September 5, 2018

MWGL Chapter To Participate in Roadside Conference as a Meeting Sponsor

The Midwest Great Lakes Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) will be in attendance at the Iowa Roadside Conference September 12-14, 2018  as a conference sponsor.  If you are going to the conference in Cedar Rapids, please drop by our exhibitor booth and say hi.

Conference Theme

Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management: Documenting the Difference is the theme of the 2018 Annual Roadside Conference, September 12-14, 2018 held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sponsored by the Tallgrass Prairie Center in Cedar Rapids, this will be the 32ndannual conference.

What is IRVM?

The Roadside Conference promotes the practice of integrated roadside vegetation management. Integrated roadside vegetation management is an approach to right-of-way maintenance that combines a variety of management techniques with sound ecological principles to establish and maintain safe, healthy, functional roadsides. IRVM includes judicious use of herbicides, spot mowing, prescribed burning, mechanical tree and brush removal and the prevention and treatment of erosion and other disturbances to the right-of-way. Iowa leads the nation in the establishment and management of roadsides using native plants, with an emphasis on prairie vegetation and as a result has some of the most beautiful roadsides in the Midwest.

A long-term IRVM objective is to establish diverse stands of native plants in the right-of-way.These strong, weed-resistant plant communities adapt to all roadside  conditions and provide a variety of services: enhancing rainfall infiltration; slowing runoff; trapping sediment; reducing erosion and creating habitat for pollinators, nesting birds and other wildlife.

For more information about SER MWGL contact us at:  mwgl.ser@gmail.com,

or visit the chapter website at: https://chapter.ser.org/midwestgreatlakes/