Although topping used to be the industry standard , that method is now regarded by most arborists as unhealthy for trees, says Bill Rutherford, urban forester for Salt Lake City. He acknowledges that the newer method, known as directional pruning — V, L and one-sided cuts — "can be quite startling." But topping leaves stubs, causing tree hormones to respond by sprouting weaker, upright shoots that quickly grow back into the power lines, explains Maggie Shao, assistant professor of horticulture at the USU Extension. Topping also exposes the tree to decay.

Directional pruning works like this: Find a branch that is reaching toward the power line, follow the branch down until it meets another branch the same size or larger, and make a cut.

Kuhns' survey, which will be published in the journal "Arboriculture and Urban Forestry" later this year, divided respondents into two groups: those who had been given a brochure explaining the advantages of directional cutting and those who hadn't. He found that two-thirds of those who had read the brochure still wished utilities would use the topping method.

The utility is in a no-win situation, Kuhns says, because people complain when there are massive power outages caused by snow-laden branches, as happened in January 2004. At the time, critics argued that former owner PacifiCorp hadn't devoted enough money to tree-trimming and was years behind.

Power companies worry about public danger from downed lines and from trees that conduct electricity or spark fires when they touch lines; and the company has to worry about the safety of tree trimmers as well, says Buelte. Having once seen the body of someone who had been electrocuted, he says, if he can save the life of even one person, that's motivation enough.

The company requires clearances of at least 8 feet to the side of power lines and 10 feet below for slow-growing trees, and 12 feet to the side and 14 feet below for fast-growing trees such as box elders and globe willows. Critics, including Harrington, wonder why the power company can't just cut less and cut more often.

Currently, Rocky Mountain is on a three-year pruning cycle, at a cost of $13 million a year. A yearly schedule would be triple that amount, says Buelte. Spend the money to bury the lines, neighborhood by neighborhood, counters Harrington — "it would be a permanent solution."

The best solution, he says, is for homeowners to plant "power-friendly trees" that don't grow too high in the first place.

Standing in the cold last week, staring at the disfigured spruce across the street and at Harrington's backyard aspens, whose sides were chopped off by the power company last summer, Harrington and Buelte each said how much they love trees. And couldn't agree on anything else.

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com