Differentiated Management: A Little Extra Step to Save the World

By Julie Boudreau

Be reassured. I didn’t suddenly convert to the world of finance, marketing… and management! Differentiated management couldn’t be more horticultural! It’s a term we hear more and more and many cities are adopting this approach. Given that the biggest challenge of differentiated management is the famous social acceptability, I figured that a little advocacy in its favor couldn’t hurt.

What Is Differentiated Management?

Differentiated management mainly concerns the management of green spaces in municipalities. It was first idealized and put into practice in parks and large public spaces. It targets medians, islands of vegetation and, if there are any, the edges of watercourses. It’s a concept that appeared nebulously in the 90s (I haven’t traced the source), but which has been increasingly put into practice in the province of Quebec over the past ten years or so.

The primary objective of differentiated management is to put forward green space maintenance practices which are more respectful of the environment and which are in line with the notions of sustainable development. It is also a positive response to the challenges of climate change. We also call it harmonic management, sustainable management or sustainable evolutionary management.

This approach invites green space maintenance teams to question all their practices. Thus, they will apply more or less intense maintenance practices, depending on the spaces. For example, around the Town Hall, they will carry out rigorous horticultural maintenance, so that everything is perfectly weeded, pruned and fertilized. But a steep slope in a large park will stop being mowed to let wildflowers flourish. And elsewhere, they will decide to let the plants live without irrigation, without pesticides or without fertilizer. There is therefore differentiation in the interventions.

This approach is absolutely grandiose, because it represents the perfect compromise. It does not force anyone to “go full hippy organic”, but it invites some actions that are good for the planet.

What It’s Not

Some would say that differentiated management is a way to save money (which is somewhat true). When we decide to stop mowing the lawn in certain areas, we save on machinery and labor. But on the other hand, we gain: less air pollution and less noise pollution. However, differentiated management is not a total and complete neglect. It’s simply a different way of maintaining a green space. Differentiated management aims to intervene less, but better.

The truth is that for a differentiated management program to work, you need extensive knowledge of plants in general, and of local plants, in particular. For example, if we want to encourage an area to develop into a “natural” flower meadow, we must quickly recognize which plants we want to encourage and which we must control. It’s also necessary to quickly identify and eradicate invasive and harmful exotic plants. In other words, the differentiated management approach is definitely not a complete and total neglect. Yes, there is monitoring, yes, there are interventions, but they are different.

The other challenge of this approach is that it requires an excellent communication, exchange and sharing channel. Everyone needs to get on board! It all starts with municipal elected officials who must be convinced of the benefits of such an approach. Then those responsible for environmental policies transmit their wishes to the horticultural maintenance teams. We must also not forget to pass on new approaches to contract workers. You even have to have a little chat with the “snow removal guy” who must know where to put the snow, where not to move around and along the way, we can give him a little reminder to watch out for mature trees! In short, it’s not easy to get everything going! All this, for what seems like carelessness!

These Many Benefits

This idea of limiting the maintenance of certain sectors has clearly ecological aims. First, we seek to reduce the use of gasoline-powered machinery, which reduces the load of GHGs released into the atmosphere. Then we want to help increase biodiversity by allowing local plants (native or introduced) to develop. The more plant biodiversity there is, the more we increase the biodiversity of other animal and microbial species. In short, we invite ecosystems to develop.

These controlled strips of nature become paradises for pollinators or nesting places for birds. Certain spaces will allow water to be better captured and maintained in the ground, compared to a short-mowed lawn. Then there is all the decomposition of the organic matter which becomes “self-compost”, always there to nourish the flower bed!

In certain cases, specific mowing dates can be determined so as not to harm the monarch breeding season or to protect a nesting area for certain birds.

Differentiated management takes all living organisms into account and does its best to favor them. (except, maybe the squirrels!) (no, we also like squirrels with differentiated management)

Differentiated Management, Applied to Your Garden

You see me coming with my big boots! Of course, it is very interesting to see what actions municipalities are taking to counteract the effects of global warming. But it’s even more interesting to see what you can do in your own garden!

• Create no-mow lawn areas. I have surely told you about my own no-mow zones, where the hawkweeds tingle with their burnt orange a beautiful grassy meadow. Or those tall daisies and red clover that I go around with my mower!
• Add native plants. Native plants are most likely to be of interest to our insects and other native organisms. It is also a way to stimulate genetic biodiversity which guarantees us good resilience in the face of future climate changes.
• Let parts of your garden return to their natural state. Why bother maintaining everything? A part of the backyard could be given back to Mother Nature. With a few magic touches at the beginning of the project, favoring the desirables, eliminating the undesirables, you eventually end up with something that has achieved a certain balance and that pretty much manages itself.
• Eliminate pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Do we really need to come back on this subject?
• Plant fewer annuals and more perennials. Plants that come back year after year are less demanding in watering and fertilizer.
• If you have access to a water point, vegetate your shoreline. This improves the health of the water point, limits bank erosion and prevents many invasive exotic plants from becoming too established.
• If you already have a shoreline, double its width!

This Challenge of Being Loved

And of course, we arrive at almost the only disadvantage of differentiated management: people find it ugly! It looks neglected. It’s not clean. More often than not, it is citizens’ complaints that cause a project to abort. To gain peace, city horticulturists take out the mower, and mow. They are even going to completely replace native plants with horticultural plants… prettier… more socially accepted. More docile.

I have said it over and over again on this blog, the definition of beauty is the most subjective thing in the world. What we found beautiful in the 70s is no longer necessarily so in the eyes of some people.

And that’s kind of what we’re aiming for with all these communications plans, these education campaigns and these awareness activities. The goal is always to show these tall grasses in a new light. Instead of seeing it as negligence, see it as a masterpiece of nature.

Yes, we sometimes ask for a lot! Ask a person to see what is in front of them with different lens. Let them see that this is a positive action of their city in favor of the environment. Help them to be proud of their city and its ecological actions. Give them 30 minutes, just 30 minutes of doing nothing but watching, to see all the life that abounds in such a small naturalized space. At worst, show them the savings made by the City and that… the tax bill will not increase this year! Make them realize that one day, it’s the perfect lawns that will be the insult to intelligence.

Because, it must be remembered, this is not a fashion, nor a trend. It is a necessary call to change. But yes, I see it and I experience it daily, it is not easy to convince a person that this is how we are going to “save the world!”