POSSIBILITIES IN PEAT: Minnesota's cold, soggy wetlands hold horticultural wealth
If you buy tomatoes in the grocery store, or plants for your spring gardens, then you know
the value of peat. The slowly decomposed plant debris makes fertile soil for
strong, healthy vegetables and flowers.
It takes soggy soil and a cool climate to form high quality peat. Sound familiar? Minnesota
holds one-third of the peat resources in the lower 48 states, some seven million
acres of land area, second only to Alaska. In fact, one county in particular,
Koochiching in north-central Minnesota, has more peat bogs than dry land.
But since peatlands are wetlands, with all the state and federal protection rights they
deserve, any development of those areas is done with care, and plenty of
paperwork.
Peat experts at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) helped Koochiching officials
through the extensive permitting process that will allow the harvesting of a portion of the county's one million
acres of peatlands. Berger Horticultural Products, Ltd. of Canada will use 840 acres to gather high quality
Sphagnum moss peat, bringing new jobs to an area of Minnesota that doesn't have many
opportunities for economic development.
"We don't have a lot of land here for development and housing," explained Koochiching County
Commissioner Mike Hanson. "If we can't use our natural resources, we can't live here. Our families can't make a
living. This project is a great boon for the area."
The state, county, and nearby city of Big Falls will reap significant economic benefits.
Based on the analysis provided in the Environmental Impact Statement, the
project would result in net benefits of $2 million annually, including five
full-time, year-round jobs and 40 full-time seasonal jobs, along with lease fees
and royalties averaging in excess of $100,000 per year. At peak production on
480 acres, the bog will yield over 150,000 cubic yards of Sphagnum moss peat per
year, the type that commands the highest market value.
But the work
doesn't end there. In 35 to 40 years when the harvesting is done, the site will
be restored back to a bog using a restoration plan developed by NRRI and Berger.
After years of extensive research, NRRI scientists find they can decrease the time it takes to
revegetate harvested peatlands by half, just 5-10 years instead of 10-20. The
restoration process involves re-contouring the land, replanting fragments of
native vegetation and maintaining the water level. A new covering of Sphagnum
moss and other peatland plants will jumpstart the slow accumulation process.
This is critical because it takes over 100 years of decomposing plants to build up just one inch
of peat. NRRI, along with Berger, worked closely with the Minnesota DNR,
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. EPA
to complete the project's Environmental Review process and acquire the necessary
development permits.
Trees from 80 to 100 acres are being removed from the site this winter and ditching will begin in
the spring of 2005. Plant construction and peat shipments will begin in the next
two to three years.
Plotting the Human Disturbance Gradient
We all want clean water, but the question then becomes: clean enough for what? Swimming? Drinking? Fishing?
The Clean Water Act requires each state to designate its water bodies for specific purposes.
Some waters are set aside for industrial uses, while others need to have a
thriving aquatic life. Like individual people, each water body is unique, with
different stressors, different purposes, different needs. Those differences are
then categorized into "attainable use" criteria, a level of cleanliness that is
truly attainable for the way a body of water is being used. Then, if the lake or
stream hasn't met the criteria, why not? What's causing the pollution? "Clean"
needs to be clarified.
After four years of study, NRRI's Great Lakes Environmental Indicators (GLEI) and Reference
Area projects are making progress on the difficult task of identifying benchmarks of health for
the entire coastal areas of U.S. Great Lakes basin. And they're taking one more
important step, linking the biological condition of the water system to a variety
of human disturbances.
In the past, a simple water sample was used to document water quality.
But that only provided a snapshot in time. The biological organisms, the living critters and
plant life, in the water are exposed to a wide variety of water quality conditions all the time and reflect
the water quality conditions over time. The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that state-level monitoring
of water bodies needs to move beyond simple water quality assessments to include
the biology of the ecosystems.
"In order for
state agencies to do this effectively, they need tools to help them figure out
how to implement monitoring plans and characterize the conditions of the
waters," NRRI scientist Lucinda Johnson explained.
NRRI developed those tools for the GLEI project to quantify the human disturbance gradient, the
whole spectrum of stresses resulting from human activities in the watershed.
NRRI's research considered 207 stress variables (like, population density and land use) from
about 20 different data sources (the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.
