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Because we are part of the community we serve, Kootenai Electric Cooperative is concerned about protecting and preserving our environment. That’s why when needed we install platforms to protect birds and reduce outages. Birds, like osprey, often build nests on our power poles. This puts the birds at risk of electrocution while trying to build a nest and if they drop residual limbs, this material can fall onto the energized equipment, causing outages or starting fires. To mitigate this, KEC installs a platform for the nest, on another pole close to the pole with the live power lines. The platform is about five feet taller than the energized pole and lines to ensure the bird selects that as their new home. So far, KEC has had good luck with this strategy and birds relocate to the new platform and come back year after year. Members can help. If you see a nest on a pole near our lines give us a call at 208.765.1200 or email a photo of the pole and location information to kec@kec.com.