A visit to switchgrass? trial plots run by Iowa State University researchers; near Ames, IA. Photo by CL Williams, 2010.
Counties: Adams, Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Marathon, Monroe, Pierce, Pepin, Portage, St. Croix, Trempealeau, Vernon, Wood
Description: includes glaciated lands characterized by moraines highly dissected region of ridges and valleys that in some areas contains sharp ridges with very little upland. Soils of the region are derived from glacial materials. Prior to European settlement the region’s vegetation consisted of tallgrass prairie and oak savanna on ridgetops and dry upper slopes, and sugar maple-basswood-oak forest on stepper slopes and wet prairies along rivers and floodplains. Dominant land use/land cover in the region is agriculture (row crops, pasture, dairy), grasslands?, mixed forests of oak, hickory, maple, ashes, elms and cottonwood, and wetlands. Dominant economic activities are dairying, cheese-making, cranberry production and tourism. (See WDNR’s ecological landscapes map, soils map, and natural areas map).
Key biomass? resources: row crop residues (e.g., corn stover?), dedicated perennial herbaceous bioenergy? crops (e.g., switchgrass?), grasslands, forest-based woody materials (e.g., wood chips).
Biomass projects (click to go to Biomass Projects Atlas)
People (click to see regional directory)
Agencies and organizations (click to see regional directory)