Conditions for wildlife in Minnesota, as well as the rest of the globe, could be enhanced by proper biofuel practices using diverse native grasslands, especially in comparison with conditions that could prevail if appropriate steps are not taken. The present project aims to identify management practices that will promote wildlife conservation and associated habitat biodiversity on future working prairies used for biofuel in the state. It will also produce standard biofuel and wildlife evaluation protocols to be employed in adaptive management of emerging biofuel operations as the industry develops, and in general evaluations of wildlife conditions in Minnesota ecosystems now and in the future.
This project presents an innovative way to prevent biofuel lands from harming wildlife habitat—namely, make biofuel lands into wildlife habitat. It represents a large endeavor aimed toward a monumental cause, conserving wildlife while restoring and maintaining the past climates that allowed human civilization to thrive. The project leverages the powers of university, federal, state, and non-governmental agencies to an urgent topic of global significance.
The overall study will take advantage of a blocked design to accommodate varying conditions across the state. The prairie region of Minnesota will be represented by three geographically distributed study areas. Each area will have four repetitions, with each repetition consisting of four 20 acre treatments. The treatments will test four discrete points along a continuum of winter refuge for wildlife. These four levels of winter refuge are not intended to represent exact amounts that will be economically viable to farmers, but rather to allow interpolation and estimation of intermediate points.
Treatment 1, Control: A control treatment in which no harvesting is done. The plot is managed according to the burning regime established for prairie in the area. This provides full winter cover if burning is in the spring.
Treatment 2, Standard refuge: Here 25% of the biofuel area is left unharvested each year. The location of the unharvested area will shift from year to year to help keep the long-term floral structure of the working prairie approximately uniform.
Treatment 3, Reduced refuge: Similar to Treatment 2 above, but only 10% of the area will be left unharvested.
Treatment 4, No refuge: Here 100% of the area will be harvested each fall.
Harvesting will be done in the late fall, well after the nesting season is complete and nonresident birds have left. The biomass will be shipped to the U of M campus in Morris for use in their experimental biomass gasification facility or to the KODA Energy biomass facility in Shakopee, MN.
The major land partners on our research are the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). These are organizations in the state that have large land holdings and have an interest in the outcome of the project. An attempt was made to place the 3 sites along the North-South temperature gradient of the state. The most Northerly location will be at Glacial Ridge, near Crookston. Glacial Ridge is the largest prairie and wetland restoration project in U.S. history managed and owned in part by TNC and FWS. A west central site is on DNR and FWS land in the Morris area. This site is closest to the destination of the biomass as well as an ecologically imperiled landscape know as the Prairie Pothole Region. There are numerous wetland complexes with associated upland prairies that are vital to North American waterfowl and need to be regularly managed. The most southerly sited will be located on DNR land near Windom. This site is on the eastern edge of the prairie pothole region. This is an area of high bioenergy potential that already has a well developed network of wind power.
Value of the various treatments to wildlife will be determined by surveys of primary species and general indicator species, including surveys of (A) nesting and habitat use by birds, including waterfowl and other migratory species, game species, and species of management concern, (B) use by whitetail deer, (C) insect diversity and composition, (D) small mammal diversity and composition. Much of the survey work will be conducted during the warm season, but winter assessments, including snow pack measurements and winter cover availability in each treatment, will also be conducted.
Value of the various treatments for biofuel will be determined by (A) harvesting the biomass and determining its weight, (B) determining the moisture and energy content of the harvest, including basic calorimetric measurements, and (C) estimating production and transportation costs to current and future bioenergy facilities.
Plant surveys will be conducted to classify the plant communities according to species abundance and composition.
The value of the various treatments with respect to ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and water purification will be determined through carbon soil samples, water assessments, and other parameters relevant to collective ecosystem properties.
The project has three main phases organized around the growing seasons.
Season 1. (Jul 1 2008 - Mar 31 2009.) Immediately at the start of the project potential field sites will be visited, examined, and selected by collaboration among partners in the project and participating agencies. Plots will be surveyed and marked. Detailed sampling protocols will be finalized and the harvesting protocol will be established. Field workers will be interviewed and hired.
Season 2. (Apr 1 2009 - Mar 31 2010.) During the first full growing season after plot establishment pre-harvest baseline floral and faunal surveys will be conducted during the spring-summer-fall. The first regular harvest will be made in the late fall. Data entry, preliminary analysis, and interim reporting will occupy the winter.
Season 3. (Apr 1 2010 - Dec 31 2010.) During the second full growing season, the first post-harvest floral and faunal surveys will be conducted during the spring-summer-fall and the second regular harvest will be made in the late fall. Data entry, analysis, and final reporting will occupy
Season 4 and beyond. (Apr 2011 and beyond) Depending on funding, continuation of spring and summer surveys and fall harvests.