Geological Survey, for instance). Around 160 of those stress variables are related to human activities, while the
rest describe natural differences in climate and geology across the region. Armed with that information, the
researchers developed a way to measure and summarize the data on the human
disturbance gradient. The hope is that this method will result in a common
language and standardized procedures that all states can use when sharing
information about the status of their water. And that's exactly what the U.S. EPA
hoped would come from the $6 million grant it awarded to NRRI to oversee the
expansive GLEI project.
"We can put you
down anywhere along the shoreline and tell you exactly what the stress profile
is for that spot," said GLEI project leader, Gerald Niemi.
This precision fits well with the EPA's goals for the Clean Water Act, to have waters that are
swimmable and fishable. NRRI's human disturbance gradient clarifies what's going on in lakes, rivers and streams,
with the long-term goal of restoring the waters to reach their best attainable uses.
"We're trying to put human disturbances in context with natural disturbances because we can't fix
the problem until we know the source," Niemi said. "The whole point of the GLEI project has been to link water
condition to stressors, which as been a weakness with most of the research done in the past."
NRRI helps land meet shore gently:
UMD Institute opens door to
detailed coastal data
Local development decisions made in communities along Lake Superior's north shore leave waves of
impact.
Take Grand Marais, nestled on the wind-swept shores of the great lake. Decisions about storm water management and
wetlands planning are well underway. Unfortunately, small municipalities often embark on these projects without
thoroughly understanding the connection between land use and water quality. And what they need is hard to come by,
comprehensive information about their local watersheds, land use and land cover, demographics and basic
characteristics of the shoreline.
NRRI is using Internet-based Geographic Information Systems technology to make this valuable data accessible for
everyone. The new Coastal GIS Web site has been launched at http://www.nrri.umn.edu/coastalgis with funding from
Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.
"There really wasn't an alternative way to get this information before," explained Clinton Little, the Coastal
Program's GIS specialist. "Planners either depend on a vendor to create maps for them, or not have it at all. The
data is often primitive or out-of date. Things change so quickly, new data becomes available or
technology changes. This site can be updated easily."
The Coastal GIS site was built by gathering scattered and hard-to-find data, then putting it into formats that
don't require special technologies other than an Internet connection or a CD rom drive. City planners, council
members, zoning board members and other community decision-makers in towns along the North Shore can
access topography maps, public land surveys, coastal wetlands data and more. The site also links to a variety of
decision support information. NEMO (Nonpoint source pollution Education for Municipal Officials) and the Land Use
Planning Primer developed by NRRI and the University of Minnesota's Center for Rural Design are two examples.
They're written to educate the non-scientist on land use and water quality issues.
"The health of Lake Superior is the result of thousands of individual decisions," said George Host, director of
NRRI's GIS lab. "We want to make sure those decisions are based on the best available data."
The researchers hope that understanding the sensitivity of coastal areas will lead to wise choices for development.
They're planning to let the site evolve to meet the needs of its users and add data as it becomes available.
"We're not sure what the power of this site is and what it's capable of at this point," said Little. "The
potential is there for anyone to easily access GIS data. We hope people will take advantage of it, and let us know
how to make it even better."
Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory
A bright color pallet is usually enough for NRRI geologist Dean Peterson to show diverse rock formations on maps.
But the two-dimensional drawings still leave a lot to the imagination, especially when non-geologists need to
understand them.
So when a project has a lot riding on it, like the mapping of a proposed deep underground science
lab in Soudan, Minnesota, a three-dimensional model makes it easier to grasp the scope and scale. And this project
is gigantic.
Try to imagine a two-lane tunnel big enough to accommodate semi-trucks, spiraling 8,200 feet down into the earth,
with a research lab at 4,750 feet and another at the bottom.
University of Minnesota physics professor Marvin Marshak is recommending that the federal government
build this Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) in Soudan because NRRI mapping shows that
the geology is solid enough to support it. Now they need to convince the federal agencies in charge of the project
that the site is excellent.
To help make his case, Marshak had NRRI's rapid prototype center make a color model of the project on a machine
that makes 3-D forms using printer technologies, one of four machines the center has for highly detailed prototype
building.
