32 Nowak and Ballard: Applying Integrated Vegetation Management on Rights-of-Way Said differently, IVM is used to maximize cost effectiveness of management efforts. Step 5: Site-Specific Implementation of Treatments A key element of IVM is the use of prescriptions to describe and document decisions on treatment methods for different circumstances of vegetation management. Prescriptions include a presentation of desired future conditions of the ROW area to be treated, description of the treatment as a function of current vegetation conditions, and justification of treatments as a function of ecological, socioeconomic, and administrative considerations (Florence 1977; Beaufait et al. 1984; Province of British Columbia 2000). Treatment recommendations are the crucial part of the prescription. After developing a suite of treatment options (Steps 2, 3, and 4) and weighing the effects of those treatments on long- term production of vegetation conditions and associated benefits and values, a treatment is chosen by the profes- sional vegetation manager. Blanket prescriptions should not be written for whole ROWs but instead developed for specific sections of any one ROW. There are many examples of site-specific treatment needs in ROW vegetation management. Water resources (e.g., streams and wetlands) are protected by the use of edge buffers where specific treatments may be applicable. Buffer widths may vary as a function of the type of treatment (Environmental Consultants 1991). Site-specific management may also occur across and along ROWs via a two-zone concept. In the “wire zone/border zone” two-zone approach, the edges or border zone of the ROW are treated differently than the center or wire zone of the ROW (Niering 1958; Bramble et al. 1985; Ballard et al. 2004). Vegetation along the centerline can be kept in herbaceous plant and short shrub communities to allow ready access to transmission facilities, whereas the edges of the ROWs are kept in taller shrubs and short trees. Both conditions are produced using different vegetation management treatments and have been shown to produce diverse elements of wildlife habitat (Bramble et al. 1985, 1992, 1997; Yahner et al. 2001). It is critical to have well-educated and trained professionals making these decisions, because of the complexity in doing so in the context of IVM (Abrahamson et al. 1995). It is important to base treatment choices on inventory and analysis of existing site and vegetation conditions (Dykes 1980; Alkiewicz et al. 2002), particularly because these data will be critical in monitoring outcomes of treatments (see Step 6). Step 6: Adaptive Management and Monitoring Adaptive management is formalization of the process of learning from experience (Baskerville 1985). Effects of treatments are monitored over successive cycles. Amount of materials used in treatment, treatment costs, and vegetation ©2005 International Society of Arboriculture conditions before and after treatment are quantified. System performance (reliability) is documented. A wide variety of system elements can be monitored, such as tree populations (Johnstone 1990; Nowak et al. 1995; Finch and Shupe 1997), herbicide use in conjunction with plant community changes with management over time (Finch and Shupe 1997), herbicide residuals with chemical treatments (Norris 1997), water quality (Peterson 1993; Garant et al. 1997), and wildlife populations (Doucet and Brown 1997; Doucet and Garant 1997; Ricard and Doucet 1999). Data collection and record keeping that produce credible, factual information is a requirement of effective monitoring, as is skilled analysis of the data (Norris 1997). Vegetation conditions are compared to the desired condition set during the “management objec- tives and tolerance levels” step (Step 2) and described in prescriptions during the “site-specific implementation of treatments” step (Step 5). Any disparities between “desired” and “achieved” results are investigated, and future treatment options are adjusted accordingly. Monitoring in an IVM program assures stakeholders that treatment effects are gauged and shortfalls are corrected by improving manage- ment schemes to better accomplish management objectives. SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS IVM is a complex of basic and applied knowledge, coupled with high-intensity management effort. It is used to under- stand, justify, choose among, selectively apply, and monitor different types of treatments, with an overall goal of eliciting site-specific, ecosystem-sensitive, economically sensible, and socially responsible treatment effects that lead to refined achievement of management objectives. IVM is described in this paper as a system based on a continuous cycle of information gathering, planning, implementing, reviewing, and improving vegetation manage- ment treatments and the related actions that a utility or other management organization could undertake to meet its business and environmental needs. Systematic steps of IVM can be used to frame efforts by utilities to manage vegeta- tion based on science but also with artistry that comes from experience and a sense of the management situation from site-specific inventories and awareness of socioeconomic constraints and opportunities. IVM differs from past management approaches to managing vegetation on ROWs in its greater breadth and complexity of management considerations and in its higher level of sophistication and effort in evaluating management choices. In this paper, we portray how the basic steps of IVM relate to each other. Applying all IVM steps is the only way to derive full system benefits. Critical information (categorized below in italics) is being produced at each step: Step 1: Basic knowledge—rudimentary ecological under- standing of the biotic (plants and animals) and abiotic components of the managed system, with an aim to under-
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