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A new Wisconsin-based collaboration is addressing the issue of ecological soundness and economic feasibility of vegetation harvest as a tool in habitat management. The US Fish & Wildlife Service Leopold Wetland Management District and University of Wisconsin – Madison are leading an effort to maintain grasslands^? in early successional stages by partnering with farmers to harvest and utilize the vegetation for livestock feed and bedding.

What is the Wisconsin Grasslands Bioenergy Network?...

Spotlight On...

The Southwest Wisconsin Grassland & Stream Conservation Area

The Southwest Wisconsin Grassland & Stream Conservation Area (SWGSCA) is a new partnership between local, state, and federal agencies; non-profit organizations; landowners and individual citizens. Together, they work towards the common goal of sustaining functional grasslands^?, savannas, and stream habitats for agricultural production and protection of important habitats and ecological communities of southwestern Wisconsin. See more.

The Nature Conservancy: grassland conservation in SW Wisconsin

The Wisconsin and Minnesota Chapters of The Nature Conservancy are working to protect and restore prairie landscapes in agricultural settings. Energy production is poised to transform the ecology and economy of these landscapes. The Conservancy’s role is to align bioenergy^? production with conservation goals such as prairie restoration and maintaining large contiguous areas of grass for habitat for uncommon birds. The Conservancy is using gifts from Alliant Energy Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society to plant grasslands^? and manage remnant prairie in key landscapes of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

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Carolyn Schmitz, UW-Madison: Grassland bird nesting success in warm season Conservation Reserve Program fields in southwestern Wisconsin.

Carolyn Schmitz, a graduate student in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at UW-Madison, is partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in an investigation of the nesting activity of grassland birds in fields of native warm season grasses^? in southwestern Wisconsin. These habitats are potential candidates for biomass^? energy production.

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Mathew Dornbush, UW – Green Bay: Maximizing Ecological Services and Economic Returns from Targeted Establishment of Biomass Grasslands for Electricity and Heat Generation in Wisconsin.

With colleagues at UWGB, and funding from a Focus On Energy Grant, Mathew Dornbush is leading an effort to evaluate the economic and environmental outcomes of converting poorly drained, marginal agricultural areas into perennial, biomass^? yielding grasslands^? for electricity and heat generation in Wisconsin.

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Bioenergy 101

Facts and basic information.

Key Concepts

Carol Williams clwilliams4@wisc.edu
(608)890-3858
Department of Agronomy
1575 Linden Dr.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706

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Harvest Guidelines

Wisconsin Sustainable Planting and Harvest Guidelines for Non-forest Biomass^? on Public and Private Lands

These Guidelines are an effort to encourage decision-making and land use practices that benefit farmers financially while protecting the state’s natural resources.

A visit to switchgrass^? trial plots run by Iowa State University researchers; near Ames, IA. Photo by CL Williams, 2010.