Invasives-to-Energy: Can We Mitigate Climate Change While Managing Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands for Biodiversity?

Nancy Tuchman will discuss sustainable alternatives for ecological restoration and invasive plant management of Great Lakes wetlands. Building on her recent work, she will demonstrate how restoration linked with invasive plant harvesting and utilization for bioenergy production can increase biodiversity and reduce ecological feedback mechanisms that sustain invasion, while also alleviating financial limitations and avoiding the negative environmental externalities associated with using herbicides and burning. Tuchman will discuss her lab's current project restoring 300+ acres of invaded coastal wetlands through invasive cattail harvesting and biomass conversion to bioenergy pellets.