Utility corridors often run the gauntlet, traversing both the physical and the social landscape. Mile after mile and tower after tower, they distribute energy to cities and towns but also carve their path through the wilderness, disconnecting habitats and disturbing the environment. Sometimes this disturbance, from initial construction and ongoing maintenance, causes friction with nearby communities concerned with the trees and wildlife residing there. With the proper management, however, these utility rights-of-way (ROWs) have the potential to actually connect natural landscapes and improve habitat conditions for certain wildlife[1], while also carrying out their primary jobs of delivering utilities. At Nature's Touch, we look for powerful opportunities to restore habitat value to the landscape. Places like yards and parks are excellent sites for providing wildlife habitat but even medians, cemeteries, and vacant lots, with the right plants and some thoughtful management, can be productive habitat. As urban and residential areas continue to grow, it will be increasingly important to incorporate native plants and sustainable designs into new infrastructure. Utility rights-of-way total more than 157,000 miles of high voltage electric transmission lines covering over 11 million acres[1] across the United States and wind their way through a myriad of land cover types and terrains. These ROWs, and the vegetation within are actively managed by utility companies. Their ubiquity and accessibility present a valuable canvas for offering habitat features and resources for local wildlife. Implementing best management practices for birds and pollinators into power and gas line corridors can often meet the vegetation management goals of utility companies. The men and women who manage these expansive spaces are poised to become not just “maintainers” but “stewards” of these extensive landscapes. Currently, federal law demands proper clearances on high voltage power lines and imposes strict penalties for noncompliance[1]. These regulations have resulted in an increase in transmission reliability but have also resulted in a more aggressive approach to vegetation management, reducing habitat availability and fragmenting the landscape. Often, vegetation is managed with indiscriminate mowing and aggressive tree removal across wide swaths of the landscape. This type of vegetation management can sometimes raise alarms in nearby communities and create conflict among stakeholders. Fortunately, the new word buzzing around utility lines is “stewardship”. What started as simply using less herbicides has led to erecting Osprey nest platforms and creating Karner Blue Butterfly meadows[1] within ROWs. This emerging focus on plant and animal biodiversity has started to shape a new paradigm of vegetation management geared towards wildlife habitat, soil conservation, and invasive species control, along with the appropriate line clearance. As a result, many utility services have shifted towards a system of Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM)[1]. IVM practices create planting zones across the utility corridor to prescribe various vegetation solutions. The Wire Zone includes low growing plants like grasses and wildflowers, providing clearance and easy access. The Border Zone allows shrubs and small trees that block out taller species, and beyond that, bigger trees are allowed to remain. This diverse structure promotes the dual goals of safe, reliable electric service with abundant, healthy vegetation across utility areas. IVM also provides the opportunity to introduce a wealth of ecological services. Ecologists describe the value of connectivity in the landscape as an increase in the availability <em>and</em> accessibility of habitat resources across a track of terrain. Larger patches of habitat resources, or refuges, can be connected via smaller patches, called stepping stones. Greater connectivity can be achieved through longer corridors of similar habitat types and resources. Using a combination of IVM and best management practices for important bird or pollinator species, ROWs can be built and managed to recreate these corridors, providing habitat connectivity, line access, and long-term clearance with the diversity of vegetation and structure wildlife are attracted to. Integrated Vegetation ManagemenT, an exampleThe Golden-winged Warbler, federally listed as endangered, is, like many migratory songbirds, suffering from habitat loss. Its northern breeding range previously consisted of a mosaic of open shrublands amid mature woods. This landscape pattern was historically abundant as wildfires, storms, and beaver dams regularly opened up large spaces in mature forests which would fill in with shrubs and small trees. As land around the Great Lakes became more developed, increases in agriculture opened up even more areas of shrubland and improved the habitat availability for Golden-winged Warblers. Eventually, however, as agriculture became less common, those farms grew into forests and our current management of wildlands has prevented the previous natural forces, like wildfires, to create new openings. Nature's Touch and other bird conservation groups have recognized the many similarities between Golden-winged Warbler breeding habitat requirements and the goals of utility rights-of-way vegetation management. Where these overlap, conservationists have curated some specific recommendations for vegetation managers to help improve the habitat value of these areas as well as the function and reliability needed to energy transfer. The list of habitat features beneficial to wildlife and utility corridor management is as long as the corridors themselves! A short list of simple and practical ideas can be found here. Contact Nature's Touch Consulting to put together a specific regional plan for both distribution and transmission systems.
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