Vegetation Dynamics Along 
Utility Rights-of-Way 
Newsletter 
Volume 5, Number 3 
May - June 1988 
At the Arboretum 
We remind our visitors of the new loop 
on the Cary Pines Trail and of the 
portion of the Wappinger Creek Trail 
that has been rerouted. Both these 
paths lead through old hemlock stands 
... cool, peaceful places to spend time 
during warm summer weather. 
The Acid Rain Study Ponds and 
Pollution Garden are open to the public. 
For information on these and other IES 
research displays, see the calendar on 
the last page of the Newsletter. 
Sunday Ecology Programs will 
continue throughout the summer. 
Please see the calendar for dates and 
titles. 
The IES Newsletter is published by 
the Institute of Ecosystem Studies 
at the Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum. 
Located in Millbrook, New York, 
the Institute is a division of The 
New York Botanical Garden. All 
newsletter correspondence should 
be addressed to the Editor. 
Gene E. Likens, Director 
Joseph S. Warner, Administrator 
Alan R. Berkowitz, 
Head of Education 
Editor: Jill Cadwallader 
Design and Printing: Central Press 
INSTITUTE OF 
ECOSYSTEM STUDIES 
The New York Botanical Garden 
Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum 
Box AB 
Millbrook, NY 12545 
(914) 677-5343 
You’ve seen the wide strips of cleared land 
zippered with the utility poles and cables 
that allow electric power to flow across the 
landscape. How do these green belts 
remain clear of woody plants? What 
prevents rapidly growing trees from 
reaching the high voltage lines? These are 
questions faced by utility companies, who 
must ensure that trees in rights-of-way 
don’t grow into the power lines. These are 
also questions currently being addressed 
by IES scientists working to understand 
the natural processes that might prevent 
trees from becoming established in these 
areas. 
Utility companies currently use both 
herbicides and mechanical cutting to 
control tree growth along rights-of-way. 
Concerns about the costs and 
environmental effects of herbicides have 
led them to seek alternatives. In ecological 
terms, vegetation management along 
rights-of-way in the northeastern United 
States is largely an effort to halt or 
successfully set back a natural process of 
succession from communities dominated 
by herbaceous plants and shrubs to 
forests. Management techniques that 
involve only repeated cutting of the 
vegetation at a site can actually stimulate 
rapid regrowth of the unwanted trees. 
For many years, ecologists have been 
proposing that there are ecological 
alternatives to the cycle of intensive 
management followed by rapid regrowth. 
One of the strongest proponents of 
alternative approaches has been Dr. 
William Niering, of the Connecticut 
Arboretum, who has documented the 
persistence of native shrub thickets that 
show little invasion by trees. The work of 
Dr. Niering and others suggests that some 
native communities of low growing plants 
may act to inhibit the establishment and 
growth of trees. 
In April 1984 representatives from Central 
Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation met 
with IES scientists Charles Canham, John 
Eaton, Gene Likens, Jay McAninch and 
Mark McDonnell to discuss ecological 
approaches to managing vegetation along 
rights-of-way. IES scientists were 
encouraged to submit a proposal 
describing their ideas. After an extensive 
review, the proposal and an addendum 
were approved by Central Hudson. The 
project, entitled “Vegetation Dynamics 
Along Utility Rights-of-Way: Factors 
Affecting the Ability of Shrub and 
Herbaceous Communities to Resist the 
Establishment and Growth of Tall Woody 
Plants,’’ runs from May 1985 to December 
1991. Dr. Canham, a plant ecologist at 
IES, directs the overall project, with Dr. 
Alan Berkowitz, Mr. McAninch and Dr. 
McDonnell as co-investigators. 
While Central Hudson serves as the direct 
sponsor of the research, roughly three- 
continued on page 2 
Young trees are transplanted into a new nursery study. As a part of the IES investigation of plant growth 
along rights-of-way, the effects of simulated herbivory (using clippers) will be observed. Left to right: 
Summer project assistants Chris Fox, Andrea Kim and Michelle Beucler-Gorsira, with Dr. David Wood 
in the background. 
