Historically, managing vegetation was purely an operational issue. But as progressive legislative changes have come into act and momentum has gathered behind the environmental movement, vegetation management has crept up the priority list.
The complexity of vegetation control has grown significantly in recent years. The days are over when management meant cutting down troublesome trees and using effective, but environmentally toxic chemicals to ensure operational efficiency and remove safety risks.
Today, management requires more professionalism, not only to remain compliant with the raft of increasingly complicated legislation, but because utilities demand a higher standard of arboricultural work.
Furthermore, with climate change predicted (which will significantly affect growth rates) vegetation will become a key tool in mitigating global warming’s localised impact. As such, controlling and exploiting vegetation will be an integral part of utilities’ operations.
Vegetation is going to continue rising up the agenda until it is a board-level issue for all major land-owning entities. Furthermore, the issue has become a lot more complicated because companies need to operate within stringent rules and timeframes.
Many of the utilities, especially among electricity network operators, have already started giving vegetation management a much higher priority. This is partly because of their legal responsibilities and partly because of the realisation that the climate is going to be a lot more unpredictable in future and companies need to prepare.
But the same obstacles and challenges remain: operational efficiency cannot be compromised; safety is non-negotiable; costs needs to be kept to the minimum and businesses have to remain compliant with the law.
New legislation on the way
By normal standards, 2010 is going to be a big year for the vegetation management industry. Major developments include updates to the way risk from trees is managed, revised Plant Protection Products Regulations (PPPR) and the Sustainable Use Directive. The latter is currently under consultation.
While we do not envisage products being banned, these developments will significantly affect processes and could cause a serious problem for operations directors planning their summer management programmes.
In the case of tree risk assessments, recent high profile court cases have clarified land owners and managers’ responsibility to ensure their tree stock does not present an unacceptable risk to personal health and safety. In some cases, the tree owners have been found liable for the deaths or injuries and were ordered to pay significant fines.
And with the production of the draft British Standard 8516 outlining recommendations for Tree Safety Inspections and the on-going work of the Forestry Commission’s National Tree Safety Group, a nationally recognised standard for managing tree risk is rapidly approaching.
Climate change and vegetation management
But it is climate change that will have the biggest long-term impact on vegetation management.
Trees can be planted to act as windbreaks, plants with developed root systems can help prevent landslips, soak up water in heavy, prolonged downpours and regulate stream flow into water courses.
It is the sharp end of how utilities are going to manage vegetation in the future. Once it was a question of keeping it under control and minimising the costs incurred, in the future utilities will be relying on trees and natural vegetation to protect exposed facilities from storms and excess surface water. Obviously vegetation is not a complete solution, but it does offer significant – and sustainable – climate change mitigating opportunities.
Nothing can be said with any ...
Register to view all of this article »