Ecological Research Priorities for Energy Crops in the North Central States

Stakeholders and experts in the fields of biomass energy, agriculture, and ecology have identified ecological research priorities to ensure that large-scale biomass energy development in the North Central states occurs in an ecologically-sound, sustainable manner. It has been recommended that adaptive resource management principles be applied to biomass development in phases that wouldincorporate increasingly larger biomass plantations. Each phase of development could answer questions about landscape-scale change to improve the design of subsequent phases. Principles of sustainable agriculture have been recommended for biomass plantations to maintain productivity and benefit the rural economy while minimizing adverse impacts to soils, water quality, and wildlife. At thistime, it is early enough in the deployment of biomass technologies in the North Central states to apply the principles of sustainable agriculture and landscape ecological planning as an important part of the process. Many questions about ecological impacts need to be answered, but there is no need to wait until the component elements have been researched one by one. Applying an adaptive researchmanagement framework can allow research to proceed along with technology implementation by establishing feedback loops between research, policy, and development.