Speaker: Richard Johnstone, President of IVM Partners
Abstract:
Utility rights-of-way corridors provide energy to run the nation’s economy and are vital links for national security. Utilities must control tall growing vegetation to allow ready access for emergency repairs or routine maintenance and to prevent contact with high voltage conductors.
Many utilities control vegetation by routine cutting with mechanized mowers or chainsaws. This tends to encourage resprouting growth by the more aggressive plant species, many of which are non-native exotic plants.
Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) is a method of controlling vegetation by identifying problem species and a threshold level of when control is necessary, and then choosing from an assortment of methods to eliminate the problem plants and encourage the desirable species. A trained Arborist should first inspect the site and schedule the appropriate management tool in a prescriptive fashion. Use of a GIS mapping program can merge land use and environmental information from government sources with the utility’s facility locations and access points.
Controlling non-compatible trees and invasive plants allows more growing space for low growing grass, forbs and shrubs. This permits more selective and lower disturbance rates as natural competition between plant species, and the activity of wildlife, result in cultural and biological controls. The result is a fairly stable meadow or shrub-scrub community that provides excellent wildlife food and cover, streamside riparian buffers and rare plant habitats. This has enabled some utilities to form Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with government land management agencies, and to assist in the control of invasive plants and wildlife habitat improvements.
Biography:
Rick Johnstone is President of IVM Partners, Inc., a 501-C-3 non-profit corporation whose purpose is to develop, educate and apply best vegetation management practices in cooperation with industry, agencies, conservation and academia. Under his direction IVM Partners reclaimed 900 acres of Delaware Estuary in 2004 from the invasive reed phragmites. He is helping to develop an Ecologically based vegetation management plan for the Pinelands National Reserve, NJ, and is beginning work on partnership building in Southeastern Michigan. Rick assisted the Department of Interior in developing a wildlife habitat management training video now being distributed to the national refuge system. He earned a BS degree in Forest Resources Management from West Virginia University and recently retired from the utility industry but provides his 28 years of expertise as a consultant under VMES, LLC.