Homeowner sees more than red after utility tree-trimming; Shreveport, LA

Homeowner sees more than red after tree-trimming | shreveporttimes.com | The Times
Gary Jaynes' backyard is an oasis. Shade-loving plants stand watch as chickadees, cardinals, the occasional woodpecker and others nibble on birdseed left on the Shreveporter's South Highlands driveway.
Until recently, a live oak gracefully spread its branches over the entire yard, providing protection for plants and respite for wildlife. The tree also offered Jaynes a shady spot to watch nature at work and afforded him the privacy he craves.
'The trees to me are what makes this whole area,' Jaynes said. 'They give it its whole character.'
But since tree crews working for Southwest Electric Power Co. chopped some 15 feet of the tree's branches away from nearby power lines, Jaynes not only has a view of his plants wilting in the sunlight that now floods the backyard but also of unsightly equipment once obscured by the tree's branches.