Using invasive, hybridized Cattails for fertilizer and other uses

Any hybrid can become fairly dominant – or extremely dominant in a lot of wetlands – especially where there are excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus

Researchers who work in wetlands in Michigan are taking a new approach to invasive plants. Instead of removing plants like phragmites and switchgrass, they’re harvesting them. They say these plants are a threat to biodiversity, but they can benefit farmers and even power homes.

Scientists are experimenting with new uses for invasive cattails in Michigan, including turning them into recycled fertilizer.

Scientists are working in the middle of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is massive, with 10,000 acres of marshes and bogs, forest and farmland. Everywhere you look, there’s a hawk or a herring. Bushes rustle with rodents, and the air is filled with mosquitos and a thick humidity. To put the size in perspective, Manhattan is roughly 15,000 acres, but rather than city chaos, Shiawassee is filled with the sights and sounds of wilderness.

Brendan Carson is one of the lead researchers from the University of Loyola Chicago. Carson and Eric Dunton, wildlife biologist at the Shiawassee refuge, are working on a project centered around invasive cattails.

“The hybrid’s called Typha x glauca,” says Carson. “And the hybrid can become fairly dominant – or extremely dominant in a lot of wetlands – especially where there are excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.”

The abundance of these cattails occupies space, which ultimately means less room for native biodiversity, and without plant variety, the wetland suffers. The system loses its ability to filter nutrients, and all wildlife – from fish to migratory birds – are affected.

Carson and his colleagues are physically collecting the cattails. Their goal is to deal with invasive species, and address pollution at the same time: a key part of what makes this research so innovative.

Collecting cattails

Rummaging through cattails that stretch well over our heads, the bright red roof of the harvester pushes forward, spitting out cattails as it moves. The machine looks a lot like one of the tiny snowplows that clears the sidewalks, but built on tank treads rather than wheels. It’s specially made for projects where low environmental impact is crucial and with its weight so evenly dispersed, it seems to glide over the marshland, consuming every cattail in its path.  

This method of eradication removes the invasive plants from the wetland, while also removing the unwanted nutrients they’ve absorbed.

“Anytime throughout the growing season when the cattail has gotten to the point where it’s a mature plant, it’s taking nutrients through its roots,” says Carson. “It’s taking them out of the soil and the sediment, and incorporating them into growing tissue. So as long as you can remove that tissue while it’s still green, you’re going to be removing quite a bit of nitrogen and phosphorus.”  Once these nutrients have been harvested, they’re then put to good use. 

Working with local farmers, the harvested cattails are shredded and applied directly to crop fields where the biomass breaks down, providing organic material, as well as recycled chemical fertilizer.  The repurposing of these fertilizers can help farmers to reduce their need for additional fertilizers in future years, resulting in lower operating costs, and less environmental impact.  The invasive plants may have other economic uses as well.  

Greg Zimmerman, a professor at Lake Superior State University, has started using invasive biomass to make fuel pellets. They can be used in pellet stoves, which are similar to wood burning stoves, as a clean alternative heat source.  At the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Brian Langolf is using a mechanical digester, which breaks down the material at an accelerated rate. When the invasive biomass is paired with food, or other organics, it turns into a rich compost, and the methane released during the process can be converted to electricity.  Langlof says they’re currently producing “roughly the capacity to produce up to 10 percent of our university’s power consumption equivalent, or roughly 220 average American homes year-round [that] we can provide heat and power to.”  The economic opportunities on the horizon look promising, but the true potential is still unknown.

Although energy rates in the United States remain unfavorable to alternative sources, other countries have already begun to implement similar methods.

http://interlochenpublicradio.org/post/new-research-shows-invasive-plants-can-feed-farms-power-homeshttp://interlochenpublicradio.org/post/new-research-shows-invasive-plants-can-feed-farms-power-homes

What exactly is being restored at Braddock Bay - according to SUNY ESF CRIS post

SUMMARY COASTAL WETLANDS RESTORATION BRADDOCK BAY Fish & Wildlife Management Area, GREECE, NY - SUNY Professor John M. Farrell Ph.D. as submitted to CRIS [Current Research and Information System]

The Braddock Bay Fish and Wildlife Management Area (FWMA) is a 2,576-acre, highly productive marsh complex consisting of five embayment ponds with associated streams, wetlands and uplands. 








All five embayments are hydrologically connected to Lake Ontario and the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The project sites in this proposal (i.e., Buck Pond: Phase II, Buttonwood Creek, and Salmon Creek) are not directly in the Rochester Embayment. The project sites, however, include wildlife habitat directly adjacent to the Rochester Embayment AOC and represent remnant bays that are connected to urbanization and shoreline hardening (e.g., development of houses and roads, specifically the Lake Ontario parkway). 

Therefore, restoration methods proposed in this application will directly benefit the Rochester Embayment as the sites remain hydrologically connected to Lake Ontario and represent some of the only remaining coastal marsh wetlands within the region that still support wetland habitat and wildlife communities, many of which are state listed species of concern. 

At Braddock Bay FWMA, marsh vegetation occupies approximately 65% of the area, with narrow-leaved cattail (Typha angustifola) and hybrid cattail (Typha x glauca) being the dominant species (NYSDEC Braddock Bay FWMA Management Plan 2011). The complex is an important economic driver for Monroe County and the towns of Greece and Parma because the FWMA provides extensive ecosystem services and recreational opportunities for the public.T his proposal focuses on the restoration/enhancement of coastal wetland habitat at three locations inthe Braddock Bay FWMA watershed in Monroe County, New York.  All three sites maintain a hydrologic connection to the Rochester Embayment (sites are less than 0.3 miles from coastline).

