Schnoor and Licht also are working at hazardous waste Superfund sites. Dense poplar groves have helped stabilize soil and have reduced levels of toxic metals at a decommissioned smelter in Kansas and a South Dakota gold mine. Industry partners have played a significant role in the success of these projects. Homestake Mining Company, for instance, has been a direct participant in the research and provided partial funding for work at its South Dakota gold mine. In addition, the company bought the 8,000 poplar trees planted at the mine.
Farmers apply the donated herbicide to crops at test sites and researchers study it in their labs.
The hybrid poplar projects may eventually provide an elegant, effective, and inexpensive solution to what have become thorny environmental problems fraught with economic and political overtones. This effort also has sparked further research by Schnoor and Licht, who are now looking into the use of other kinds of plants as environmental detoxifiers. Recently Schnoor began evaluating desert-dwelling plants to remove uranium, plutonium, and other radioactive isotopes form the soil in a Montana site. Schnoor is one of 40 Iowa faculty members form more than 15 departments who are exploring the effects of human activities on major environmental systems through the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at Iowa. Our poplar tree research is just one example of how universities can effectively work with industry to help solve major environmental problems.