That is, it was impractical to fell them while building the line initially? The risk was considered too low for the cost of cutting and towing away large trees in a wide enough corridor?
The lines and paved road got put in during the old days of logging, I'd assume it was considered financially impractical for a number of reasons, likely from a legal perspective, due to many private property owners, along with a mixed bag of county, state and federally-owned land sprinkled in there, for a town of around 100 people or so. Things just kind of went along from there.
Nowadays it's all that plus environmental lawsuits.
Nowadays it's all that plus environmental lawsuits.