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The energy crisis has prompted research and development of renewable energy sources, among which are the bioconversion technologies. Crops, crop residues, manure and other organic wastes are potential sources of liquid, solid and gaseous fuels. These feedstocks originate on the farm or in the forest and therefore are land intensive. Implementation of the bioconversion technologies will involve actions which will impact existing land use patterns. Because of differences in crop type, yield per acre, existing land use conditions and agricultural practices, an aggregated national approach to the assessment of land use is not sufficient. If energy policy regarding bioconversion is to be successful, then it must be sensitive to micro-level information. This paper demonstrates the land use assessment work at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) in support of the Department of Energy's Technical Assessment of Solar Energy Program, (TASE). Local Biomass potential, existing and use and potential land use impacts from bio-energy implementation for three of the fifteen counties selected for the TASE study will be presented. The methodology creased for the evaluation is useful in determining the biomass potential for any community or county, and in identifying regional differences inherent in the trade-offs between existing land use andmore » energy production.« less

Pelagic fishes, such as kokanee and rainbow trout, provide an important fishery in Lake Roosevelt; however, spawner returns and creel results have been below management goals in recent years. Our objective was to identify factors that potentially limit pelagic fish production in Lake Roosevelt including entrainment, food limitation, piscivory, and other abiotic factors. We estimated the ratio of total fish entrained through Grand Coulee Dam to the pelagic fish abundance for September and October, 1998. If the majority of these fish were pelagic species, then entrainment averaged 10-13% of pelagic fish abundance each month. This rate of entrainment could impose considerable losses to pelagic fish populations on an annual basis. Therefore, estimates of species composition of entrained fish will be important in upcoming years to estimate the proportion of stocked pelagic fish lost through the dam. Food was not limiting for kokanee or rainbow trout populations since growth rates were high and large zooplankton were present in the reservoir. Estimates of survival for kokanee were low ( 1.1 mm) Daphnia could have supported 0.08 annual survival by kokanee and rainbow trout before fishmore » consumption would have exceeded available biomass during late winter and early spring. Therefore, if recruitment goals are met in the future there may be a bottleneck in food supply for pelagic planktivores. Walleye and northern pikeminnow were the primary piscivores of salmonids in 1996 and 1997. Predation on salmonid prey was rare for rainbow trout and not detected for burbot or smallmouth bass. Northern pikeminnow had the greatest individual potential as a salmonid predator due to their high consumptive demand; however, their overall impact was limited because of their low relative abundance. We modeled the predation impact of 273,524 walleye in 1996, and 39,075 northern pikeminnow in 1997 because diet data revealed predation on salmonids during these years. We could not determine the absolute impact of piscivores on each salmonid species because identification of fish prey was limited to families. Our estimate of salmonid consumption by walleye in 1996 and northern pikeminnow in 1997 shows that losses of stocked kokanee and rainbow trout could be substantial (up to 73% of kokanee) if piscivores were concentrating on one salmonid species, but were most likely lower, assuming predation was spread among kokanee, rainbow trout, and whitefish. Dissolved oxygen was never limiting for kokanee or rainbow trout, but temperatures were up to 6 EC above the growth optimum for kokanee from July to September in the upper 33 meters of water. Critical data needed for a more complete analysis in the future include species composition of entrainment estimates, entrainment estimates expanded to include unmonitored turbines, seasonal growth of planktivorous salmonids, species composition of salmonid prey, piscivore diet during hatchery releases of salmonids, and collection of temperature and dissolved oxygen data throughout all depths of the reservoir during warm summer months.« less

