Justin Heavey

Blowing and drifting snow on roadways is a challenge in many cold-weather regions, especially those adjacent to large open fields with little or no vegetation or other obstructions to disrupt wind patterns. These areas are often remote from transportation maintenance facilities, and problems from blowing and drifting snow can persist for days or weeks after a snow event--closing roads and causing traffic delays. Constructed snow fences are often used to help keep snow from blowing onto the roadway. While these constructed fences work well, they serve only one capacity. An alternative is a "living snow fence" (LSF) which is composed of rows of trees or shrubs. The biomass from these plantings has the potential to be used for bioenergy and other purposes. Species such as poplar or willow can be particularly useful as a LSF, planted at low cost, and providing useful biomass. This publication provides details of willow LSFs being implemented in upstate New York and includes recommendations for other locations Includes bibliographical references (page 5).

Throughout the world, open land adjacent to industrial operations has been used to store byproducts of manufacturing and production processes. To minimize impacts on human health and the environment, these sites have traditionally been capped with clay or geomembrane materials to create a barrier to prevent the percolation of precipitation through the material and into the environment. Over the past two decades, the US EPA and others have experimented with vegetative covers, also known as evapotranspiration (ET) covers, as an alternative approach to address concerns at these sites while simultaneously providing a range of additional benefits. The purpose of this environmental application is to highlight the steps that are required to develop a plant-based solution to protect human health and the environment at a former industrial site. The project example used is the development of a willow vegetative cover on a former industrial site in New York State that was used to store the byproducts of soda ash production. Leaching of calcium and chloride salts into groundwater and nearby surface waters is the main environmental concern that must be managed. Includes bibliographical references (pages 6-7).

Poplar (Populus spp.) and willow (Salix spp.) are fast-growing trees and shrubs that can be used for a wide variety of environmental remediation and management purposes as well as provide biomass for bioenergy and bioproducts. Recent research in the U.S. has focused on growing these trees as short-rotation woody crops to provide biomass for renewable fuels and bio-based chemicals and products; however, domestic bioenergy markets have been inconsistent and the industry is still emerging. Although both poplar and willow have a long history of use for a variety of environmental purposes and bioenergy in Canada, Ireland, and other European countries, many barriers exist to similar implementation in the U.S. In April 2016, a National Working Forum was held in Portland, OR, to discuss how to bring together the environmental uses of poplar and willow with the production of biomass for fuel. This paper provides a summary of information and recommendations derived from the Forum including: (1) benefits, both environmental and otherwise, of growing poplar and willow and opportunities for using the biomass from these plantings, (2) barriers to this new endeavor, and (3) solutions to link biomass from poplar and willow grown for environmental applications to bioenergy markets. While use of poplar and willow for environmental benefits and biomass utilization is limited in the U.S., there have been successful programs, which are discussed in the Roadmap's supplemental Environmental Applications Series. A poplar- or willow-based system has the potential to be advantageous for landowners and others throughout the supply chain. This paper provides guidance towards the development of poplar and willow for environmental applications as well as a source of biomass for bioenergy. Includes bibliographical references (pages 34-36).