In the electric utility industry, vegetation management plays an integral role in reliability and resiliency. For this episode of the Line Life Podcast, we are featuring an interview with Dr. Anand Persad, the founder and director of research with Tetra Energy Sciences Research and Consulting.

I interviewed Dr. Persad at last year's Trees & Utilities conference in Fort Worth, Texas, to learn more about the challenges and opportunities in the utility vegetation management (UVM) industry. He has written several articles about UVM for the T&D World website, magazine and annual Vegetation Management Supplement, which we publish in partnership with the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) each June.

To learn more about utility vegetation management, make sure to register for the 2025 Trees & Utilities conference this September in Knoxville, Tennessee. The 2025 T&D World Vegetation Management Supplement will be available in the UAA booth. I look forward to seeing you there! Also, if you have an idea for an article for the 2026 Vegetation Management Supplement, please email Amy Fischbach.

Years ago, I first met Michael Stremel, who recently retired from a career in the line trade at Midwest Energy. He first started competing at the International Lineman's Rodeo as an apprentice back in 1988, and he has been involved in the event as both a competitor and a volunteer for the International Lineman's Rodeo Association (ILRA). ever since. He has about 49 years of experience in the electric utility industry and enjoys volunteering for the ILRA. Over the last few years, he has partnered with Doug Flick to pay it forward and raise funds for the ILRA Linemen Scholarship Fund through an annual gun raffle during the International Lineman's Rodeo Week.

Line crews often encounter wildlife while working in the field and constructing and maintaining infrastructure in their service territories. For example, Cooperative Energy in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, discovered a threatened population of gopher tortoises in their rights-of-way (ROW). After applying herbicides and investing in an integrated vegetation management (IVM) program, the utility was able to dramatically increase the population of these tortoises and carpet their ROWs in native grasses and wildflowers.

This article, which was authored by Logan Martin of Corteva Agriscience and Wes Graham and Brad Morris of Cooperative Energy, first appeared in the June 2025 Vegetation Management Supplement. T&D World partners with the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) to publish this supplement each June. If you have an idea for an article for the 2026 Vegetation Management supplement, a comment on this audio story or a suggestion for a future guest for the Line Life Podcast, please email Field Editor Amy Fischbach. I look forward to hearing from you!

Line families have come to Kansas City for the International Lineman's Rodeo for years to support their lineworkers during the day of competition and enjoy the camaraderie of the line trade.

At the 2024 International Lineman's Expo, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with one of the line wives -- Kara Pollei, the wife of Logan Pollei, an apprentice lineworker for Duke Energy. After working in the police force, Logan is now working on the line and competing at the International Lineman's Rodeo.

To read a profile about Logan in our Faces of the Future department, click here. If you know of an apprentice who we should profile in a future department and related podcast, please email Amy Fischbach, Field Editor and Line Life Podcast host. We look forward to hearing from you and putting your apprentices in the spotlight!

Our wildfire mitigation coverage continues with the narrated version of the story, "Hawaiian Electric Sets Three-Year Action Plan," from the May 2025 special report in T&D World's print magazine. This article, which is part of our ICYMI series for the Line Life Podcast, was written by Mark Asano, the director of integrated grid planning for Hawaiian Electric.

During the episode, he shares details about the four pillars of the utility's 2025-2027 Wildfire Safety Strategy: hardening and redesigning the grid, expanding and improving situational awareness, improving operational practices and strengthening stakeholder and community partnerships.

To read the full story, visit the Wildfire landing page on the T&D World website. You can also listen to two more audio stories narrated from the wildfire mitigation special report in our ICYMI series on Podbean: A Strategic Approach to Wildfire Risk Mitigation about Quanta Services and LUMA Energy and PGE Takes Holistic Approach to Wildfire Mitigation about Portland General Electric.

Thanks for tuning in and learning more about wildfire mitigation. If you have suggestions for future guests or comments on this or other episodes, email Field Editor Amy Fischbach, the host of the Line Life Podcast. I look forward to hearing from you!

Our guest for this episode is Chief Kevin Fischer, a member of the Delta Company for the U.S. Army 249th Engineer Battalion, a division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Fischer, who has 18 years of service, supervises lineworkers in the military.

During this episode, he describes the two different military occupation specialties (MOS) related to line work--the 12 Papa for generation and the 12 Quebec for distribution. He also describes overseas missions and how lineworkers respond to requests for individual combatant commands throughout the world.

As part of Prime Power, the lineworkers also have the opportunity to compete at the International Lineman's Rodeo. Each year, the U.S. Army brings journeyman lineworkers to Kansas City to compete in the military division.

For more information, tune in to a recent Line Life Podcast episode featuring SSG Christopher Garrett and go to Podbean to listen to other episodes focused on the military in the line trade. Thanks for listening, and we look forward to seeing you at the 2025 International Lineman's Rodeo Week in Kansas City!

For this audio story in our ICYMI series for the T&D World Line Life Podcast, we are continuing our coverage of wildfire mitigation with the narrated version of the article, "A Strategic Approach to Wildfire Risk Mitigation." This story, which was written by Alireza Majzoobi and Zhenzhen Zang of Quanta Technologies and Daniel Haughton of LUMA Energy, was originally published in the May 2025 Wildfire Mitigation Special Report within the T&D World print magazine.

In this story, the authors share a proactive strategy, which integrates advanced technology, predictive modeling, data-driven decision making and adaptive infrastructure planning. For more information, you can read the article on the T&D World website. You can also listen to another audio story on wildfire mitigation, "PGE Takes Holistic Approach to Mitigation," from the May 2025 section by clicking here. For further updates and stories on wildfire mitigation, check out T&D World's wildfire page on our website. To subscribe to the Line Life Podcast and become part of our community, click here or follow the podcast in your favorite podcasting app. Thanks for listening!

For our Fourth of July episode of the Line Life Podcast, we are celebrating those who dedicate their lives to service, not only in the line trade but also through the U.S. military. Our guest, SSG Christopher Garrett, discusses the opportunities available to lineworkers through the U.S. Army Reserve and active-duty in the 249th Engineer Battalion or Prime Power.

He traveled from Fort Belvoir in Virginia to Kansas City for the International Lineman's Rodeo Week to support the competitors and teams in the military division and create awareness about the training and work opportunities available through Prime Power.

To learn more, you can stop by their booth at the 2025 International Lineman's Expo, visit their website or listen to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our Veterans in the Line Trade series on Podbean. You can also read a story called Veterans in the Line Trade, which explores opportunities for military veterans to become trained as lineworkers.

Thank you for tuning in to the Line Life Podcast, and Happy Fourth of July to lineworkers and your families!