City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1266281
18 CityTREES Utility Arborist Association Spotlights For this compilation from our UAA partner's member- ship publication Utility Arborist Association Newsline, we sought permission to reprint three recent stories we thought would be of particular interest to City Trees readers. Thank you to Newsline Editorial Consultant Nadia Geagea Pupa for her assistance with this! Pollinator Health and ROW VM: The Value of Planting Management and IVM to Pollinators By Dr. Anand B. Persad, Entomologist and Director of Arboriculture and Energy Client Programs, The Davey Institute Photos by Colby Tisdale Vegetation management (VM) in utility corridors and rights-of-way (ROWs) often employ strategies that focus on the primary goals of safety, reliability, access, and safe sight distances. While well developed, these mainstream strategies often encounter challenges rel- evant to safety, cost, regulatory, and personnel issues, as well as bridging community relations and meeting the goals of judicious environmental stewardship. As we advance ROW VM, what were once secondary objectives such as benefits of trees, biodiversity, aes- thetics, wildlife refuge, and habitat value now feature as integral targets and are a growing area of respon- sibility, especially in urban and peri-urban systems. To further enhance our VM strategies, the increasing concern for pollinator welfare in communities nation- wide offers us the opportunity to factor pollinator health in our utility corridors and ROW programs. While the value to pollinators of utilizing Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) and proper restoration techniques is difficult to quantify, we can, in and around our ROWs, attempt to promote sound envi- ronmental practices and gauge pollinator dynamics. One step towards a better understanding of pol- linator health may be to evaluate and compare sites under varying management scenarios and gather baseline information on vegetation and pollinators. Types and combinations of strategies used, products, timing of product application, and planting materials may generally drive vegetation succession or shifts. A better understanding of the relationship of the plants and resulting pollinator dynamics will, in turn, determine the suitability of that ROW as a viable pollinator habitat. One aspect of vegetation change that we can manage, for example, occurs during tree planting in ROW restoration efforts; especially in cases of loss of >>