We can attribute everything to the forces of nature. We can say that the storm was exceptional, the wind too strong, and the trees too tall. However, it is more convenient to blame nature than to ask ourselves the uncomfortable question: have we made the electrical grid more vulnerable than it should be through our own laws and prohibitions?
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Trees and power lines – a problem we knew about
This is not news that appeared on the evening of August 22. ESO announced several years ago that about 55% of overhead line outages occur due to vegetation – trees and their branches. There are still tens of thousands of kilometers of overhead lines in Lithuania’s distribution network. So, we knew the risk.
And yet, for years, the maintenance of power line routes has faced the same conflict: on one hand, energy providers must ensure reliable electricity supply, on the other hand, every tree cutting or wider clearing of the route can become the subject of procedures, prohibitions, approvals, and public outrage.
The protection zone for 6 and 10 kV overhead lines today extends 10 meters from the outermost wires. But the storm does not read legal acts. A twenty or thirty-meter tree growing outside the formal protection zone does not stop falling at the line drawn on the map.
We protect nature. But what about people?
In recent years, the word “prohibited” has increasingly dominated Lithuanian forest policy. Clear-cutting is being tightened, various restrictions expanded, and the removal of trees in sensitive areas is becoming increasingly difficult.
Protecting nature is necessary. A mature forest is not a lumber warehouse, and a protected area is not a place where one can operate a bulldozer. However, environmental protection should not become a religion where any cut tree is automatically considered a sin.
When a tree poses a real danger to a power line, road, or human life, the decision must be made quickly. Not after five certificates, three expert assessments, and noise on social networks.
Paradoxically, we already see the problem in protected areas. After the storm in Dzūkija National Park, a very practical question arose: how to manage dangerous windthrows while preserving natural values? The forest must be protected, but people should not become unwanted beings in it either.
We need to cable faster
Cutting trees alone will not solve the problem.
The long-term answer is cabling power lines. ESO is already accelerating this work: in 2025, 367 kilometers of lines will be laid underground in forested areas, about 700 kilometers are planned this year, and by 2028 – a total of about 2,000 kilometers.
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This is the right direction. But climate phenomena will not wait until we finish investment plans.
Therefore, a double solution is necessary: to cable the most vulnerable lines more aggressively and at the same time allow proper maintenance of those overhead lines that will remain above ground for many years.
Continuous prevention costs money. But how much does it cost when hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity, brigades are mobilized, generators are used, food is spoiled, businesses stop, and compensations are paid to residents? Saving on prevention is often the most expensive form of saving.
The next disaster may not be a storm
Another topic we talk too little about is forest fires.
As the climate changes, we must prepare not only for stronger winds but also for long droughts and increased fire risk. Therefore, every new restriction on forest management should be evaluated not only from the perspective of biodiversity but also civil safety.
Are we leaving enough opportunities to establish and maintain firebreaks? Will rescuers be able to reach where needed? By trying to touch the forest as little as possible today, are we not creating conditions to lose much larger areas tomorrow? These questions need to be asked before a fire, not while standing by a burning forest.
Let’s bring back common sense
After every disaster in Lithuania, we look for someone to blame. But this time, it would be worth looking not for a scapegoat but for systemic solutions.
We need to review the protection and removal procedures for dangerous trees near power lines. We need to provide simpler procedures where there is a threat to critical infrastructure. We need to cable vulnerable lines faster. And we need forest policy that simultaneously accommodates biodiversity, fire safety, energy resilience, and human interests.
This is not a choice between forest and electricity. It is a choice between a rational state and a state that first creates obstacles for itself and then heroically fights their consequences.
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We must protect forests. But we must also protect people.
