FOREST AND BIOMASS RESEARCH

John Sessions (FERM) John Bailey (FERM)

John Campbell (FES)David Smith (WSE)

Team Members • Develop and modify silvicultural prescriptions across landscapes

• Use previously developed decision support models to optimize

transport from forest to plant, and plant to field.

• Establish costs for building and operating the biochar production facility.

METHODS

AND

CONTRIBUTIONS

• Conduct a shift level productivity

study using emerging steep slope

harvesting technology to develop a

harvest cost model.

A1, A3, and A4 • Refine previous models that identify

optimal wildfire risk reduction

treatments. Courtesy of J. Sessions

BSEI INC and

WALKING POINT FARMS

Stephen Machado (OSU)Marcus Kauffman (ODF)

Daniel Leavell (OSU)

Team Members

Kristin Trippe (USDA ARS)John Campbell (FES)

Team Members

AGRICULTURAL / CARBON RESEARCHINTRODUCTION

OVERALL APPROACH: ENLIST AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM OF FOREST AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS, FORM PARTNERSHIPS WITH INDUSTRY, AND DEVELOP USEFUL MODELS.

A2. Evaluate the physical properties of forest-

origin biochar and its function as a soil

amendment.

A3. Optimize fire hazard reduction in the

context of biochar production.

A4. Identify long-term carbon consequences of an

optimized forest-to-field biochar production

chain.

ADRESSING NATIONAL CONCERNS

WITH NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES.

• 200 million acres of land face the risk of catastrophic wildfire.

• Climate change threatens forested and agricultural ecosystems.

• Increasing water stress and increasingly acidic soils limit plant

growth.

• Few strategies efficiently use low-value timber from wildfire risk reduction.

• Biochar has the potential to improve agricultural soils. Currently a limited supply of biochar

restricts the ability of growers to apply biochar to agricultural lands just as the limited demand for forest harvest residues restricts the ability of foresters to fund restoration projects. Does a forest-origin biochar strategy pair these reciprocal needs?

• This study jointly optimizes wildfire hazard reduction treatments, biochar facility locations, and agricultural field applications to promote forest restoration, forest-related employment, increased agricultural competitiveness, and carbon sequestration.

A1. Optimize woody biomass collection and

transport, and biochar production and

application in the Upper Klamath Basin.

• Provide in-depth description forest-origin biochar.

• Pair biochar properties with agricultural soils

to optimize the effect of biochar application.

• Greenhouse and laboratory analysis

to determine if biochar amendments

mitigate the effects of drought.

• Determine ability

of biochar to sequester

carbon.

QUESTION: DOES THE PRODUCTION OF BIOCHAR EFFICIENTLY OFFSET

THE COST OF REDUCING WILDFIRE HAZARD, SEQUESTER FOREST-

ORIGIN CARBON, AND INCREASE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY?

QUESTION AND APPROACH

Courtesy of Nature 2015

Courtesy of WP Farms, LLC

Courtesy of J. Bailey

Model input

Model input

The impact of this

biochar on soil health

and drought mitigation

Wildfire Hazard

Reduction

Steady source of biochar

METHODS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

A2 and A4

• A landscape-level hazard reduction assignment model,

including a carbon accounting framework.

• A collection and transportation model for treating stands

on steep slopes using state-of-the-art harvest and

transport technologies.

• A biochar supply chain decision support model that

determines if production of forest-origin biochar provides

a win-win-win scenario for wildfire risk reduction, biomass

utilization, agricultural productivity, and carbon

sequestration.

• A description of biochar properties.

• Provide technical support for developing capital and operating expenditures for potential plant sites.

CONTRIBUTIONS

A2 and A4

• Prepare and ship biochar samples for property testing.

• Technical support related to application of biochar to agricultural soils.

No action

Fuel reduction only

Tota

l Syst

em

Ca

rbo

n

Years of Operation

carbon parity

Figure 5. Hypothetical model output illustrating the effects of converting forest fuels into biochar on a forested landscape. Losses in forest biomass associated with repeated fuel removal are eventually overcome by the cumulative sequestration of forest-origin carbon in soil-stable biochar products. True atmospheric carbon parity occurs when biochar sequestration (minus the fossil fuel consumed in its production and distribution) first surpasses the no-action scenario.

Decay

Forest Biomass

Atmosphere

Fuel Wood

Biochar

Growth

Fuel harvest

Transport &conversion

Natural Char

DecayDecay

fire

fire

Crop Soil

Transport & incorporation

fire

fire

Fossil Fuel

ElectricalPower

Decay

Offsets

Figure 4. Proposed carbon model for evaluating the production of biochar from forest fuel treatments and its incorporation into crop soils. Key elements include: 1) the decay and combustion of all forest-origin carbon; 2) fossil fuel consumption associated with fuel harvest, transport, biochar production, and soil application; and 3) the consumption and potential production of electrical power during biochar conversion which can serve as a fossil fuel C-offset. Default parametrize values from the literature will afford crude stand-alone as other components of the project progress. Additional accuracy and specificity will emerge once the model is parametrized with the biological, operational, and logistical information generated in the other faucets of this study.

Team Members

Rolly Liu (BSEI)Chris Tenney (WP)

NEW KNOWLEDGE

Biomass utilization

strategies

Carbon

sequestration

model

Biochar

Production

Process

Bio-oil

Bio-Gas

Chipping/Grinding Transporting

Forest Thinnings

Dryland food crops

Field application

A1.

A3. A2.Courtesy of R. Zamora

outp

ut

A4.

outp

ut

outp

ut

OUTREACHPartner with:• Oregon Forest Biomass Working

Group• Oregon State-Wide Wood Energy

Team• Northwest Biochar Working Group • OSU Extension • Present information on biochar and

assist early adopters.

• Provide advice in fire hazard reduction prescription development.

• and other outreach activites!

Opportunities For Biochar Production To Reduce Forest Wildfire Hazard, Sequester Carbon, and Increase Agricultural Productivity of Dryland Soils

John Sessions1, Kristin Trippe2, John Bailey1, John Campbell3, David Smith4,

Daniel Leavell5, Stephen Machado6, Marcus Kauffman7, Rolly Liu8, and Chris Tenney9

X

1.OSU Forest Engineering, Resources, and Management 2.USDA Agricultural Research Service, Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit 3.OSU Forest Ecosystems and Society 4.OSU Wood Science and Engineering 5. OSU College of Forest Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center 6.OSU Crop and Soil Science, Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center 7. Oregon Department of Forestry 8. BSEI Inc. 9 .Walking Point Farms, LLC.