In many forests across the U.S., years of wildfire suppression, insect and disease outbreaks, and invasive species have created a buildup of wood with little or no economic value. This excess biomass not only has the potential to fuel massive fires, but hinders the long-term health of forest ecosystems. Biochar is a form of charcoal that can be made from these woody debris, and when applied soils, enhances productivity and offers additional climate change and pollution mitigation benefits.  

The Forest Service is advancing research on biochar production and application because:

• Biochar can be created from woody residues left over from fuels management, thinning, harvesting, or restoration activities. It therefore provides a way to repurpose the massive amount of waste fuels land managers are challenged with while building economic opportunities.
   
• Woody residues are often burned in slash piles, which although economical, can wreak havoc on the soils beneath piles, contribute to air pollution, and generate greenhouse gas emissions. Forest Service researchers and partners work together to develop technologies that create economically viable alternatives to slash piles by creating biochar on site, such as the Charboss. 
   
• Chemical fertilizers are a source of greenhouse gas emissions, both in their production and application. They are also a significant source of water pollution as the runoff from agricultural fields that have received fertilizers enters waterways and contributes to declines in water quality and eutrophication.
   
• Biochar may provide nursery managers with opportunities to produce seedlings for reforestation and restoration in a more sustainable way, particularly by reducing irrigation inputs.
   
• Biochar offers a promising approach for restoring abandoned mines. Forest Service scientists are researching how applying it to soils at abandoned mines can improve water quality, bind heavy metals, and decrease toxic chemical concentrations, while improving soil health to establish sustainable plant cover. Doing so also prevents soil erosion, leaching, and other unintended, negative environmental affects.

Featured Work

• Integrated biochar research: A roadmap provides a broad outline for a long-term research program that focuses on biochar.

• Life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of biochar produced from forest residues using portable systems investigates options for small-scale production systems to make biochar from forest residues at competitive prices given current government incentives in the US where excess forest biomass and forest residues left in the forest increase the risk of forest fires.