RESTORE FORESTS, DECARBONIZE BUILDING, AND SEQUESTER CARBON THROUGH FORESTRY, BIOMASS ENERGY, AND BIOCHAR
By Tom Miles, Executive Director
Forest and biomass industries can help grow biochar production and use. One Oregon mill, the Freres Lumber Company, converts renewable fiber to carbon smart building materials, supplies fiber to paper and engineered wood products, generates firm renewable power, sequesters carbon, and enables carbon and nutrient cycling with biochar.
Freres deploys advanced technology to recover fiber from thinning well-managed forests, the mill produces a patented, veneer-based mass timber product, Mass Ply Panels (MPP) which replace climate-unfriendly concrete and steel in tall buildings. They optimize fiber recovery from fire-damaged "black logs". Forest, mill, and urban wood residues, which would otherwise decay in the forest or landfill, are used to generate steam for processing and power for export. The company recovers carbon from the process which is used as biochar to enrich soils and soil amendments for urban landscaping and agriculture in a valley that produces value added crops like nuts, berries, fruit, wine and hemp.
Freres also sells carbon offset and removal credits from their low-carbon intensity processes. As markets grow they can look forward to incorporating technology to scale up biochar production. As a fourth generation Oregonian in the wood products industry, I am proud to see a local family using advanced technology to renew and sustain our forests, decarbonize building, and facilitate biological carbon sequestration in forestry and agriculture through biochar.
USBI continues to support policies that promote biomass conversion to fiber, energy and biochar to help restore ecosystems, sequester carbon, and reduce emissions through active forest and rangeland management. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources recently introduced the bipartisan Senate Bill S.2836 - America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration (ARCs) Act of 2021. Section 203 of the bill directs the Food and Drug Administration to work with the USDA in coordination with the states to establish a pilot program for feeding biochar to livestock. Feeding biochar is an important high value use of biochar. All other countries feed biochar to improve animal health, reduce disease, medicines, and veterinary costs, and increase meat and milk production. Biochar-enriched manures reduce odor, nutrient leaching, and improve soil health in pastures which increase forage production and reduces feed costs.
USBI collaborates with the USDA Forest Service, Agricultural Research Service, and Natural Resource Conservation Service to promote the use of forest residues in climate smart agriculture. Please comment on the USDA's Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Partnership (CSAF) Initiative on or before 11:59 p.m. (ET) on November 1, 2021.
USBI will launch a series of live, online, and in-field presentations and demonstrations on making and using biochar for foresters and agronomists to support the implementation of public biochar incentive programs this year. The first will be the, Biochar in the Woods Workshop Webinar and Field Days January 27-February 3, 2022. See the events calendar below.
Carbon markets for biochar have drawn interest from investors. USBI and IBI will present an online, interactive Business of Biochar Symposium, December 7-9, 2021 to match investors with entrepreneurs.