How Engineers and Roadside Vegetation Managers Maintain Roadside Vegetation in Iowa, USA

Nemec, Kristine T.; Stephenson, Andrew L.; Losch, Mary E.

doi:10.1007/s00267-022-01683-y

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The value of roadside vegetation as a habitat for pollinators has gained increased attention, particularly in areas dominated by agriculture, as is the case of 'Transcerrados'. However, many factors, including safety, cost, public perception, erosion control, and weedy plants, must be considered when managing roadside vegetation [28]; thus, it should be highlighted that the importance of research developments take other variables into account for roadside revegetation projects in the region. Reference [29] reported challenges to domesticating native forage legumes in the USA, with the seed cost being a limit to extensive use, suggesting that a commercially viable seed industry to support the widespread use of native legumes will require acceptance by end users of broadly adapted, genetically diverse, and superior genotypes rather than only local ecotypes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Evaluation of Four Legume and Grass Species to Compose Roadside Revegetation in Piauí, Brazil

Ribeiro,

Edvan,

Vieira

et al. 2023

Agronomy

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A trial was conducted to investigate the growth and production characteristics of four plant species, marking the initiation of research on roadside revegetation processes in the southern region of Piauí state, Brazil. The trial was conducted in greenhouse conditions to evaluate the response of the species—two native legumes (Arachis pintoi and Stylosanthes macrocephala) and two grasses (Brachiaria humidicula—non-native and Paspalum notatum—native)—under different fertilization and irrigation treatments. Data were collected in two harvest operations, measuring the following variables: total plant height, population density per pot, number of live leaves, plant moisture content, total forage biomass, and root biomass. The results suggested that fertilization and irrigation caused no significant effect on the major species development characteristics that allay with the highway agency interests. Arachis pintoi showed the best results with the lowest height (24.1 cm in Experiment 1 and 19.2 cm in Experiment 2) and the greatest total forage biomass yield (6.4 g plant−1 in Experiment 1 and 4.1 g plant−1 in Experiment 2). Thus, we recommend that the results found in this study should be extended to field experiments and long-term research. Because our study did not explore mixed-species designs, adopting such evaluation could offer advantages in achieving more comprehensive and resilient revegetation outcomes and help decision-making regarding target species to compose the roadside revegetation operations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Evaluation of Four Legume and Grass Species to Compose Roadside Revegetation in Piauí, Brazil

Ribeiro,

Edvan,

Vieira

et al. 2023

Agronomy

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“…Despite the ecological, environmental, and economic benefits NPCs can provide to New England roadsides, transitioning from established long-standing practices would likely encounter significant bureaucratic hurdles. Many past attempts by other state and federal agencies to integrate native species into roadside revegetation efforts have faltered or failed [25][26][27], resulting from multiple missteps, including the poor integration of roadside revegetation strategies in infrastructure planning, a lack of cooperation and information sharing among agencies involved in road construction, and the use of cheaper, faster-establishing exotic species misidentified as native species [28,29]. In addition to these bureaucratic hurdles, DOTs would likely encounter technical difficulties with the establishment of biodiverse NPCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Impediments for New England DOTs to Transition to Sustainable Roadside Practices for Strengthening Pollinator Habitats and Health

2023

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Government agencies whose work impacts the environment have sought more sustainable policy changes that require the use of native plants for revegetation. However, New England DOTs have encountered hurdles in attempts to transition from using cool-season turfgrass to implementing the more complicated management practices required to establish native plant communities. Two of the most significant barriers have been the slow transition to mainly using native plants for revegetation and the lack of genetically appropriate ecotypic native plant material (ENPM) produced in the Northeast. Growers of ENPM have resisted increasing production because they struggle to gauge demand due to substantial communication gaps between local producers and end users. Therefore, we organized focus groups with New England state DOTs, Departments of Environmental Protection, and Fish and Wildlife Services to determine their demand for ENPM and to explore their relationships with producers. We determined that the subcontracting of DOTs hinders their ability to develop relationships with producers because it leaves seed source selection in the hands of third parties. Another impediment was found to be the resistance of some maintenance departments to adopt sustainable management practices, such as reduced mowing. In summary, we determined that DOTs would benefit from establishing more direct relationships with producers to communicate their ENPM needs.

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Integrated Forest Vegetation Management: Stages and Development Prospects

Platonov

2023

Forestry Engineering Journal

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When enterprises of the timber industry complex form protective forest plantations along linear infrastructure facilities, the problem of subsequent spontaneous reproduction of tree and shrub vegetation arises, which leads to disorder in the territories of the above facilities and creates a threat to the safety of their operation. In many foreign countries, work to maintain the territories of linear infrastructure facilities in a standard state is carried out in strict accordance with certain methods of conceptual management of vegetation growth. At the same time, such management methods are practically unknown both to the domestic scientific community dealing with the issues of protective afforestation, and to those who make decisions on the need to influence unwanted trees and shrubs. The purpose of the study was to study and analyze systemic methods for managing unwanted tree and shrub vegetation growing on the territories of linear infrastructure facilities in order to improve the quality and efficiency of its removal, as well as to make recommendations for the proper maintenance of these territories. Cluster analysis of world research trends in forest vegetation management revealed 3 major areas associated with: a decrease or increase in species richness and diversity of vegetation, as well as the inadmissibility of its subsequent renewal; methods and means of influencing vegetation, including the benefits of vegetation management; ecological and aesthetic consequences of vegetation management, as well as public perception of the results of such management. The established principles for the application of the integrated vegetation management system (Integrated Vegetation Management: IVM), which is widespread in the world, are necessarily taken into account by organizations responsible for managing various protected zones and right-of-way. The most convenient for characterizing a selective approach to the management of unwanted vegetation growing in the territories of linear infrastructure facilities is the phrase «Integrated forest vegetation management». As the basic structure of the IVM system, the model proposed in 2005 by Nowak and Ballard is used, which provides for the implementation of a complete systems approach when influencing vegetation. It is inappropriate to combine in one step (the critical phase of this model) the monitoring of the potential effect of the impact on unwanted vegetation and the assessment of this impact. With further improvement of the IVM system, it is necessary to create a set of clearly defined and at the same time measurable indicators that fully reflect the achieved (or not achieved) effect from the impact on unwanted vegetation. It is shown that in order to introduce protective afforestation into domestic practice, IVM systems should not be a separate vegetation management tool, but a combination of management approaches, including not only the assessment of a plot of a linear infrastructure facility, but also subsequent control and determination of the quality of the normative maintenance of this plot.

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How Engineers and Roadside Vegetation Managers Maintain Roadside Vegetation in Iowa, USA

Cited by 3 publications

References 35 publications

Preliminary Evaluation of Four Legume and Grass Species to Compose Roadside Revegetation in Piauí, Brazil

Preliminary Evaluation of Four Legume and Grass Species to Compose Roadside Revegetation in Piauí, Brazil

Current Impediments for New England DOTs to Transition to Sustainable Roadside Practices for Strengthening Pollinator Habitats and Health

Integrated Forest Vegetation Management: Stages and Development Prospects

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