Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group

habitat conservation + working landscapes

A close-up image of a bee hovering near a vibrant pink flower, surrounded by green foliage, highlighting the importance of pollinators in nature.

Resources library

This online library is a clearinghouse of tools and information related to habitat on rights-of-way and other lands. From seed mix calculators to mowing guidelines and everything in between, you’ll find it here.

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Thumbnail to Conservation Mowing Implementation and Tracking Guide. Opens link in a new tab.

Conservation Mowing Implementation and Tracking Guide

Conservation Agreements

This guidance document is intended to provide clarity on acceptable approaches for conservation mowing, and how they should be tracked towards CCAA compliance reporting.
Monarch butterfly resting on pink flowers, featured in the 2023 technical report on Monarch habitat modeling, detailing a landscape-scale approach to identifying suitable habitats for Monarchs in the United States.

Monarch Habitat Modeling: Landscape-Scale Approach to Identifying Monarch Habitat in the United States

Case Studies and Research

This report by EPRI summarizes the process and final methods for a landscape-scale, GIS-based approach to identifying monarch habitat in the United States.

Slide on Acoustic Monitoring showcasing its purpose in wildlife conservation. It details the use of devices for passive monitoring of species vocalizations, including birds, bats, frogs, and insects. The slide discusses soundscapes that track biological and anthropogenic sounds, characterizing biodiversity and changes over time. Images of a bat and an owl illustrate the targeted species for monitoring.

Research Roundtable: Advanced Monitoring Techniques for Habitat Management on Rights of Way – April 17, 2023

Webinars

In the first webinar of this year’s Research Roundtable, this video provides an overview of advanced monitoring techniques, followed by specific research studies using eDNA and remote sensing.

Final report from the Virginia Transportation Research Council titled

Promoting Native Roadside Plant Communities and Ensuring Successful Vegetation Establishment Practices

Case Studies and Research

This study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council reviews the effectiveness Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)’s roadside vegetation establishment practices and provides recommendations on how to explore opportunities to improve understanding of procedural policy and implement procedural improvements, including revision of VDOT’s Roadside Development Sheets and testing native plants for suitability for placement alongside Virginia’s roads.

Infographic on sharing data for conservation efforts, highlighting the importance of cross-sector collaboration, selecting organizations for data sharing, and using Public REST endpoints to communicate with stakeholders.

Geospatial Database: Data Sharing Roundtable – March 7, 2023

Assessment Tools, Planning Tools, Webinars

In this fourth Geospatial Database discussion, this video demonstrates how to share geospatial database data with partner organizations and the general public.

Research article titled

Balancing the Management of Powerline Right-of-Way Corridors for Humans and Nature

Case Studies and Research

This study surveyed residents living by utility ROWs in the Chicago, Illinois USA metropolitan area to determine if residents prefer utility ROWs managed as lawn over those managed as native prairies or allowed to grow freely with only woody vegetation removed (“old-field ROWs”) and found that respondents did not prefer mowed over prairie or old-field ROWs.