The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) Leopold Wetland Management District (District) manages over 12,000 acres of waterfowl production areas (WPAs) across 17 southeast Wisconsin counties. These WPAs provide grassland nesting habitats for thousands of ducks and geese annually. In an effort to increase management flexibility, the District is assessing whether mowing will help achieve habitat management goals. Cut material may be harvested by local farmers to be used as livestock bedding, rough forage or even used to produce bioenergy. The District and researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have initiated a collaborative project investigating the potential multiple benefits of cutting and harvest of WPA vegetation. A primary objective is assessment of mowing as a waterfowl habitat management tool and use of mowed materials as a source of feed, fiber and fuel for local agricultural economies. A key element of the project is partnering with neighboring farmers in harvest, storage and biomass utilization activities, and inclusion of multiple stakeholders in all stages of exploration and learning. More broadly, the project aims to explore how native grasslands could provide a source of biomass for bioenergy (including biofuels and thermal heating) and result in ecological, environmental and societal benefits within mosaics of public and private lands. Ultimately, the project will serve as a catalyst for similar activities involving management and use of perennial vegetation for achieving conservation and production goals in agriculture-dominated landscapes. This project will also serve as a demonstration of how public and private land-owners can work together to achieve multiple goals of conservation, production and development.

Project description:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is responsible for managing 12,000 acres of waterfowl production areas across 17 counties in Wisconsin. These collective areas are referred to as the Leopold Wetland Management District (WMD). One way they do this is by converting marginal lands to grasslands populated with Wisconsin’s native plants. They ensure that these and preexisting grasslands in the Leopold WMD can survive by managing them with regular, varying disturbance. Their goal is to provide livable habitat and breeding grounds for Wisconsin wildlife—including nearly 700,000 ducks and geese that visit Wisconsin to nest.

The most widely used disturbance method is prescribed burns. The burns help the grasslands flourish by disrupting the growth of shade-creating, woody forest vegetation. However, there are very specific sets of parameters that must be met in order for a prescribed burn to occur. With so many interdependent characteristics, prescribed burns don’t allow the USFWS much flexibility to perform their duties. It’s for this reason they approached the University of Wisconsin–Madison to explore and collect data on other methods they might utilize.

This past year the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative worked closely with other state agencies to prepare and release the nation’s first planting and harvesting guidelines for non-forest biomass with energy in mind. The “Wisconsin Sustainable Planting and Harvest Guidelines for Non-forest Biomass on Public and Private Lands” will be relied on to provide guidance throughout this process, as the USFWS determine if grassland harvesting will help them better manage Wisconsin’s grasslands for the benefit of wildlife.

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Contact: Kristin Ruesch or Matthew Pagel, 608-266-9600

Emphasis on biomass and biogas a smart investment for Wisconsin

Madison – Technologies such as biomass and biogas will receive seventy-five percent of the Focus on Energy renewable resource program funding under a scenario approved on a 3-0 vote by the Public Service Commission today. The remaining percentage will go to eligible wind and solar projects.

The Commission will continue to allow the current Focus on Energy program administrator to follow through on the $8 million in 2012 commitments approved by the previous program administrator, of which $2.7 million have already been paid out in the first quarter.
The Commission also established an annual budget for spending on renewable resources of up to $10 million provided the renewable component helps to maintain the program’s overall 2.3 percent benefit/cost ratio in 2013-2014, and does not reduce energy savings by more than 7.5% compared to an efficiency-incentives-only program.

“The new mix in the Focus on Energy program recognizes where our state’s strengths in renewables are,” said Commission Chairperson Phil Montgomery. “The agricultural and forest products industries are two of the largest and most important industries in the state. Weighting the renewables component of Focus on Energy towards biomass and biogas technologies, which have higher overall benefits, makes sense for Wisconsin.”

The Commission agreed to a level of funding which allows renewables to continue to be a significant part of the Focus on Energy program, but does not jeopardize the overall benefit/cost ratio of 2.3 found by a Legislative Audit Bureau audit last year.

“It is important that Focus on Energy continue to support cost-effective renewable energy applications for all utility customer classes,” said Commissioner Eric Callisto. “Today’s decision ensures that result, and I plan to closely monitor its implementation so that funding levels remain strong, offerings continue to be cost-effective, and a reasonable breadth of technologies remains available to customers.”

