Eastern Tallgrass Prairie and Big Rivers Landscape Conservation Cooperative

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Midwest Region, intends to issue a Single Source Cooperative Agreement Award without competition to Iowa State University (ISU) for a project selected by the Steering Committee of the Eastern Tallgrass Prairie and Big Rivers Landscape Conservation Cooperative (ETPBR LCC). This project would work to determine the biodiversity impacts of land restoration associated with clean and renewable energy development in a commercial scale operation in order to identify and test biodiversity ecosystem services associated with natural gas production through anaerobic digestion of hog manure and native plant material. Evaluation of a native grass/forb field trial/research planting will provide technical information necessary for identifying the best mixture of native grasses and forbs to optimize native plant diversity, ecological benefits, and biomass yield for anaerobic digestion as a necessary proof-of-concept step in testing and accelerating development of this key emerging conservation practice.

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