By Ryan Felton
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Anita and Ron Delph were looking out their window recently at the familiar sight of a robust tree canopy that lines just about every street in this picturesque college town.
Then came the chainsaws.
The couple watched as a contractor for the local utility company methodically lopped off big sections of the beech outside their home.
By the time they were done, the timber that remained looked distinctively shrublike. In an online post, Anita called it a "massacre."
"Who would want to buy a house when they had to look at that out their front door?" Ron said in an interview.
The Delphs are among many Ann Arbor residents who say they are witnessing a defacement of the local landscape. Tree trimmers for DTE Energy have driven around the city in recent weeks cutting limbs that appear to be closing in on power lines as part of a long-term effort to reduce outages.
The resulting appearance has been an affront to many in Tree Town, as Ann Arbor is affectionately known, leaving many trees looking more like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
After the Delphs called to complain, a DTE representative came out. Everyone agreed the tree looked abhorrent and it was removed later that day.
Power outages from overgrown limbs have long plagued Metro Detroit. Then in 2019 DTE launched what it dubbed the "Tree Trim Surge," and over the next five years it spent over $1 billion on the effort. DTE says its job is to keep the lights on and its work is paying off -- last year, Ann Arbor had its best electric reliability service in three decades.
But you have to do a little more than that to appease the people of Tree Town.
The city was founded by two guys who chose the name to honor their wives (both named Ann) and the stands of bur oak in the area. The city seal is a tree, which adorns signs all over town, and residents say the canopied streets and parks are major contributors to the quality of life.
"When they start seeing what appears to be an indiscriminate sort of cutting of the trees after decades of disinvestment or underinvestment by DTE, it leads -- rightfully so -- to a lot of frustration and anger," said City Councilwoman Erica Briggs.
Briggs and another council member in 2021 called on DTE to abandon trimming and consider alternatives after residents complained of "butchered" trees. "Tree Town under attack?" read a headline in the Ann Arbor News.
Brian Calka, senior vice president for distribution operations at DTE's electric arm, said tree trimming only begins after workers carefully plan and engage with residents. Workers, he said, identify every tree and determine whether it needs a trim, and what type of trim, or if it's a candidate for removal.
DTE said when a customer doesn't want a tree removed, the trimming can result in an uneven appearance. Still, the utility said that over the past five years, it has received an average of just 17 complaints annually related to how trees were trimmed in Ann Arbor.
Arborists say trimming is an art. Line-clearance work is especially difficult.
"Trees around people must be managed for a lot of reasons," said Kay Sicheneder, a registered consulting arborist. "Having said that, there are some give-and-takes."
Sicheneder ran field operations for Ann Arbor's forestry division from 2005 to 2012. When she arrived, the city hadn't trimmed trees in over a decade.
"It was a mess," she said. The city sent trimmers to get to work. Results were mixed.
"There were a lot of happy people because the trees were literally hitting their cars," Sicheneder said. "And there were a lot of people that weren't because it's harsh."
Briggs, the councilwoman, conceded that DTE's service has improved. But she said recent trimming has been indelicate at best.
A recent drive around town showed some of the results. On a block in the city's west side, a row of trees had been pruned to more closely resemble a brutal letter V.
On Nextdoor, residents sparred in a thread about the Delphs' trees. Some were horrified; others suggested the trimming is a necessary trade-off.
"It's horrible and heartbreaking and pathetic that the city administrators don't intervene with DTE to ensure trees are not butchered," one resident said.
DTE needs to have its lines clear, another responded. "Or we'll have the power outages that everyone complains about."
"Can you have it both ways?" they said. "These crews don't have the time to delicately prune each tree. I finally get it, after being a crank to some of them over the years."
Ron Delph said he's sympathetic toward DTE and its need to trim. But he wishes they could balance it with a resident's appreciation of their tree cover.
"It doesn't have to be: OK, you can't touch the tree, or, we're going to whack the tree back so much that you can't stand to look at it," he said. "I think there's a happy medium, and they ought to strive for that."
Write to Ryan Felton at ryan.felton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 12, 2026 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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