This restoration program is an on-going collaborative effort between DEC, State University of NewYork-Brockport (SUNY-Brockport), Town of Greece, NYSDEC, U.~. Army Corps of Engineers,and private landowners.  The goal of the current partnership is to restore sedge meadow habitat and improve wetland interspersion in coastal marshes adjacent to Lake Ontario and in the major tributaries of Buttonwood and Salmon Creeks (drowned river mouths that are part of the Braddock Bay complex). 

The project sites were once diverse and productive coastal marshes, but have become predominantly dense stands of monotypic cattail. Presently they support minimal native sedge meadow and emergent wetland communities and provide marginal habitat for important sport fishes, marsh birds, and other wetland wildlife.

Coastal marshes along western Lake Ontario, such as the Braddock Bay FWMA, are dominated by invasive narrow leaf and hybrid cattail due to altered water regimes. The resultant dense cattail mats have limited value for wetland-dependent wildlife, including marsh birds, reptiles and mammals. In addition, these cattail mats provide poor spawning habitat for fish, including northern pike, the state endangered pugnose minnow, darters, bullheads, longnose gar, and bowfin. 

This project will restore sedge meadow habitat and create connection channels and potholes in dense cattail along tributaries and bays that connect to Lake Ontario and the Rochester Embayment.

The restoration methods to be used at each site will be specific to the existing conditions, but all strategies will enhance the diversity of wetland habitats, restore native plant communities, enhance access to/and restoration of spawning areas for native fish species, increase hydrological connectivity, and improve wetland interspersion. Methods will include restoration of sedge meadow habitat, removal of cattail by mechanical means to create connection channels, removal of cattail to create open potholes to maximize interspersion, and native plant and wildlife communities. 

The final delivery will include restoration of approximately 155 acres. This will include seven acres of potholes, 10,000 linear feet of meandering channels, and restoration of 40 acres of sedge meadow.

Potholes and linear channels will be excavated using specialized low ground pressure equipment. These methods have been successfully implemented elsewhere within the Lake Ontario basin to improve fish and wildlife habitat, including French Creek WMA, Lakeview Marshes WMA, and on private lands, with additional work scheduled at Buck Pond (Phase I): Braddock Bay FWMA and Lakeshore Marshes in the fall of 2013.

Goals / Objectives
This project will conserve coastal wetlands by restoring sedge meadow communities and improving hydrological connectivity in areas that are presently dense, monotypic stands of cattail. The cattail dominates the marshes and limits growth of native plants as well as use by wetland-dependent wildlife and the public. 

The restoration/enhancement of these sites will increase the quality of the coastal wetland habitat and benefit marshbirds such as American bittern, least bittern (NYthreatened), Virginia rail, sora rail, sedge wren (NY threatened), and black tern (NY endangered). Blandings turtle (NY threatened) may also benefit, as will mammals, amphibians, and invertebrates. Sedge meadow habitat and wildlife such as northern pike and black terns are indicators of a healthy functioning coastal wetland system. The response of these species will be used to help evaluate the efficacy of our restoration during monitoring.

Project Methods
The proposed project will involve restoration and enhancement of coastal wetland habitats in Lake Ontario. Ducks Unlimited has identified three locations in the Braddock Bay FWMA, connected to the Rochester Embayment Watershed as priority areas for coastal wetland restoration. 

The restoration methods to be employed at each site will depend on the existing conditions. Methods for the restoration andenhancement will build upon successful projects designed and delivered by DU, such as the projects recently completed in the coastal wetlands of the St. Lawrence Valley, NY, funded through NOAA.

Similarly, restoration methods will follow published restoration methodologies detailed in project completed at SUNY-Brockport for sedge meadow restoration (Czayka 2012). The restoration methods, identified for each site below, include: . 

• Creation of meandering channels though the cattail mat. Using a specialized aquatic excavator or low-ground-pressure excavator, channels will be restored through the dense cattail mats to enhance fish passage and hydrological connectivity. The channels will be cut to connect newly restored potholes, and also connects onsite patches of remnant sedge meadow habitat. The channels will allow fish access upstream to spawning locations and will ensure juvenile fry can return to the Lake Ontario. Similarly, the channels will be restored to ensure water depths are tied to Lake Ontario water levels, thus ensuring that newly restored channels do not create isolated pools that could trap fish.
• Excavation of small pools or potholes for spawning sites, connected by channels.
• Excavation of oxbows to connect new and pre-existing on-site sedge meadow habitat to the restored channels, thus allowing fish access to spawning habitats which is currently limited by a dense barriers of cattail.
• Restoration of sedge meadow habitat through the excavation of the top layer of cattail debris and roots to expose mudflats.
• Placement of a water control structure to control flooding. The structure will integrate a fish ladder to facilitate passage into the newly restored coastal marsh (i.e., Salmon Creek). The created marsh and water control structure will provide for management capabilities, thus ensuring the wetland maximizes hydrological connectivity, maintains sedge meadow characteristics, provides habitat for fish and wildlife, and maximizes recreational opportunities for users of the Braddock Bay FWMA. The management of the sedge meadow with a water control structure will allow for the independent management of the system to control invasive species by flooding, to protect spawning areas, and restore native plant communities.

http://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1008305-coastal-wetlands-restoration-braddock-bay-fwma-greece-ny.html