• Reduced Costs

  • Typical vegetation management is completed strictly by mechanical means on a cycle dependent on regulatory requirements. IVM reduces the effort by implementing a routine herbicide and mowing regime that is based on system planning and mapping. Case studies have identified an annual vegetation management budget decrease of 30-50% that is sustainable into the future.

• Long-Term Control and Maintenance

  • After IVM is established, rights-of-way and other lands have more stable, low-growing, and less intrusive plant communities. These plant communities can compete against and resist invasion of incompatible vegetation making IVM an effective long-term vegetation management tool.

• Regulatory Compliance

  • Utilities generally manage their rights-of-way depending on regulatory requirements, including maintenance of visual and physical access to their facilities. Strictly mechanical methods of removing woody vegetation leads to increased shrub and tree growth. IVM successfully suppresses unwanted vegetation over the long-term leading to more effective aerial and ground facility surveys, emergency service restoration, and planning.

• Environmental Benefit

  • IVM creates, enhances, and maintains habitat for wildlife, including for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators, while simultaneously promoting natural erosion control and water quality improvements. Agencies, the public, and other stakeholders view these environmental benefits favorably.

Merjent customizes IVM programs for each client’s needs and expectations by identifying client-specific objectives for vegetation management, discussing how IVM can accomplish these objectives, and the ultimately developing and implementing IVM strategies. Merjent provides the following spectrum of IVM services from planning to public outreach and stakeholder engagement:

• • Planning
  • Program Development
  • System Mapping
  • Priority Area Identification
  • Scheduling
  • Regulatory Compliance
  • Training and On-Call Support
  • Evaluation and Assessment
  • Reporting
  • Public Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement