Comparison of Alternative Maintenance Treatments for an Electric Transmission Right-Of-Way on Steep Mountainous Terrain

A study has been initiated to evaluate some alternative vegetation managementtechniques on an electrical transmission right-of-way in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Three years after right-of-way clearing, fourtreatments and a control were blocked on south-facing slopes at three locations. The treatments consisted of 1) clearcutting by chainsaw, 2) a selective low-volume basal application of herbicide to tall-growing species, 3) clearcutting followed by a selective application of a tree growth regulator to cut stumps, and 4) clearcutting followed by a nonselective application of a tree growth regulator to cut stumps. After two growing seasons, mean tree heights for the chainsaw clearing and selective herbicide treatments were not significantly different from the untreated control. Treatments consisting of chainsaw clearing followed by application of a growth regulator provided the lowest mean tree height. However, areas treated with a growth regulator exhibited the largest increase of undesirable tallgrowing tree seedlings. The chainsaw cutting treatment resulted in the greatest mean height for those species considered to be undesirable components of a right-of-way plant community, and yielded the largest number of sprouting stumps with the highest average number of sprouts per stump. Although the long-term treatment effects cannot clearly be determined after two growing seasons, the selective low-volume basal herbicide method has produced a tendency toward increasing the relative dominance of desirable species within the right-of-way.