Study Claims Ethanol is Crowding Out Wildlife

Prairie Farmer
Jason Vance
Published: Jan 14, 2010

RFA points to recent record crop on fewer acres in refuting report findings.

On Wednesday, a study conducted for the National Wildlife Federation by a team of graduate students from the University of Michigan was released. The report analyzes the current and potential impacts of increased corn ethanol production on wildlife and habitat in the Prairie Pothole states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

According to the study, populations of sensitive wildlife species are declining significantly in areas with high increases in corn plantings. The updated Renewable Fuel Standard, passed in 2007, requires corn ethanol production to increase from 10.57 billion gallons in 2009 to 15 billion in 2015, which means corn ethanol production will continue to increase.

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GPI conference: Biomass creates opportunities for wildlife, agriculture

Biomass Magazine December 2009
By Lisa Gibson

There could be a balance in managing land for energy and wildlife simultaneously, creating several opportunities for both sectors, according to Dave Nomsen, vice president of governmental affairs for Pheasants Forever.

Nomsen spoke at the Great Plains Institute’s Nov. 2 conference. “There are some intriguing possibilities,” he said of that balance. Prescribed burning, while limited in many parts of the country, can ensure plant residual is removed and recycled to keep the land productive. Harvesting biomass removes vegetation and keeps it in an early plant successional stage rotation, he said. Removing exotic, invasive plant species such as reed canary creates a better habitat and those plant species might be beneficial for biofuels production, he added.

Also speaking at the conference was Robert Bonnie, senior environment and climate advisor to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Enormous opportunities exist for the agricultural sector in climate change legislation, Bonnie told attendees. “If we do it right; if we get the incentives right,” he said.

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In Search of Wildlife-Friendly Biofuels

U.S. News & World Report
Posted October 5, 2009
By Jennifer Donovan

October 1, 2009—When society jumps on a bandwagon, even for a good cause, there may be unintended consequences. The unintended consequence of crop-based biofuels may be the loss of wildlife habitat, particularly that of the birds who call this country’s grasslands home, say researchers from Michigan Technological University, The Nature Conservancy, the University of Minnesota and elsewhere.

In a paper published in the October 2009 issue of the journal BioScience, David Flaspohler, Joseph Fargione and colleagues analyze the impacts on wildlife of the burgeoning conversion of grasslands to corn. They conclude that the ongoing conversion of grasslands to corn for ethanol production is posing a very real threat to the wildlife whose habitat is being transformed. One potential solution: Use diverse native prairie plants to produce bioenergy instead of a single agricultural crop like corn.

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Native grasses as biofuel aids wildlife

UPI.com

HOUGHTON, Mich., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Using prairie plants to produce bio-energy would help bird populations threatened by the conversion of grasslands to corn, scientists in Michigan said.

"There are ways to grow biofuel that are more benign," David Flaspohler, an environmental scientist at Michigan Tech, said in the journal BioScience.

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Strategy outlined for growing bioenergy while protecting wildlife

EurekaAlert
Public release date: 1-Oct-2009
American Institute of Biological Sciences

Careful planning, together with the use of feedstocks from perennial-dominated prairie, could minimize the adverse effects of expanding bioenergy use on wildlife

A study described in the October issue of BioScience identifies diverse native prairie as holding promise for yielding bioenergy feedstocks while minimizing harm to wildlife. Harvesting diverse prairie, which is dominated by perennial plants, could avoid adverse environmental effects associated with expanding cultivation of corn for ethanol, such as loss of wildlife habitat and high fertilizer runoff. It could also avoid the threat of invasion posed by cultivation of exotic biofuel crops.

The study, by Joseph E. Fargione of the Nature Conservancy and nine coauthors, explores how choices between a variety of current and emerging bioenergy feedstocks and production practices could affect wildlife as demand for biofuels increases. The growing US use of biofuels—so far, almost entirely ethanol made from corn—has contributed to a sharp reduction of the amount of grassland that landowners had enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. The conversion of grassland to corn cropland has most likely harmed grassland-dependent wildlife, and a congressional mandate to further step up biofuel production in coming years will add to this pressure.

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Scientists study biomass haying effects on pheasants

Ethanol Producer
December 2008
By Ryan C. Christiansen
Web exclusive posted Nov. 7, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. CST

South Dakota State University researchers have begun a study to determine when and how much perennial grass could be harvested for the production of cellulosic ethanol – without affecting the nesting success of pheasants and breeding waterfowl.

The SDSU researchers are working with the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and landowners to determine which combination of stubble height and haying season is best for the harvest of biomass for cellulosic ethanol production and wildlife conservation.

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