“Today’s action takes the Focus on Energy program in a positive direction and on a path to fiscal sustainability that will provide certainty and stability in the marketplace,” said Commissioner Ellen Nowak. “As a Commission, we demonstrated our commitment to having a fiscally-healthy energy efficiency and renewables program in Wisconsin.”
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Speaker: Maggie Koerth-Baker
Title : Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure

Description: Electricity just happens. Flip a switch, and the lights turn on. The system is reliable enough and invisible enough that it’s easy to spend your entire life not knowing how it works, even though you use it every day. But in an age of limited resources and environmental change, ignoring our electric infrastructure is a luxury we can no longer afford. The good news: Infrastructure is fascinating. Maggie Koerth-Baker explains how our flawed and surprisingly precarious electric system evolved, how it controls what we can and can’t do to solve our energy crisis today, and what we can learn about the future of energy by studying its past.

Bio: Maggie Koerth-Baker is a science journalist and the science editor at BoingBoing.net, one of the most widely read blogs in the United States. Her work has appeared in magazines like Discover, Popular Science, and New Scientist, and on websites like Scientific American, and National Geographic News. Her book, Before the Lights Go Out, chronicles the inner workings of the American electrical system, why it works the way it does, and how it will have to change to meet the energy needs of a new generation.

Webpage: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~bgibson/maggie.html

Where: 1106 Mechanical Engineering, 1513 University Avenue

William W. Hogan
Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy
John. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The green agenda envisions dramatic changes in the production and use of energy. The electricity sector is critical because it is already a large user of fossil fuels, and many green initiatives assume electrification of the transportation sector. The challenges require fundamental innovations on a huge scale. The uncertainty about both future conditions and technology precludes any simple prescription. A focus on incentives and electricity market design motivates and identifies policy initiatives required to address these challenges.

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Today, as President Obama went to Ohio State University to discuss the Administration’s all-out, all-of-the-above strategy for American energy, the White House announced up to $35 million over three years to support research and development in advanced biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. The projects funded through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI)—a joint program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Energy Department (DOE)—will help develop economically and environmentally sustainable sources of renewable biomass and increase the availability of renewable fuels and biobased products that can help replace the need for gasoline and diesel in vehicles and diversify our energy portfolio. Today’s announcement to invest in advanced biofuels supports President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown, alternative energy sources designed and produced by American workers. These investments will help cut America’s oil imports, develop clean alternative energy technologies, and protect American families and businesses from the ups and downs of the global oil market.

“USDA’s partnership with the Department of Energy aims to improve our country’s energy security and provide sustainable jobs in communities across the country,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This funding represents the kind of innovation we need to build American-made, homegrown biofuels and biobased products that will help to break our dependence on foreign oil and move our nation toward a clean energy economy.”

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As part of President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources, the Energy Department announced today up to $15 million available to demonstrate biomass-based oil supplements that can be blended with petroleum, helping the United States to reduce foreign oil use, diversify the nation’s energy portfolio, and create jobs for American workers. Known as “bio-oils,” these precursors for fully renewable transportation fuels could be integrated into the oil refining processes that make conventional gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels without requiring modifications to existing fuel distribution networks or engines.

“The Energy Department’s investments to develop renewable transportation fuels are a key part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to develop America’s domestic energy resources and reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “Driving innovation through targeted investments helps to speed development of next-generation biofuels made in America, biofuels that will help to protect American families and businesses from the ups and downs of the global oil market.”

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In Washington, U.S. Department of Agriculture – along with the Department of Energy, and the Department of Navy – will co-host an Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable in Washington D.C. on May 18, 2012 as the next step in the partnership with the private sector to produce advanced biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement today during his keynote address to the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference.

“Advanced biofuels are a key component of President Obama’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy to limit the impact that foreign oil has on our economy and take control of our energy future,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “By bringing together farmers, scientists, and the private sector to produce fuel for the American military, we can help spur an industry producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks all over the nation, strengthen our middle class, and help create an economy built to last.”

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The UW-Madison Agroecology Program will hold a benefit concert on Friday, April 13 to support graduate student research in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

The event, called the Loving of the Land concert, will feature Graminy and The Blue Dog Consort. These two Madison groups offer a unique blend of classical and bluegrass traditions called “class-grass.”

Stephanie Elkins, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio show “Simply Folk,” will serve as emcee for the event. Slow Food-UW will be offering a dinner-show combination, featuring a local and sustainable meal.

The concert will be held on the UW-Madison campus at Mills Hall, 445 N. Park St. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission and $9 students at the door, and $9 general admission and $6 students in advance here. 

For student research sponsorship opportunities contact: Michael Bell, michaelbell@wisc.edu, (608) 265-9930.