Biochar Pilot Project
Biochar in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island Counties
Kulshan Carbon Trust completed its biochar pilot project in December 2022. This project was a proof-of-concept process to develop a system to connect local landowners in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island Counties to the resources and know-how to produce biochar – a stable form of carbon – from waste biomass. The KCT helped to facilitate the following three sub-projects.
#1 - Fuels Reduction in the San Juan Islands
In partnership with the Washington Conservation Corps, KCT supported an effort to reduce invasive conifer encroachment in the San Juan Islands. Typically, the cleared conifers would have been open burned (emitting all their carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2) or left to decompose (releasing their carbon as methane – a greenhouse gas over 25 times more potent than CO2). Instead, these cleared invasives were converted into biochar using conservation burns – a low-oxygen, clean burn that preserves the carbon in plants as charcoal. The resulting biochar was then spread back into the forest to boost overall forest soil health and conserve carbon for centuries.
#2 - Construction and Demolition Waste
KCT partnered with Lautenbach Recycling and Rake Force to complete low-tech biochar kiln burns using clean construction and demolition (C&D waste) waste as feedstock. This C&D waste would normally be sent to the landfill, where it emits CO2 and methane as it decomposes. Rake Force provided Ring-of-Fire biochar kilns and expertise to lead the burns. The biochar created at Lautenbach Recycling was brought next door to Skagit Soils and mixed in with compost to charge the biochar up with nutrients. The biochar/compost mix was then applied to soils at a well-known Skagit County flower farm, where it will boost soil health, increase water retention, decrease fertilizer needs, and sequester carbon.
#3 Conservation burn slash piles on Galbraith Mountain
KCT worked with Janicki Logging and Construction on Galbraith Mountain to conduct conservation burns on existing slash piles to preserve carbon that would otherwise be emitted during open burns. The KCT team provided the knowledge and on-the-ground support needed to maximize carbon conservation in existing slash piles by producing biochar using conservation burn techniques. The resulting biochar was spread back into the forest and on newly planted trees to boost soil health, tree growth, and conserve carbon.
Crediting
To certify the carbon conservation and produce verified carbon credits, KCT convened and facilitated a workgroup of subject matter experts and practitioners to help our staff prepare high-integrity protocols for measuring, reporting, verifying, and marketing the carbon credits created by these efforts. Our team developed a biochar credit class through Regen Network which utilizes the Verra VM0044 carbon accounting methodology adapted to the conditions of this project. Throughout the three sub-projects, the KCT team measured and calculated the amount of carbon conserved through biochar production according to this methodology and credit class. The credits are currently undergoing final processing and verification before being posted on Regen Marketplace for sale. Proceeds from credit sales will be redistributed between project partners and the KCT.
KCT achieved proof of concept by developing know-how, building alliances, and coordinating a value chain that amassed waste biomass, performed low-tech pyrolysis for biochar production, and valorized carbon removal credits able to command a market premium.