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70 Years: The Pennsylvania State Game Lands 33 Research Project
Stephen Hilbert
General Manager Technical Services, Asplundh Technical Services
What began as a public concern in 1953 about the impact of vegetation management activities on electric utility rights of way has led to the longest running study on the practice that is now call Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM).
There are five cooperators who support the research: Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC, Corteva, First Energy, PECO and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Dr. Carolyn Mahan currently leads the research team. Over the years the funding for the project has allowed the researchers to measure the impacts of vegetation management activities on Utility Rights of Way. For 70 years researchers have studied plant diversity, wildlife habitat and wildlife use within a right of way located outside of State College Pennsylvania, and two additional sites that have been added over the years.
Results have shown time and time again that plant communities can be selectively managed to meet Utility Vegetation Management goals and create diverse plant communities for wildlife, including pollinators. The techniques that have been demonstrated and researched at the sites can be utilized by anyone wanting to create wildlife habitat and have become the standard for many utility companies as a cost-effective means to control incompatible vegetation. It has been shown that the tenets of IVM can be scaled up or down to suit vegetation management goals, not just on electric utility rights of way, but on a wide variety of lands needing vegetation management.
In addition to butterfly, snake and nesting bird studies, Dr. Carolyn Mahan leads the current research focused on beetle populations as they are key indicators of a healthy environment and results are anticipated soon. All of the up-to-date information can be found at: https://sites.psu.edu/transmissionlineecology/.
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