Place-based Biochar in Space and Time

Biochar is often approached as manufacturing enterprise that utilizes waste biomass at an industrial production site to make a biochar product for markets where customers pay for all of the benefits the product provides. Another approach, that is timely, is using biochar production as an environmentally sound way to dispose of stranded biomass that is hazardous, widely distributed in space, and too expensive to gather and transport to a production facility. This is the situation in many forests and other landscapes in North America today where decades of fire suppression have created unhealthy forests subject to disease, drought and wildfire. As of 2020, the US Forest Service estimated that US forests were offsetting more than 12 percent of total US carbon emissions, representing our single largest carbon sink. However, due to deteriorating forest health and the threat of wildfire, the agency projects a gradual decline in the carbon storage capacity of forests. Therefore, it is urgent that we act to maintain and increase forest carbon storage through protecting and enhancing forest health and building resistance to wildfire.

Over the past several years, the USBI Biochar in the Woods group has convened a diverse group of foresters, arborists, farmers, conservationists, climate entrepreneurs and others to explore various technology options for making biochar in place and leaving it onsite for benefits to soil in forests, orchards, vineyards and other natural and agricultural landscapes. Many of these techniques are low-tech and can be easily available for use by forestry contractors, conservation crews, and individuals to help them sequester carbon while improving soil and forest health. This is a non-market approach in that it does not generally produce biochar products for markets. Rather, it is a service approach where the ecosystem and carbon storage services of biochar are valued. By making biochar in place, feedstock comminution and transportation costs are avoided, along with biochar application costs. As the biochar industry continues to develop, it will eventually become more economical to transport more of this widely distributed woody debris to facilities for energy and biochar production, but for now, we can address the problem of hazardous fuels, forest health, and carbon sequestration by making and using biochar in place.

Keywords: forestscarbon, wildfire, biochar ecosystem services, place based