Puget Sound Energy will soon begin contacting several property owners north of Oak Harbor to negotiate easements.

Those easements will allow work crews to trim and cut trees that could threaten power lines during severe weather. That is part of PSE’s effort to minimize places where trees and limbs crash into lines and cause power outages.

Last winter, high winds plagued Whidbey Island and crippled the power supply for many days throughout the season.

Puget Sound Energy has identified areas of concern that need to be cleared.

Generally the lines going from the larger power lines to the 11 substations scattered throughout Whidbey Island were the source of a lot of the power outages, said Kit Maret, engineer for Puget Sound Energy.

Workers have already started trimming and cutting trees on the south end of the island. They are clearing areas around Coles Road near Langley. Another area workers are focusing is Central Whidbey Island between Morse and Houston roads.

The work near Coles Road started Aug. 20 because it was an area where a large number of outages occurred in the past and Puget Sound Energy had easements that allowed workers to start cutting, Maret said during a recent Council of Governments meeting.

She said some nearby residents and the Whidbey Environmental Action Network are upset about the cutting taking place on the south end of the island, and Puget Sound Energy is working to address their concerns. They’re concerned about removing too much vegetation.

Maret didn’t know yet when the tree work on Central and North Whidbey Island would begin.

Should high winds, snow and ice batter Whidbey Island again this winter and knock out power to residents, a work crew dedicated to Whidbey Island will be the first to respond to fix the problems.

Puget Sound Energy is planning to base a first responder crew in Oak Harbor during storms that will be dedicated to Whidbey Island.

“We’re pretty clear this will help us a lot if we get into a pretty bad patch this winter,” said Ray Trzynka, community relations manager for Puget Sound Energy.

Having materials, personnel, and equipment ready in Oak Harbor should mean for shorter outages on Whidbey Island.

“It gives us a shorter reach when we need equipment and materials and a shorter response time,” Trzynka said.

Previously, the emergency power crews during most emergencies were based out of Skagit County.