Rangelands occupy approximately half of the world's land area and store greater than 10% of the terrestrial biomass carbon and up to 30% of the global soil organic carbon. Although soil carbon sequestration rates are generally low on rangelands in comparison to croplands, increases in terrestrial carbon in rangelands resulting from management can account for significant carbon sequestration given the magnitude of this land resource. Despite the significance rangelands can play in carbon sequestration, our understanding remains limited. Researchers conducted a literature review to identify sustainably management practices that conserve existing rangeland carbon pools, as well as increase or restore carbon sequestration potentials for this type of ecosystem. The research team also reviewed the impact of grazing management on rangeland carbon dynamics, which are not well understood due to heterogeneity in grassland types. The literature review on the impact of grazing showed a wide variation of results, ranging from positive to negative to no response. On further review, the intensity of grazing appears to be a major factor in controlling rangeland soil organic carbon dynamics. In 2003, researchers conducted field sampling to assess the effect of several drought years during the period 1993-2002. Results suggested that drought can significantly impact rangeland soil organic carbon (SOC) levels, and therefore, carbon sequestration. Resampling was conducted in 2006; results again suggested that climatic conditions may have overridden management effects on SOC due to the ecological lag of the severe drought of 2002. Analysis of grazing practices during this research effort suggested that there are beneficial effects of light grazing compared to heavy grazing and non-grazing with respect to increased SOC and nitrogen contents. In general, carbon storage in rangelands also increases with increased precipitation, although researchers identified threshold levels of precipitation where sequestration begins to decrease.

The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) evaluated several power resource alternatives under consideration by the Bonneville Power Administration in its Resource Program Environmental Impact Statement (RPEIS). The purpose of this evaluation was to determine the potential impacts of each alternative in terms of land use and employment. We reviewed the literature that describes land-use and employment impacts to derive estimates of each type of effect. These estimates were scaled to a per-megawatt basis for use as multipliers in the RPEIS analysis. Multipliers for employment were taken from the literature and developed from power plant capital cost estimates. Land-use multipliers were taken from the literature or estimated from existing plants. In this report we compared information sources and estimates to develop the most applicable multipliers. Employment levels required (in terms of employee years per MW of plant capacity) for the construction and operation phases of each energy-generating resource alternative analyzed are shown. The amounts of land required (in terms of acres per MW capacity) for the construction and operation phases of each energy-generating resource alternatives analyzed are also shown.

Impact on water quality and the beneficial use of the coal bed methane (CBM) produced water are imminent questions to be answered due to the rapidly growing CBM exploration in the Powder River Basin (PRB). The practice of discharging large volumes of water into drainage channels or using it to irrigate rangeland areas has the potential of causing serious problems. The elevated salinity and sodicity in the CBM water may be detrimental to soils, plants and the associated microbial communities. There are limited studies on CBM water characterization; however, a comprehensive understanding of CBM water influence on the local ecosystem is lacking. It is very important that the water applied to soils meets the favorable combination of salinity and sodicity that will allow the plants to grow at good production levels and that will maintain the structure of the soils. The purpose of this study was to access various CBM water treatment technologies and the influence of the treated water on local biogeochemical settings in order to evaluate and identify the proper technologies to treat the CBM produced water from CBM operations, and use it in an environmentally safe manner. Unfortunately, a suitable field site was not identified and themore » funds for this effort were moved to a different project.« less

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a native grass species to much of the US. It has shown great potential for use in production of fuel ethanol from cellulosic biomass (Lynd et al., 1991). Work in Alabama demonstrated very high dry matter yields can be achieved with switchgrass (Maposse et al. 1995) in the southeastern US. Therefore, this region is thought to be an excellent choice for development of a switchgrass cropping system where farmers can produce the grass for either biomass or forage. Another report has shown success with selection and breeding to develop high yielding germplasm from adapted cultivars and ecotypes of switchgrass (Moser and Vogel 1995). In the mid 1990s, however, there was little plant breeding effort for switchgrass with a potential for developing a cultivar for the southeast region. The main goal of the project was to develop adaptive, high-yielding switchgrass cultivars for use in cropping systems for bioenergy production in the southeastern US. A secondary objective was to assess the potential of alternate herbaceous species such as bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.), bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge.), and napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) that may compete with switchgrass for herbaceous bioenergy production in the southeast. During the conduct of the project, another goal of developing molecular markers useful for genetic mapping was added. The ''lowland'' cultivars, Alamo and Kanlow, were found to be the highest yielding switchgrass cultivars. Although most summers during the project period were hot and dry, their annual dry matter yield continue to outperform the best ''upland'' cultivars such as Cave-in-Rock, Shawnee, NE Late, and Trailblazer. The use of a breeding procedure based on the ''honeycomb design'' and multi-location progeny testing, coupled with the solid heritability and genetic gain estimates for dry matter yield in lowland type switchgrass germplasm, indicated excellent potential to isolate parental genotypes for producing higher yielding synthetic cultivars. The four experimental synthetics produced thus far, and now in performance tests, could provide this cultivar. Initial performance results of these experimentals have been very promising demonstrating a 30% yield enhancement over Alamo and Kanlow. Future testing, including testing in other states, will be critical before a determination can be made to release one or more of these into the commercial seed trade. In the genetic mapping project, 42 genotypes of switchgrass were surveyed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) probes from different grass species. The different genotypes included 24 from Alamo, 15 from Kanlow, and 3 from ''Summer.'' A majority of the probes (87%) hybridized to the switchgrass DNA and 81% were polymorphic. Most of the polymorphism observed was between the cultivars. A mapping population consisting of 100 progeny from a cross between the most dissimilar Kanlow and Summer genotypes was produced during 2001. The parents and progeny population are now maintained at the University of Georgia and will be used to construct a map based on the polymorphic RFLP probes. When compared to ''Tifton 85'' bermudagrass, ''Tifton 9'' bahiagrass, and ''Merkron'' napier-grass, Alamo switchgrass was found to show poorer yields than Merkron and Tifton 85, but better yields than Tifton 9 in the coastal plain region. The exceptional performance of Tifton 85 bermudagrass is extremely noteworthy because this hybrid bermudagrass is also a variety of choice for many commercial hay producers in the lower south and would give any producers a very good option to produce either biomass for a biofuels initiative or sell as hay on the open market. Merkron has consistently showed the highest dry matter yields. However, there continues to be some winter damage each year on this species at the Athens location indicating its real potential lies mainly in the Gulf Coast region of the southeastern United States. The excellent characteristic of Tifton 85 and Merkron should therefore be enough to initiate more basic research for their chemical ability as a biofuels crop.

