Proactively Managing Land Is Key to Avoiding Damage from Wildfires
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Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) practices are crucial for land managers who take care of forests, highways, utility rights-of-way, and other uninhabited lands. These practices help reduce the risk of wildfires to nearby residents and prevent damage to homes, farms, and businesses by managing vegetation in a way that alters the behavior of fires or allows them to be controlled quickly. Stopping fires swiftly not only saves lives and communities but also reduces air pollution from smoke and limits exposure to other environmental pollutants from burning and smoldering materials.
As wildfire season approaches in the Western United States, the recent fires in Los Angeles, California in January 2025 have reminded us again of the swift, devastating and deadly impacts of wildfires. These fires can spread rapidly, causing loss of lives, homes, infrastructure, livestock and wildlife as well as causing significant environmental damage. While it is impossible to completely prevent wildfire since naturally occurring burns can be a natural part of the life cycle of some vegetation, there are many proactive measures that can be taken to mitigate their effects in advance of an emergency.
What is IVM and How is it Used?
Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) is a comprehensive approach that uses a combination of techniques to manage the types of plants and vegetation that fuel wildfires. These measures can include:
- Controlled burns to reduce incompatible fuels such as invasive plants, trees and shrub species and grasses that are considered “flash fuels” and burn quickly.
- Creating fire breaks that slow the spread of fires and provide entry points for firefighters is a technique used to alter a future fire’s behavior.
- Adding grasses and other plants to the landscape to prevent invasive species like flash fuels from taking over.
Selective herbicides are a key tool in vegetation management. They control specific types of vegetation without disturbing other plants, enabling land managers to reduce invasive species while preserving native plants and grasses. Selective herbicides are used in combination with other practices like mowing and controlled burns.
Selective herbicides are critical for controlling “ladder fuels,” which are vegetation types that allow low-burning fires to climb vertically into tree canopies, creating crown fires. Ladder fuels typically consist of woody species and brush, contributing to fire intensity and speed. After a fire, selective herbicides can also help restore native vegetation and biodiversity by controlling invasive species that can crowd out the desired native plants.
Working with Our Partners: Corteva Team Makes a Difference
At Corteva, we believe in a team effort to manage wildfire risks. We collaborate with private landowners, ranchers, farmers, timber growers, and public partners like utility managers, state agencies, and other entities to develop IVM plans tailored to unique land and fire concerns. Post-fire, we work to incorporate new learnings that can help avoid loss of lives and reduced structural and environmental damage in the future.
A recent public-private partnership announced by US Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, is a timely example of bringing public and private entities together to proactively manage risk. The agreement will initiate the process to develop, construct and maintain shaded fuel break projects over a three-year period in California, adding about 400 miles to the existing 2,200-mile network of interconnected fuel breaks across private and federal land. The agreement also provides for construction and maintenance of fuel breaks in Oregon.
Effective land management is not just about wildfires, either. In Salmon, Idaho, Corteva is working alongside the US Fish and Wildlife service to convert a monoculture of invasive annual grass (cheatgrass) into native bunch grasses and forbs using selective herbicides like Milestone®. Cheatgrass is highly flammable and poor overwintering forage for ungulates like elk, bighorn sheep, and mule deer. This area is a key overwintering habitat for these species, and the USFS has successfully restored native vegetation through the use of selective herbicides.
Learn more about vegetation management at Corteva. And check out this landing page for a deeper look at how Corteva can help with wildfire prevention and restoration.
®Trademarks of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies. Milestone® has no grazing or haying restrictions for any class of livestock, including lactating dairy cows, horses (including lactating mares) and meat animals prior to slaughter. Label precautions apply to forage treated with Milestone and to manure and urine from animals that have consumed treated forage. Consult the label for full details. Milestone is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions. © 2025 Corteva.