This hibiscus plant is an example of the new
plantings DRG installed to replace invasive
species as part of a wetlands mitigation project.
March/April 2017 | The Davey Bulletin 21
4 SITES, 1 GOAL
DRG mitigated wetlands
and reduced invasive
species at four locations as
part of the U.S. 31 highway
project in Indiana. The
locations included:
• 90-plus acres in
LaPorte County
• 10 acres in Goshen
• 15 acres on 2 separate
sites near South Bend
"They're all in different
ecological regions with
different challenges," said
Todd Gillian, site manager,
DRG. "Working through
each challenge and making
them successful is the
most enjoyable part."
years thanks to the relationships built
by Jake and the ability of our Natural
Resource Consulting Indiana office to
bring in help from other Davey offices,"
said Joe Gregory, assistant manager,
natural resource consulting. "The U.S.
31 project is a great example of how
that type of collaboration can be used
to meet the client's needs."
Also, across all four sites, DRG has
planted more than 1,000 trees.
Finally, the wetlands mitigation was
one of the factors that let INDOT
eliminate 30 traffic signals and more
than 600 un-signalized and private
entryways onto the road, thus creating
a streamlined and uninterrupted
state highway.
"This project exemplifies INDOT's
mission to increase safety, improve
mobility and support economic growth
in Indiana," INDOT Commissioner
Brandye Hendrickson said in a
November press release.
Reed canary grass, which had
consumed large portions of the areas.
"In LaPorte County, when we first
started there, we were using high-
pressure sprayers, hundreds of gallons
of herbicide solution and working for
weeks at a time to get the invasive
species under control," he said. "Now
we're only using a few gallons of
herbicide solution and spending a day
or two at the site each time we treat
for invasive plants. It's been rewarding
seeing the benefits of the different
native species returning to the site
over time."
BROAD BENEFITS
DRG's work on the U.S. 31 project
has had a big impact in a lot of arenas.
First, the work afforded collaborative
opportunities between the DRG
Indiana office and several other Davey
offices and service lines, including:
Davey Commercial Landscape
Services, Indianapolis; Conservation
Land Stewardship, LLC, a subsidiary
of Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc.,
a Davey company; and DRG's Ohio
Natural Resource Consulting team.
"DRG's opportunities with our client,
CHA, have steadily grown over the