The assessment forms contained in this report constitute the data used in two resource assessments described in A Systematic Method for Resource Rating with Two Applications to Potential Wilderness Areas (Voelker et al. 1979). The assessments were performed for two geologic subprovinces containing proposed wilderness areas identified in the Forest Service Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) program. The subprovinces studied are the Idaho-Wyoming-Utah thrust belt and the central Appalachians thrust belt. Each assessment form contains location data, resource ratings, and supporting information for a single tract. A unique dual rating that reflects geologic favorability and certainty of resource occurrence is assigned to each resource category evaluated. Individual ratings are synthesized into an overall tract-importance rating. Ratings created by others are included for comparative purposes wherever available. Supporting information consists of commentary and references that explain and document the ratings listed.

An ash basin at the Savannah River Plant, Aiken, South Carolina is growing trees as well as, and with some species better than, a local soil. The basin contains ashes from a stoker-fed boiler and was last used about 12 years before the trees were planted. The concentrations of 24 chemical elements were measured in ashes, soil and trees. The concentrations of most of the chemical elements were higher in ashes than in soil; however, with a few exceptions, these elements were less available to the trees on ashes than to the trees on soil. The trees do not show any toxicity or deficiency symptoms, but the concentration of manganese in sycamore growing on ashes indicates a possible deficiency. No concentration of an element in trees appears to be high enough to be toxic to the trees. A longer period of study will be required to determine whether the ashes can produce commercial timber, but trees can be used to stabilize ash basins and improve their appearance.

Illinois, a major agricultural and food-processing state, produces vast amounts of renewable plant material having potential for energy production. This biomass, in the form of annual crops, crop residues, and food-processing wastes, can be converted to alternative fuels (such as ethanol) and industrial chemicals (such as furfural, ethylene, and xylene). The present study provides a preliminary assessment of these Illinois biomass resources, including (a) an appraisal of the effects of their use on both agriculture and industry; (b) an analysis of biomass conversion systems; and (c) an environmental and economic evaluation of products that could be generated from biomass. It is estimated that, of the 39 x 10/sup 6/ tons of residues generated in 1978 in Illinois from seven main crops, about 85% was collectible. The thermal energy equivalent of this material is 658 x 10/sup 6/ Btu, or 0.66 quad. And by fermenting 10% of the corn grain grown in Illinois, some 323 million gallons of ethanol could have been produced in 1978. Another 3 million gallons of ethanol could have been produced in the same year from wastes generated by the state's food-processing establishments. Clearly, Illinois can strengthen its economy substantially by the development of industries that producemore » biomass-derived fuels and chemicals. In addition, a thorough evaluation should be made of the potential for using the state's less-exploitable land for the growing of additional biomass.« less