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36 City Trees Partners Updates Utility Arborist Association Pollinator-Friendly ROWs Benefit Utilities & Communities by Matt Fredmonsky, Project Manager, The Davey Tree Expert Company • Photos Courtesy PG&E An estimated $15 billion worth of crops in the U.S., including more than 130 kinds of fruits and vegetables, are pollinated annually by honey bees alone, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, bee colonies continue to dwindle. Butterflies, another common pollinator, also struggle as their traditional migratory routes become real estate developments. Bats, too, are dying off and further lowering the pollinator count. Why does this matter to utility companies? Members of the UAA recently spent the day exploring the con- nection between pollinators and improved vegetation management at the Pollinators and Right-of-Way (ROW) Summit, hosted at the Ohio State University Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio. Utility vegetation managers are starting to examine the benefits of creating conditions favorable to pollina- tor-friendly vegetation within ROWs because such plant life can better protect transmission equipment than some traditional ROW management methods. For utili- ties, such vegetation can also be a means to improve the health of pollinators, thereby positively engaging nearby agricultural communities while establishing a healthy ROW ecosystem. Ward Peterson, manager of urban resources for Davey Resource Group, a division of The Davey Tree Expert Company, and one of the organizers of the pollinator summit, said developing a healthy pollinator habitat does more than give bees, bats, birds, and other pollina- tors a source of food and habitat; it improves integrated vegetation management. "Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) is normally used to select against tall-growing trees and shrubs," Peterson said. "And that traditionally means using a suite of tools, whether mechanical or chemical, to clear- cut woody vegetation in the ROW. Now we want to use IVM to improve pollinator habitat by selecting for plants that provide habitat and forage for them. A healthy ecosystem comprised of the kind of low-growing plants that support pollinators will keep out invasive species and tall-growing trees, which ultimately is the goal of effective IVM." The pollinator summit examined these concepts by bringing together managers of various ROWs, such as transportation, electric transmission and under- ground pipelines, with pollinator experts and advocates. Participants at the UAA pollinator summit in October 2014 included Davey, FirstEnergy, the Ohio Department of Transportation, NiSource, the Pollinator Stewardship Council, and biologists from the Ohio State School of Natural Resources. Patrick Failor, a transmission forester at FirstEnergy, believes there's value in determining how pollina- tor-friendly vegetation potentially supports IVM by protecting poles, conductors, lines, and other elec- tric transmission assets as well or better than tradi- tional methods. "Pollinator research is a litmus test for the strength of vegetation and flowering plants, and when you have a strong pollinator population you have a strong vegeta- tion population that supports those pollinators," Failor said. "And we believe that our herbicide program pro- motes that. We're looking for the science-backed proof to show that we are a positive influence on pollinators through the promotion of proper vegetation on the right- of-way." FirstEnergy and Davey are working with the Ohio State agricultural campus to study the idea further and devel- op that kind of data-based research. The university is considering using its campus as an outdoor laboratory for studying ROW vegetation. ROWs for a major highway, A Pacific Gas & Electric Company ROW in winter before pollina- tor-friendly plants bloom.