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Professor and witnesses say integrated vegetation management can reduce fuel loads and maintenance costs
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Summary
An academic witness told a House subcommittee that integrated vegetation management (IVM)—favoring native, low‑growing species under rights‑of‑way—can lower fuel loads, support biodiversity and reduce long‑term maintenance costs, but permitting still constrains implementation.
Dr. Carolyn Mahan, a professor of biology and environmental studies representing the Right of Way Stewardship Council, told a House subcommittee that integrated vegetation management (IVM) can reduce wildfire risk while supporting native habitat and lowering long‑term maintenance costs for rights‑of‑way.
"If you have stable native habitat, you support wildlife and you also minimize the risks of wildfires," Mahan said, describing research and photo examples from the Plumas National Forest and Central Pennsylvania where early successional, native plant communities under transmission corridors reduced invasive species and required less frequent maintenance.
Dr. Mahan said integrated approaches are a recommended practice acknowledged by the U.S. Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but that IVM has not been fully codified into policy and still often requires permitting that creates burdens. She urged that companies doing demonstrably effective ecological work be provided some regulatory relief to implement IVM at scale.
Committee members and other witnesses echoed the potential of IVM as an innovation that can both preserve ecological values and keep corridors free of tall, hazardous trees. Members pressed for practicalities: Mahan acknowledged that IVM can require permitting and that debris management (from felling/pruning) must be done in ways that do not increase short‑term fuel loads.
The hearing did not produce formal regulatory changes; members and witnesses emphasized the need to harmonize permitting and to consider IVM as part of combined mitigation approaches that include infrastructure upgrades and programmatic NEPA where appropriate. The committee left the record open and may seek additional technical materials from the Right of Way Stewardship Council and other stakeholders.
