Title: Partners in six USA states consider converting invasive plants to fuel
[MSU News Service 6 Oct. 2010] -- Invasive plants make life tougher for
farmers and ranchers who live in the six headwater states of the Missouri River
Basin, so why not turn the plants into fuel and make some money at the same
time? Russian olive and saltcedar alone could supply biomass far into the
future, according to weed experts throughout the region. Converting invasive
plants to fuel is an intriguing idea that's being investigated by partners in a
regional project headed by the Center for
Invasive Plant Management (CIPM) at Montana State University and the
Missouri River Watershed Coalition, said project director Liz Galli-Noble, also
CIPM director.
The center and MSU were recently awarded $1 million from
the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Innovation Grant
program, to develop innovative ideas for managing invasive plants and work with
public and private partners in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
Colorado and Nebraska. Out of 230 grant proposals submitted and 61 grants
awarded for conservation work, MSU's tied for the largest.
Invasive
plants can be ornamental plants that escaped from the garden, fast-growing
non-native plants that were intentionally brought to the region to stabilize
soils or river banks, or strange-looking weeds that continuously spread from
other states and countries. But Galli-Noble said they all can cause very serious
ecological and economic problems in the western United States. She added that
their prevention and control are crucial management issues in the Missouri River
Watershed.
Dense invasive plant infestations choke river systems;
restrict access for irrigation, wildlife and recreation; reduce water quality
and quantity; and degrade or eliminate habitat for wildlife and
livestock.
The six states in the upper Missouri watershed contain
hundreds of thousands of tons of invasive plant biomass, Galli-Noble estimated.
The entire river is 2,540 miles long and drains about one-sixth of the North
American continent. More than a million acres in the western United States are
infested with Russian olive and saltcedar alone.
"It's a huge supply of
currently unwanted and untapped biomass," Galli-Noble said.
Scott
Bockness of Billings, vice president of the Missouri River Watershed Coalition
and weed coordinator for Yellowstone County, added that Russian olive and
saltcedar -- the focus of the pilot project -- displace cottonwoods, willows and
other native trees that grow along streams. Invasive plants push out native
forbs and deciduous trees at alarming rates.
Russian olives are so plentiful in the headwater
states of the Missouri River Basin that MSU and partners in six states are
investigating the possibility of turning them into biofuel. These Russian olives
are located near Bozeman. (MSU photo by Kelly Gorham).
"There really isn't a place on the Yellowstone corridor where
it's not a problem. It's massive," he said.
The Yellowstone River feeds
into the Missouri River. It's a major contributor to the entire ecological
system, Bockness said.
Slade Franklin, state weed coordinator for
Wyoming and member of the Missouri River Watershed Coalition executive
committee, said Russian olive and saltcedar, as well as Canada thistle and white
top, have invaded the riparian areas along several Missouri River tributaries in
Wyoming. In addition to trees, invasive plants have pushed out "some pretty
valuable grasses and forage for wildlife, also for agriculture
communities."
Russian olive invades every county in Wyoming, Franklin
said. He noted that the infestation is particularly significant in the Bighorn
Basin of northern Wyoming.
The regional endeavor is a three-part project,
with a major component focusing on the feasibility of turning saltcedar and
Russian olive into biofuel. Organizers said it will include setting up
demonstration sites and conducting workshops that show how existing technology
can use Russian olive and saltcedar biomass as a feedstock for pelletization,
bio-brick production, gasification and other bioenergy production.
The
second focus of the project is determining the effectiveness of existing
strategies used in the six-state region for controlling invasive plants and
restoring desired native plant communities. The project will monitor short-term
and long-term ecological changes, riparian system health and function, and
natural resource enhancement on selected treatment and control sites.
"There is great potential to incorporate students and other university
resources into the project over our three-year time frame," Galli-Noble
said.
Bockness said many agencies and groups already use various
strategies to control invasive plants, but the six-state project is unique.
Little work has been done prior to implementing management to quantify the
effectiveness or understand the ecological impacts of those strategies, he said.
"Converting invasive plants to fuel is also a unique concept for the
Missouri River Watershed, as far as we know," he said.
Galli-Noble said
companies already use crop residues as feedstock for biofuel production, so it
seems logical that invasive plant biomass feedstock can be used in much the same
way. Bockness added that early BTU testing indicates that fuel made from
invasive weeds is a viable product.
If the idea works, Galli-Noble said
it could spread across the West and the rest of the nation and benefit local,
state, federal and private landowners and managers. Besides providing an income
to offset the costs of controlling invasive plants, she added that this
innovative technology has the potential to develop community-based jobs, produce
an effective energy source, improve the quality and reduce the cost of grazing
land restoration, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, reduce the threat of
wildfire, and promote long-term conservation strategies on high-value riparian
lands.
A third key component of the three-year project is transferring
these innovative conservation technologies and riparian land management
approaches to a broad range stakeholders throughout the region, including the
private sector, Galli-Noble said. All project information will be disseminated
through CIPM and coalition communication networks, field demonstrations and
workshops, and publications.
