Wisconsin Biomass News 4-22-09

Wisconsin Biomass News
For Immediate Release Contact: Mark Renz, 608-263-7437, mrenz@wisc.edu
April 22th, 2009 Brett Hulsey, 608-334-4994, Brett@BetterEnviro.Com
Steve Bertjens, 608-723-6377 x136, swbadger@mhtc.net
UW Extension, Conservationists Release Switchgrass “How To” Guide–
Goal to show landowners how to establish and manage native switchgrass
Platteville-To celebrate Earth Day and help meet the biomass demand created by the new Charter Street
Power Plant, UW Extension, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Southwest Badger Resource
Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, Inc. and Better Environmental Solutions today released
a guide to “Establishing and Managing Switchgrass.”
Mark Renz, University of Wisconsin Extension Weed Specialist, and lead author of the guide said,
“Growing switchgrass can improve farm profits by producing a good feed, produce biomass for heat and
power, create habitat for people and wildlife, and reduce flooding. We wanted to summarize the best
information available for Wisconsin landowners in an easy to use guide.”
The guide benefited from six field tests done last year near Platteville by Southwest Badger RC&D, UW
Extension and Alliant Energy.
“Southwest Wisconsin has the potential to become a huge reservoir of biomass fuel such as switchgrass.
This guide gives landowners the best information we have on how to establish and grow switchgrass, a
key native prairie grass,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Southwest Badger RC&D Coordinator.
“This is a great way to celebrate Earth Day by helping landowners create more native prairie like
switchgrass. Prairies are our most threatened ecosystem and creating more prairies means cleaner water,
less severe flooding, and cleaner air by soaking up carbon to control global warming,” said Brett Hulsey,
president of Better Environmental Solutions. Wisconsin has enough excess biomass like switchgrass to
replace half its current coal use, according to a Better Environmental Solutions report.
A copy of the switchgrass guide is available at the UW Extension website, www.uwex.edu/ces/forage.
UW Extension provides all Wisconsinites access to university resources and engagement in lifelong
learning, wherever they live and work.
The Southwest Badger RC&D Council is a non-profit organization covering nine counties in southwest
Wisconsin that focuses on improving natural resources while enhancing the rural economy.
Better Environmental Solutions is an energy and environmental consulting firm dedicated to practical
solutions like biomass that save lives, jobs and money. For more, go to www.BetterEnviro.Com.
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