Conservation Corps putting Research into Action 

In 2020 the San Juan Islands Conservation District launched the Islands Conservation Corps (ICC) to address a series of ecological challenges in the County, with forest restoration as a key objective. The ICC collaborated with a forestry company, Rainshadow Consulting, and the local energy company, OPALCO, to conduct fuel reduction treatments along utility rights-of-ways on major roads on Orcas Island and Shaw Island. The goals of the project were to reduce the severity of fire along power-lines to preserve infrastructure, increase safety along major roadways for evacuation during a fire event and to produce biochar from the forest residue to improve forest health.

The San Juan Islands Conservation District partnered with Oregon State University to conduct an in-forest biochar research project in the San Juan Islands from 2020-2021. The research design set up plots in three different forest sites to examine influence of biochar additions at different applications rates in a top slope, mid slope and bottom slope environment. The research project looked at additions of 20 tons per hectare, 40 tons per hectare, 80 tons per hectare and no biochar addition (control), with biochar incorporated to a depth of 30 cm. Each treatment was replicated 4 times at each site.