“Let nothing dim the light that shines within” ~ Maya Angelou

1. MAUI – HAWAII
The Blue Gum Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill )
The Widow Maker
Ecological Threats
Maui Electric Company Utility Pole Easements
Maui County Code – Requirements
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MAUI COUNTY IS THE OLDEST KNOWN “TREE CITY USA” IN HAWAII
B. Any tree or shrub not planted on private property and which interferes with
utility lines shall be trimmed by the utility companies whose lines may be afected.
Except for electric power lines, private property owners are responsible for
trimming trees and shrubs which interfere with utility lines over their property.
D. Should the county take action to abate dangerous conditions, the cost of such
abatement shall constitute a lien against the property which will run with the land.
Notifcation of the imposition of the lien shall be sent to the owner of record.
Failure to discharge such lien shall be enforceable in the same manner as a default
in payment of real property taxes. (Ord. 1944 § 2 (part), 1990)
Source: Maui County Planting Plan. Third Edition. By Ernest H. Rezents. Professor
Emeritus Agriculture, University of Hawaii Maui College, Certifed Arborist,
International Society of Arboriculture Registered Consulting Arborist, American
Society of Consulting Arborists, Maui County Arborist Committee. March 9, 2016,
accessed October 23, 2017 https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11115
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2. County’s removal of dangerous trees to take ‘several years’
It will probably take “several years” for Maui County to complete its
planned removal of 112 dead or dying eucalyptus trees along Piiholo Road,
a county spokesman said this week.
In July, the county removed 20 hazardous eucalyptus trees above the Piiholo
Ranch Zipline, but more funding and safe access routes must be secured to
continue the tree removal, said Maui County Communications Director Rod
Antone. He did not provide details on how much funding is required.
“Residents should know that this will be an ongoing process for the next
several years, maybe more,” Antone said. “There is no fast fx for this because
of the size and volume of trees that need to be removed. We must also
consider the safety of the workers doing the removal, and if they don’t have
safe access to the area where they’re working so they can remove the trees,
then we can’t even begin to authorize the work.”
[Emphasis Supplied]
Source: County’s removal of dangerous trees to take ‘several years By Melissa Tanji.
The Maui News. October 21, 2017, accessed October 23, 2017
http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2017/10/countys-removal-of-dangerous-trees-to-take-
several-years/
PLACEMENT OF UTILITY POLES
12.16.010 - Placement—Council permission required; exceptions.
No person, frm, or corporation shall erect or place or cause to be erected or
placed upon any public highway in the County, utility poles without frst
obtaining permission to do so, by resolution, from the county council, or its
authorized representatives; provided that the director of public works may
permit the installation of utility poles upon a public highway when the height of
the new utility poles does not exceed the height of existing poles on the
highway by more than fve feet and the number of new poles does not exceed
six.

3. The director of public works shall submit an annual report to the council on
new utility poles approved for installation on public highways.
(Ord. 3482 § 1 (part), 2007: prior code § 21-2.1)
12.16.020 – Applications.
Applications for permission to place or erect utility poles shall contain a
statement of the proposed location of such poles, the kind of pole to be
erected, and the purpose for which the same is or are to be used. The location
of such pole or poles shall be subject to the approval of the county council or
its representatives to the extent required by section 12.16.010.
(Ord. 3482 § 1 (part), 2007: prior code § 21-2.2)
12.16.030 - Temporary or emergency use.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply where the placing or erection of
poles shall be for temporary use only in cases of emergency and in order to
prevent an interruption in service.
(Ord. 3482 § 1 (part), 2007: prior code § 21-2.3)
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County
Former
County
Piiholo
Road
JN Makawao Avenue north of downtown Makawao, southeast to
JN Olinda Road; no route signs; few remaining milemarkers
indicate route number is 395, but most recent (1981) county route
number log, and all other maps I have reviewed which show a route
number for this road, identify it as route 394; does not appear in 1960s
Hawaii DOT planning documents, but is in 1981 Maui county route log,
and on 1976 Maui County planning map
5.3
miles
Source: Hawaii's Highways. Accessed October 23, 2017
http://www.hawaiihighways.com/maui-part2.htm

4. HIGHWAY EASEMENTS
MAUI COUNTY ROADS
10 feet – 15 feet
Highways Division – Maui County
Highways and major roadways shall have a minimum pavement width of 20
feet (10 foot travel lanes), and shoulder width of 4 feet, to provide for the safe
passage of two-way trafc, except in areas where natural landforms, historic
structures and other environmental constraints preclude widening beyond
existing roadway widths.
Source: Makawao-Pukalani-Kula Community Plan. Maui County Council.
July 1996, accessed October 23, 2017 https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/1714
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THE BLUE GUM EUCALYPTUS : THE WIDOW MAKER
MAUI COUNTY LEAVES PIIHOLO RESIDENTS AT RISK
ONLY 20 OF 112 WIDOW-MAKERS REMOVED
Sam Small, Maui Causes, Piiholo Resident
https://vimeo.com/226842393
For years, the blue gum eucalyptus have been dying, but in the past few
months, many trees went from diseased to dead.
“There's a whole canopy of trees that are dead. They're not even dying or
diseased. They are stone dead”.
Hundreds of them are reaching out over the road and residents say the
county's work to the remove them can't come fast enough.
“There's potential for loss of life because the trees could fall that way and
hit someone”.
[Mahealani Richardson Hawaii News Now Reporting]

5. WHAT IS A WIDOWMAKER?
In the general sense, it’s anything that has the potential to kill men, thereby
making widows of their wives. In a more specifc sense, widowmakers are dead
branches caught precariously high in trees, ready to fall on unsuspecting
individuals below. This term has been used widely in the forest service and
logging communities, and is even ofcially recognized by OSHA.
[United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration - Clarifcation Supplied]
Source: The Danger of Widowmaker Trees - Be Aware of Your Surroundings While
Camping, and Avoid Sleeping Beneath Potentially Deadly Trees By Patrick McCarthy.
Of Grid- The Enthusiast Network. August 10, 2016, accessed October 23, 2017
https://www.ofgridweb.com/preparation/the-danger-of-widowmaker-trees/
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THE ECOLOGICAL THREATS
One of the biggest ecological threats posed by blue gums is that the trees can
radically change a landscape's natural fre cycles. The trees' shredded bark and
oily dead leaves provide abundant fuel for wildfre, along with a way to carry
that fre up into the treetops. That in turn increases the likelihood that wind
will pick up and carry embers for miles. So does the tendency mature blue
gums exhibit to explode when they catch fre. And though many Californian
native plants respond to fre by resprouting, few match the blue gums' ability to
do so. A fre in a eucalyptus grove merely strengthens the blue gums' hold on
the land.
Source: Invasive Species Week: The Blue Gum Eucalyptus. By Chris Clarke. KCETLink,
Burbank, California. August 4, 2014, accessed October 23, 2017
https://www.kcet.org/redefne/invasive-species-week-the-blue-gum-eucalyptus
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HAS MAUI ELECTRIC COMPANY, LTD. (MECO) APPLIED AND
RECEIVED APPROVAL FOR UTILITY POLE EASEMENTS ALONG
PIIHOLO ROAD, MAKAWAO, MAUI, HAWAII?