ARIELLE GODBOUT Enlarge Image

Living Prairie Museum director Kyle Lucyk shows off pellets made from Manitoba grasses. The pellets can be burned for heat using special stoves.

Manitoba native grasses planted in the St. Boniface development of Sage Creek for stormwater management could eventually be converted into fuel to heat Winnipeg buildings.

The city-operated Living Prairie Museum on Ness Avenue received a provincial grant last fall to explore the option of converting prairie grasses — cut during normal maintenance — into pellets, which can then be burned to provide heat. Native grasses are what make up the tallgrass prairie ecosystem.

Kyle Lucyk, the museum’s director, said less than 1% of the natural tallgrass prairie still exists in Manitoba today after much was destroyed by development and agriculture.

"That makes it Canada’s most endangered ecosystem," Lucyk said. "Just like an animal can go extinct, so can a whole ecosystem."

The Living Prairie Museum is one of the last original pockets of tallgrass prairie; its 32 acres hold 150 species of native grasses and plants.

Recently, said Lucyk, developers and landscapers are turning to native grasses as a method of stormwater management.
Sage Creek is only one example of this trend, he added.

Qualico Developments, for example, has also used native grasses for its Assiniboine Landing project in Headingley and at a retention pond in the Harbourview development in Transcona.

While native grasses are low maintenance — especially compared to Kentucky bluegrass, the everyday grass you see covering lawns — they do need some care, Lucyk said.

Otherwise non-native species or tree seedlings may start taking over.

"You just have to remove all the vegetation. Burn it, mow it, graze it, or hay it," Lucyk said.

The removal should take place every few years to stimulate the renewal that took place naturally in the past through fires or buffalo grazing, he added.

Glen Koblun, the business manager with Native Plant Solutions — a division of Ducks Unlimited Canada involved in about 20 native grass projects across Winnipeg — said most restoration projects have opted not to use controlled fires.

"We have managed most of the residential areas with a mow," he said.

That’s where the pellet pilot project comes in, according to Lucyk.The cuttings from regular maintenance could become a supply for pellets, and any  city space that needs heating could be using grass pellets — from outdoor sheds to bus depots.

He said the museum has already purchased a special stove that can burn the pellets.

The museum also bought pellets made from Manitoba grasses, which were produced at a factory in Saskatchewan.

This fall, the museum will create its own pellets using native grasses from a restoration project in the Assiniboine Forest.

If the project proves successful, Lucyk said grasses being grown for various restoration projects across the city could eventually become a source for the pellets.

If the idea really takes off, it will encourage more planting of rare native grasses, he added.

For now, the stumbling block is the price, Lucyk said. Finding a factory willing to pelletize the grasses could be costly, he said.

The pilot project is expected to last about two years.

In Sage Creek, Qualico Developments partnered with Native Plant Solutions  to plant the grasses around its retention ponds — land that is eventually trandferred to the city.

Eric Vogan, Qualico’s land development manager in Winnipeg, said the firm chose native grasses over Kentucky bluegrass  partly because it provides better filtration.

"To the opposite effect of bluegrass, (native grasses) act as a very good biological factor for water draining into the lakes," Vogan said. "The result is you have clear water, rather than algae and duckweed."

Native grasses are also more cost-effective because they don’t require much in terms of maintenance, he said.

"Once the native grasses are established, they out-compete things like weeds," Vogan said, adding there’s no need to mow the lawn regularly or use fertilizer.

Finally, native grasses help create a home for prairie species, he said.

"It brings a whole lot of habitat for wildlife that would otherwise be a little bit chilly about coming into the city."

arielle.godbout@canstarnews.com