount of money, close to a quarter million dollars…finally we found out recently that they said they were going to do it, through a lot of pressure…this would be the perfect win, win, win: win for the eagles, win for you, and win for us.”

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By:  Sarah Reith
Source: Redheaded Blackbelt