"Our model was very effective at the National Science Foundation DUSEL workshop," said Peterson. "Not everyone can
visualize in three dimensions, and our proposal is very large and unique compared to the proposals from other
states. This model made it clear to everyone, scientists and non-scientists."
This DUSEL facility would be capable of generating basic research in many disciplines, physics, geology,
underground biology, engineering, and seismology, and would bring a well-paid workforce to the region. The Soudan
site is competing against eight states with possible sites for the underground lab so presentation of this
proposal is extremely important to northern Minnesota.
NRRI's rapid prototype center can make 3-D renditions of any computer image using the center's four different
technologies: selective laser sintering, stereolithography, fused deposition modeling, and 3-D printing. Each
machine offers different capabilities. The center is well used by industry for quick turnaround prototypes, but
its uses are limitless. Many university researchers are discovering the value of three-dimensional renderings for
architecture, engineering, medical applications and geographical landforms.
"It's an interesting project, and this is a great application of our color printer technology," said prototype
technician Bjorn Ojard. "We can do amazing things with the technology we have, especially for geographical
landforms. I can even overlay images, like aerial photography or satellite images, on a 3-D surface so it looks
like a 3-D picture."
NRRI forestry expertise gets vote of confidence
Legislators consider bill to grow Minnesota forestry research
The 1970s and 80s were good to Minnesota's forest products industries. The value of products more than doubled and
jobs were secure. Ten years later, however, saw dramatic reductions in product capacity resulting in a loss of
over 1,000 jobs in greater Minnesota.
In 2003, Governor Tim Pawlenty addressed the problem by pulling together an Advisory Task Force on the
Competitiveness of Minnesota's Primary Forest Products Industry to take a hard look at its long-term viability. T
he Governor asked them to put special emphasis on conditions that have near-term impact on the future health of
this important economic sector.
Wood and fiber availability and price were identified as the highest priority problems facing the industry. The
Natural Resources Research Institute's 20 years of forestry and hybrid poplar research is now being recognized as
an important part of the solution.
Senator Yvonne Prettner-Solon introduced a bill for the 2005 legislative session appropriating funds to NRRI for
silvicultural research to improve the quality and quantity of timber fiber.
The forest products industry stands behind the bill by providing a significant amount of matching cash, as well as
land and assistance to move the project forward.
"Having this level of support from our industrial partners greatly leverages what we can accomplish with
our research and validates the direction of our program," said NRRI Program Director Bill Berguson.
Passing of this bill is critical to NRRI's continued efforts in this field. A tight state budget
forced the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute to eliminate a significant portion of their funding for
hybrid poplar research.
Senator Prettner-Solon and the industry's vote of confidence is a result of NRRI's respect in the forestry and
forest products industries. Strains of poplars have been nurtured to the point that they can be harvested in as
few as 10 years, increasing fiber availability for Minnesota's pulp and paper industries. Aspen, over 60 percent
of Minnesota's total commercial harvest, is carefully studied at NRRI for future regeneration and increased
productivity with mechanical strip thinning and fertilization. NRRI also has a team of scientists
who research the impact of forest growth and harvest methods of the environment and wildlife. NRRI is proud to be
an advocate of sustainable economic development and a resource for Minnesota's forest-related industries.
Forest Products Industry Comments on NRRI
"NRRI's expertise in wildlife research enables Potlatch to manage our forestlands in both an economically and
ecologically sustainable manner. Whether it's research on neotropical migratory birds, Canada lynx, or determining
the best solutions to the deer browse issue, NRRI has played an integral role in the development and
use of the best available science in our region."
Mike Houser, Potlatch Manager, Wildlife and Sustainable Forestry
"We need to be able to get more wood from our stands in a shorter amount of time. Bill (Berguson) and his
team have been doing work on aspen longer than anyone else in the state, and we always get solid research from
them that we can really work with. The skill set at NRRI is a perfect match for us."
Craig Halla, Boise Area Forester
"Increasing fiber supply will help us be more competitive in a global market place, especially when prices are so
unstable. NRRI's role in helping land managers understand and implement good silviculture practices is critical."
