Resilient Right-of-Ways

Resilient Right-of-Ways: A guide to community stewardship of Vermont backroads provides all municipalities with a better understanding of the elements we see in Vermont's roadside vegetation and the best practices that can grow and sustain resilient plants, trees, and forests in municipal right-of-ways. Informed by 200 miles of rural roadside assessments and input from over 60 local volunteers and municipally focused professionals, this guide provides resources for community stewards planning for site-specific tree and forest management that increases roadside resilience in the face of frequent disturbances (i.e. road construction, storm damage, and mowing) and long-term constraints (i.e. budget limitations, changing regulations, and increasing forest pests and disease).

Read more about right-of-way vegetation and its place in Vermont's Urban & Community Forestry program in this City Trees article, Resilient Right-of-Ways: A Tale of Urban Forestry in a Small-Town State.

Rural road in East Montpelier

Resilient Right-of-Ways Guide

Use this guide to learn more about typical roadside vegetation along Vermont's backroads and the challenges and best practices associated with maintaining them.

Resilient Right-of-Ways Guide

Download the Guide by Topic

Introduction
Elements of the Vermont Backroad
  1. Manageable vegetation width
  2. Historic and culturally significant shade trees
  3. Roadside ash impact
  4. Overhead utilities
  5. Invasive plant species
  6. Hedgerow locations
  7. Tree health and mechanical damage
  8. Agriculture in the right-of-way
  9. Young forest
  10. Mature forest
Processes for Backroad Stewardship
  1. Know your partners and understand their goals
  2. Support diverse and native roadside trees and plants
  3. Prepare for emerald ash borer and manage ash tree health
  4. Address hazard trees with the tree warden
  5. Develop a tree ordinance or policy
  6. Develop a roadside mowing policy
  7. Understand the role of trees in updated stormwater regulations
  8. Maintain backroads and ditches to specifications
  9. Create and maintain a public relations plan for roadside vegetation management
  10. Keep abreast of funding opportunities

Roadside Vegetation Action Plans

Calais
Charlotte

Piloted the Roadside Ash Inventory Tool, learn more about the tool.

East Montpelier
Hyde Park

Resilient Right-of-Ways Action Plan and Recommendations (2019)

Johnson

Resilient Right-of-Ways Action Plan and Recommendations (2019)

Marshfield

Resilient Right-of-Ways Action Plan and Recommendations (2019)

Panton

Resilient Right-of-Ways: Planning for Healthy Trees, Clean Stormwater, and Reduced Erosion Along Vermont's Rural Roads (2020)

Plainfield

Town of Plainfield 2019 Ash Inventory Results and draft Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan

Stowe

Resilient Right-of-Ways Action Plan and Recommendations (2019)

Tinmouth

Resilient Right-of-Ways Action Plan and Recommendations (2019)

Contact Joanne Garton with questions about the Rural Road Resilient Right-of-Ways initiative.