Vegetation Management for Rights-of-Way 

 and Roadsides 



By Frank E. Egler ^ 



Department of Conservation and General Ecology 

 American Museum of Natural History 



[Witli 6 plates] 



I?f THE short time of less than a decade, a totally new field of vege- 

 tation management, that concerned with rights-of-way and roadsides, 

 shows signs of being born as an integrated division of land manage- 

 ment. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of the problems 

 of managing this type of vegetation and especially to assess the value 

 of herbicides when used as a "tool" in this management. 



VEGETATION MANAGEMENT— WHAT IT IS 



"Vegetation," a technical term used to refer to natural and semi- 

 natural complexes of plant communities, is the subject of scientific 

 investigation by numerous groups. "JNIanagement" is commonly 

 used where manipulation for practical ends is involved. For pur- 

 poses of orientation, we use the phrase "vegetation management" to 

 refer collectively to the principles and practices of all these groups. 

 On the practical side, this includes forestry, range and pasture man- 

 agement, wildlife management, soil conservation, and watershed 

 management, each with its own body of data, and each often de- 

 veloped independently of the others. On the academic side, we have 

 the various disciplines of plant ecology, phytosociology, geobotany, 

 and many other realms. 



THE ROADSIDES AND THE RIGHTS-OF-WAY 



Most people are only subconsciously aware of roadsides and rights- 

 of-way. To them the world consists of cities, with their industrial 

 and residential areas, and of "country," with forests and grasslands 

 and croplands. But gradually a new type of acreage is becoming 



1 Chairman, Committee for Chemical Brush Control Recommendations for Rightofways, 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



299 