Craig MacClean, Manager of Fiber Procurement, International Paper
"NRRI has been a leader in applied research and information development for improving the productivity and growth
in Minnesota's forests and by developing unique opportunities such as growing hybrid poplar on marginal
agricultural lands. Thanks NRRI, for 20 years of research to benefit the forestry and forest
products industries."
Tom Murn, Regional Resource Manager for Potlatch's Resource Management Division in Minnesota
"The scientists at NRRI are collectively a unique power house of knowledge and accessible expertise in our region.
Blandin Forestry has been a big beneficiary of NRRI's practical expertise and research in silviculture of hybrid
poplar plantations, aspen and white spruce management, growth and yield measurements...the list goes on. NRRI
helps northern Minnesota's forest enterprises compete with the rest of the world."
Jim Marshall, Forest Resources Manager, UPM Blandin Paper Mill
Silviculture is the agriculture of trees: how to grow them, how to maximize growth and return, and how to
manipulate tree species compositions to meet landowner objectives. This includes understanding how trees grow,
reproduce, and respond to environmental changes.
The Governor's Advisory Task Force
The nine members included representatives from the Minnesota Departments of Employment and Economic Development
and Natural Resources, primary forest products and logging industries, St. Louis County Land Department and the
University of Minnesota.
NRRI helps companies cut the fat
The wood products industry in the Western Great Lakes region of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin quietly employs
over 300,000 workers. Its factories are scattered and employ hundreds of skilled manufacturing workers. They're
good jobs, but face fierce competition from China, which has the low-cost workforce to trounce us. So, while
creating new jobs for Minnesotans is important, we still must do what we can to keep the jobs we already have.
And, yes, we've heard it all before to stay competitive with global markets, capitalize on strengths and make
changes to keep costs down and quality high. Knowing what it takes is one thing. Doing it is another.
NRRI is committed to keeping a protective watch over the regional wood products industry. This winter one of their
targets was Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc. with plants in Sauk Rapids and Princeton, Minnesota. The company makes
high-end, custom cabinets. High quality raw materials and a quality-driven work force are their trademarks.
But to stay competitive they still needed to get lean.
NRRI is introducing regional wood products companies to the Lean Manufacturing concept, a way of getting everyone
involved in critiquing the efficiency of manufacturing operations. The concept has been embraced by Toyota with
incredible results: workers themselves make daily improvements in quality and costs. Brian Brashaw, NRRI program
director, thinks it can have the same effect on the wood products industry.
"Once employees understand what waste really is and can identify it in their own jobs, they're on their way to
lean," said Brashaw.
The concept is a common sense approach to finding wasted movement, poorly utilized space, excess inventory,
workers waiting for material, all the things that add up to downtime on the manufacturing floor. The key is letting
the employee find the waste and the opportunity to say, "Hey, if I move this piece of equipment over three feet,
I'll help reduce costs!"
NRRI's goal is to help companies begin a lean transformation by providing lean training, helping them identify and
then make changes to their manufacturing process. They also share best manufacturing practices throughout the
industry, organizing tours of plants that have made successful lean changes.
"The wood products industry is much stronger when it works together as a team," said Brashaw. "We want to stay
strong and there's definitely strength in numbers."
To help employees understand the lean process, NRRI came up with a problem-solving exercise that was especially
familiar to Crystal Cabinets' manufacturing managers this winter.
The gathered group was charged with the task of streamlining the manufacturing process of building drawer boxes.
All the steps that are typical of a manufacturing environment are there: the materials handler
who keeps things moving; the cutter; the assembler; the sande; and, finally, the labeler, who also checks quality.
The entire exercise is a wake-up call for wasted time and effort. The Crystal Cabinets team built their first
order of five boxes in 19 minutes. By the last order, they had eliminated enough waste to build those same five
boxes in only seven minutes. Savings in time and movement add up to cost savings and a more competitive product.
Crystal's director of engineering and technology, Nick Weis, likes the results he has already seen implementing
lean techniques in specific areas of their company.
"What drove us to Lean is that in the last 10 years we've seen fairly good profitability from product improvement,
automation and some cost reduction, but not enough," said Weis. "We'd like to see no price increases in our
products while improving our manufacturing, products and profits, and that means lean."
