Best Management Practices for Brushing between May 1 and September 30

Follow these standard best management practices that apply to all roadwork projects.

When brushing in foxsnake habitat, inspect trees thoroughly before removing, limbing, trimming, or topping them.

When brushing in bat habitat or where bats are known to occur, wait until between November 1 and March 1 to remove trees with a diameter at breast height of 25 cm or more, or trees with loose shaggy bark. If the tree must be removed during the active bat season, remove it after dusk.

Brush early in the spring before milkweed and other flowering plants emerge.

Near reptile overwintering habitat, do not significantly alter or clear-cut areas during their overwintering period between September and May.

Stagger brushing operations across multiple years.

• Minimize the width of brushing corridors.
• nly remove trees that create a hazard for driver safety. Selectively trim trees to preserve wildlife habitat while maintaining road safety.
• Ensure only the approved area is brushed. Set boundaries for brushing zones, using tree protection barriers.

• n stream banks or in riparian zones, if some removal is necessary, prune or top vegetation instead of full removal.
• Avoid brushing on slopes or erosion-prone areas.

• Leave brush piles in place. Use logs, branches, and shrubs that have been removed to create brush piles within or along the edges of clearings.
• If natural habitat must be significantly altered, maintain or replace all naturally occurring snake habitat structures, including cover objects like rocks, brush piles, logs, and rock piles.

• Retain wildlife trees (e.g., snags, cavity trees). Where full retention is not possible, preserve dead or decaying trees by limbing or topping instead of full removal.
• Prioritize retaining trees with abundant seeds, cones, or nuts, like oaks, pines, and beech.
• Leave the stump and root system of cut trees.

• Do not use wetlands, waterways, or water bodies to transport or dispose of vegetation.
• All accumulated debris, vegetation, or logs that are removed from the site is temporarily stored and stabilized a minimum of 30 m away from watercourses above the highwater mark.
• Fell trees away from all watercourses.

Brush, clear or grub to create openings that are mostly exposed to sunlight during the day and leave some shrub and ground cover.

Organic material (trees, stumps, woody debris, shrubs) removed from work sites can be turned into mulch and used for local revegetation projects. If used, ensure all organic material is free of weeds or invasive species prior to use.