At Belwin Conservancy, common buckthorn and other invasive, woody shrubs have been a problem for decades, cluttering natural areas and woods throughout its 1,300-acre preserve in Afton.
But a section of it is being stripped of those pesky plants. And they're not just being thrown into a pile and burned or used as compost.
Workers and machines are cutting the shrubs out of a 40-acre parcel and stacking them into big piles. Then, District Energy St. Paul will grind them up and haul the chips to its biomass-to-energy plant downtown, where they'll be used to light and heat buildings.
Funded through a state Department of Natural Resources grant, the pilot project is one of more than a dozen within 75 miles of St. Paul aimed at clearing areas of unwanted shrubs such as buckthorn and providing a useful fuel. When the grant money runs out next summer, planners hope cities, counties and other large landowners will find ways to keep the approach going.
"I'd like to think this would provide some thought for opportunities ... and bring some creative minds to bear on it,'' said Barb Spears, the DNR's woody biomass project coordinator.
Several places, including Pilot Knob Hill in Mendota Heights and Schuneman Preserve in White Bear Lake, already have been cleared of targeted shrubs. Others, such as Belwin, Fort Snelling, Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul and Kelleher Park in Burnsville, are under way or just getting started.
In all, the 2007 Legislature gave $500,000 to the DNR to provide grants to harvest woody debris from land restoration for energy generation. Up to $100,000 will be used at Belwin, where its executive director, Steve Hobbs, and Tara Kelly, director of ecological restoration, are pleased with the arrangement.
When the Belwin project is completed in February, they said, the land near Lake Edith will be much closer to its natural state.
"The goal is to try to get this back to an oak savanna and a prairie,'' Hobbs said.
Over the years, the nonprofit organization has tried to keep buckthorn and other problem plants at bay. Buckthorn grows quickly and densely, outcompeting native plants and tree saplings.
When only small areas are cleared of buckthorn, it's easier for it to come back, Hobbs said. But in larger areas such as the one being cleared, he said, "it's a lot harder for it to get a foothold to invade.''
This effort is having an especially large impact, Hobbs said. "I think this is exciting because we see a way to do it on a much larger scale,'' he said.
Belwin has worked hard to maintain its property. Each year, more than 10,000 St. Paul elementary school pupils come for environmental classes and experiences. Earlier this year, a herd of bison was brought in to help restore prairielike conditions.
As Hobbs and Kelly talked, they looked over a valley where the shrubs were stacked in piles. In the distance, a machine cut and moved woody material.
This week, district energy crews will grind it up and haul an estimated 20 truckloads of it to St. Paul, where it will be mixed offsite with other wood, taken to the plant near the Mississippi River, burned and converted to electricity and hot water to heat buildings.
District Energy St. Paul isn't paying for the wood or being paid to collect it, according to Ken Smith, senior vice president and chief operating officer.
"It's putting this to good use,'' Smith said, "(converting) what normally would be a waste product to renewable energy.''Pioneer Press