Crystal's real drawer building production was the brainchild of NRRI's simulation exercise. It was one of the
areas that NRRI and Crystal improved using lean techniques. They took a hard look at the floor layout, identified
wasted movement and wasted space, reorganized the manufacturing flow and are proud of the results.
"It took about a week of adjustments for everybody, but our drawer team stepped up to the plate and made some
really good suggestions," explained Team Leader Bonnie Lemke. "And now when there's a problem we're able to
identify it right away going through the lean process. It's worked really well in my area."
There's comfort in doing things the same old way, and changing an established workflow can meet with resistance.
But if local companies don't make their manufacturing processes as efficient as possible, their competitors down
the block or across the ocean definitely will. A recent manufacturing survey from Industry Week (Management
Performance Institute, 2004) showed that Lean Manufacturing techniques have been implemented in 42 percent of U.S.
manufacturing businesses and 12 percent of China's.
NRRI offers assistance to all regional wood products companies who would like to implement lean manufacturing
concepts by providing training and helping companies complete specific improvement projects. For more information,
call Brian Brashaw at 218-720-4248, or send him an e-mail at bbrashaw@nrri.umn.edu
Long history of Lean
Many people think the common sense Lean Manufacturing concepts are a 20th century product of industrialization,
ushered in by Henry Ford and his efficient car manufacturing conveyors. That's partly true, but it's built on
centuries of time-saving efforts. As far back as 1104, the Venetian Navy adopted a standardized design for the
hundreds of galley ships built each year to fight on the Mediterranean. They also pioneered the use of
interchangeable parts.
What Ford did in 1914 was pull many centuries of lean evolution together with technological and machining advances
to perfect the concept of continuous flow on his final assembly line. By the late 1930s, Germany pioneered a way
to precisely synchronize aircraft final assembly. Toyota soon caught on and by the early 1950s had integrated
Germany's precision timing with Ford's ideas on continuous flow and added the critical dimension of flexibility to
make a variety of high-quality products in small batches with very short lead times.
(Excerpts from Jim Womack, president of The Lean Enterprise Institute)
NRRI History
It was a bold move, but they were desperate times. In the late 70s and early 80s, a domestic steel crisis left
around 13,000 Minnesotans unemployed on the Iron Range while another economic anchor, the logging, pulp and paper
industries, faced unprecedented global competition.
Then, as now, Minnesota's economy turned on its natural resources-based industries. Something had to be done. A
collective vision was formed to build a center that would study the economic impact and sustainability of
Minnesota's minerals, forest products, peat, biomass and water-related industries. The vision became a call
to action, endorsed by Governor Rudy Perpich and led by community, state, industry and university leaders.
There was no particular model to follow, nothing like it anywhere. It was the birth of the University of Minnesota
Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute, a place to move theoretical research from the lab to the real world.
Over the years, NRRI's unique focus on balancing environmental stewardship with economic growth has earned the
respect of state and federal legislators, academia, environmental watchdogs and industry leaders.
Congratulations on 20 years
"Allow me to be among the first to congratulate NRRI on its 20th anniversary. NRRI has had an enormous impact on
Northern Minnesota through its excellent work in developing new knowledge, providing technical assistance, and
improving resource management for industries in our region.
With an abundance of natural resources in our region, it is our responsibility to protect the environment for
future generations, as well as to create new economic opportunities. Through its research, NRRI has been an active
participant in both areas. It's truly one of Minnesota's gems."
Congressman James L. Oberstar
Throughout 2005 we will be celebrating 20 years of successful partnerships and projects that
strengthen Minnesota's natural resources-based industries.
The Natural Resources Research Institute was established by the Minnesota Legislature in 1983 to foster economic
development of Minnesota's natural resources in an environmentally sound manner to promote
private sector employment.
Michael Lalich, director
Center for Water and the Environment: Gerald Niemi, director
Center for Applied Research and Technology Development: Donald Fosnacht, director
Center for Economic Development: Elaine Hansen, director
NRRI Now
Nora Kubazewski, managing editor
June Kallestad, editor/writer
Trish Sodahl, layout
NRRI Now is published to provide information about our programs and projects.
Natural Resources Research Institute
University of Minnesota, Duluth
5013 Miller Trunk Highway
Duluth Minnesota 55811-1442
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
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