Patty Loew:
Researcher Amber Roth may be on track to find a win, win, win solutions to three environmental concerns in Wisconsin. It may provide a new market for loggers, habitat for songbirds, and a new biofuel source. Jo Garrett shows you why the answers might be found in the northwoods of Vilas County.

Woman:
Watch your step. There is a hole in that log. Let's go this way.

Jo Garrett:
We're in what's called young shrubland. In Vilas County.

Woman:
You're good at this.

Jo Garrett:
We're following avian researcher Amber Roth who is in pursuit of her doctoral degree and a solution to weighty world problems. She's right in the middle of it.

Amber Roth:
This is aspen clear-cut that's about seven years old and we have a golden warbler nest in front of me.

Jo Garrett:
Here is the important takeaway from what Roth just said. It's the tie between this young scrubby aspen forest that grows up after a clear-cut and this golden wing warbler nest. The nest was abandoned because of predators but the fact that the golden wing nested here says that this type of forest is ideal for this sort of bird. And golden wings aren't the only ones.

Amber Roth:
A male warbler.

Jo Garrett:
There are many birds that prefer this kind of place.

Amber Roth:
We have got a black and white warbler. This is a place that attracts birds that like a dense shrub layer. This is a morning warbler.

Amber Roth:
They have a lot of cover for their nests.

Jo Garrett:
Roth and her assistants, Sarah and Chad, are mist netting and banding birds.

Amber Roth:
The white leg is light pink over light green.

Jo Garrett:
All to gather information about these birds and this place.

Amber Roth:
And we do have a bird on the nest. We're evaluating habitat quality for birds. There she goes. You can see it. How successful are the birds at nesting and producing young.

Amber Roth:
It was a female eastern towhee sitting on her nest.

Amber Roth:
How much different species are there? In particular, how many species are there of conservation concern?

Jo Garrett:
Roth's work is not just about saving birds.

Amber Roth:
Okay. There you go, dear.

Jo Garrett:
She has loftier goals.

Amber Roth:
We're part of a cellulosic ethanol project, with a variety of researchers who are really interested in the potential for using aspen and grasslands as potential sources for it.

Jo Garrett:
Fill ‘er up. With aspen.

Amber Roth:
You can make ethanol from any kind of plant material. That's what we're looking for is a win/win scenario between our economic needs and the needs of wildlife. Is there a way that we can help with our fuel prices and can we also create better habitat for wildlife at the same time? There you go.

Jo Garrett:
Logging is big business in Wisconsin. And one that has faced rocky times.

Amber Roth:
They're very interested in new options especially with the way prices are in the timber industry. Cellulosic ethanol is an industry that has a lot of potential. When the contractors cut a site like this there are a bunch of branches and twigs and portions of the trees that aren't used. It could be they use more of the forest when they cut. There is a potential of using what we call waste wood for cellulosic ethanol.

Jo Garrett:
Could these loggers get a new market and these birds a better home?

Amber Roth:
This is what these birds like. Golden wing warblers and chestnut wooded warblers, this is one of their favorite places to be. He has a nest he needs to get back to. I'm amazed by how many avid birders or even bird experts haven't seen a golden wing warbler before. You come to a site like this and they're all over the place. There you go.

Jo Garrett:
Golden wing warblers may be plentiful in this patch of forest but these birds and others are threatened. And they face enormous pressures in their  wintering grounds in Central and South America and their migrations to and from our state.

Amber Roth:
They have thousands of miles that they're traveling and it's a long way for those little wings.

Jo Garrett:
They're working to find a way for these forests to provide fuel for us, jobs for the future and continued sustenance for these birds.

Patty Loew:
This winter Roth and her team will join an international effort to map golden wing warblers. They'll take feather samples and by genetic analysis determine where the birds travel. Soon we may know the exact spot where Wisconsin's golden warblers spend their winter.