Task Force Activities
- Meeting Dates & Records
- Task Force Documents
- Research & Background Information
- Public Comment
- Policy Templates
Work Groups
- Carbon Tax/Cap & Trade
- Electric Generation
- Conservation & Energy Efficiency
- Forestry & Agriculture
- Industry
- Transportation
- Ad-hoc Low Income
- Ad-hoc Co-Generation
- Ad-hoc Waste Materials
Update Notification
Governor's Task Force on Global Warming
Forestry and Agriculture Work Group
Co-Chairs
- Bill Oemichen
Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives - Todd Holschbach
The Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin
Members
- Michael Bolton
United Steel Workers - Susan Crane
We Energies - Jeff Crawford
Forest County Potawatomi - David Donovan
Xcel Energy - Dennis Frame
Discovery Farms - Earl Gustafson
Wisconsin Paper Council - Dr. Chris Kucharik
Nelson Institute, UW-Madison - George Meyer
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - David Mladenoff
UW-Madison - Pam Porter
Consultant - Gene Roark
Wisconsin Woodland Owners - Alice Thompson
Thompson & Assoc. Wetlands Services - John Vrieze
Vrieze Farms - Lynn Wilson
Plum Creek Timber - Ron Zillmer
Mid-State Technical College - Paul Zimmerman
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation
State Agency Contact
- Allison Hellman
DNR - Bill Walker
Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Objective: To develop a set of proposed policies, incentives, strategies and actions to enhance the carbon sequestration potential of forests and agricultural lands. All options should take into consideration potential positive and negative impacts of a given proposal in terms of ancillary environmental effects, including biodiversity, water quality and quantity and soils. Consideration should be given to strategies for expanding business opportunities, as well as impacts on existing sectors of Wisconsin's forest-based and agricultural economies.
Past Meetings
- February 15, 2008
- Agenda [PDF 11KB]
- Presentation
- Baseline, Sequestration Opportunities, and Monitoring Protocols for CO2 Emissions and Removals in the Forestry and Agriculture Sectors [PDF 2.9MB]
Sandra Brown, Winrock International - Please see the Task Force Documents page to find the final reports prepared by Winrock Interational.
- October 17, 2007
- 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Nature Conservancy
633 West Main Street, Madison - September 27, 2007
- Forestry sub-group
9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Room 413, GEF 2, DNR
101 S. Webster St., Madison
Ag sub-group
9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Room 511, GEF 2, DNR
101 S. Webster St., Madison - September 14, 2007
- Ag sub-group
9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Room 472, Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
2811 Agriculture Drive, Madison - August 16, 2007
- Agenda [PDF 39KB]
- Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Presentation and Associated Handouts
- US Agriculture's Baseline Contribution to Greenhouse Gases (2005) [PDF 53.7KB]
- Agriculture: Sources and Sinks - Problems and Solutions to Global Warming [PDF 53.7KB]
- Handout 1 [PDF 128KB] - Menu of Agricultural Policy Options and Example Programs
- Handout 2 [PDF 256KB] - Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies for Agriculture: Example Management Practices for Farmers
- August 3, 2007
- Agenda [PDF 10KB]
- Materials
- Illinois Climate Change Advisory
Policy Name: #21 Expand use of no-till farming [PDF 11.2KB] - Draft Policy Option Template v1 [PDF 53.7KB]
- Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group
Subgroup: Power/Energy
Policy Name: Enhanced Renewable Portfolio Standard [PDF 10.6KB] - State Policy Options to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions [PDF 85.8KB]
Documents Posted at the Request of Work Group Members
DISCLAIMER: Documents have been posted at this website at the request of a member of the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming. Information contained within the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming website is intended as general information for Task Force members and the public. It is not intended to be a complete treatise on environmental laws and regulations. Such materials have been compiled from a variety of sources, and are subject to change without notice from the State of Wisconsin. Neither the State of Wisconsin nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information contained herein. Neither the State of Wisconsin nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, endorse the authors of posted documents or the views they express or the products/services they offer. The State of Wisconsin cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in documents.
- The Role for Sustainably Managed Forests in Climate Change Mitigation [PDF 79KB]
Submitted manuscript to SAF online, July 2007The United States (U.S.) has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, restricting the ability of forests from participating internationally as greenhouse gas (GHG) emission offset projects. As a result, a proliferation of different Registry and program rules is occurring in the U.S., providing an opportunity for the U.S. forestry community to mitigate GHG emissions. This paper addresses the Kyoto Protocol principles of additionality, permanence, and leakage, and challenges the way that these principles are being used to qualify forest offset projects as climate change mitigation measures. Policy initiatives are proposed for challenging policy makers and the forestry community to rethink sustainably managed forest offset project rules as the U.S. considers GHG emission reduction legislation.
Posted at the request of the the Forestry and Agriculture Work Group Co-Chairs - Assessment of Biomass Resources for Energy Generation at Xcel Energy's Bay Front Generating Station in Ashland, Wisconsin [PDF 252KB]
Prepared by Energy Center or Wisconsin and CleanTech Partners, Inc., April 2007The purpose of this study is to identify potential sources of wood waste within a serviceable radius of Xcel Energy's Bay Front generating plant in Ashland, Wisconsin. A radius of 50 miles was chosen as a general guideline, which included the counties of Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer and Gogebic (Michigan). This study gathered information on mill and forest harvest residues generated in these counties. This information was supported through interviews with forest industry actors including government, NGO, academic researchers and business representatives.
Posted at the request of the the Forestry and Agriculture Work Group Co-Chairs - Bioenergy in Wisconsin: The Potential Supply of Forest Biomass and its Relationship to Biodiversity [PDF 629KB]
Prepared by Resource Strategies, Inc. for Wisconsin Focus on Energy Environmental Research Program, October 2006This report explores existing and potential sources of forest biomass in Wisconsin, and the relationship between biomass production and forest health. Nearly 150 papers and scientific articles were reviewed in order to prepare this document. In addition, interviews with regional experts provided a local perspective.
Posted at the request of the the Forestry and Agriculture Work Group Co-Chairs - Cellulose Prairie: Biomass Fuel Potential in Wisconsin and the Midwest [PDF 1.27MB]
Prepared by Brett Hulsey, Better Environmental Solutions, April 2007This report analyzes the potential impacts of cellulosic demonstration projects in Wisconsin as a case study of the benefits and costs of a pilot-scale demonstration. It provides information about the potential for job creation, technology demonstration, testing of biomass collection and utilization, cost-share and other issues.
Posted at the request of the the Forestry and Agriculture Work Group Co-Chairs - Carbon Mitigation by Biofuels or by Saving and Restoring Forests? [PDF 147KB]
From SCIENCE, August 2007
Posted at the request of the the Forestry and Agriculture Work Group Co-Chairs
