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Biochar Coalition urges Paradise to convert wildfire wood to soil-enhancing charcoal
Summary
The Biochar Coalition presented to the Paradise Town Council, promoting kiln-based ‘biochar’ production as an alternative to open pile burns and urging a 10% conversion target and local workforce training; the group announced a public demonstration event in Cohasset.
Kenneth Shearer, executive director of the Biochar Coalition, told the Paradise Town Council on a presentation that the group seeks to reduce smoke, recycle woody debris from wildfire mitigation and improve soil by converting slash to biochar.
Shearer said the coalition favors top-down, kiln-style burns that produce a stable charcoal product for soil amendment. “We make it we won’t go into details,” Shearer said, describing biochar as “high pH, devoid of life, highly porous … stable and abundant.” He said the process reduces smoke by encouraging recirculation of volatiles into the flame and produces a material that can improve water retention and soil structure.
The coalition framed its work around California Public Resources Code Division 13 (CEQA), arguing the statute supports citizen-led environmental restoration. Shearer asked the town to consider shifting some vegetation-management output from ash to biochar; he proposed an initial goal of converting 10% of vegetative management to charcoal-production techniques and urged funding for a local workforce-development program to teach safe operations and kiln use.
Preston, a coalition member who worked with Shearer on vegetation-management techniques, described health benefits of reduced smoke for residents with asthma and said the coalition’s top-down burning method produced “a fairly clean burn.” The group showed photographs of local trials and of saplings grown in soil amended with biochar.
Shearer also announced a public demonstration event: the coalition will host a biochar workshop at 11 Maple Creek Ranch Road in Cohasset the following Saturday; the group posted event details on biocharcoalition.org. He said the workshop aims to train homeowners to use the technique on private property, reducing demand for large contractor crews.
Shearer asked the town and grant programs to consider funding for training and to allow the coalition to compete for PG&E settlement or other wildfire-recovery funds to stand up local crews. He told council that Cal Fire’s county report showed tens of thousands of cubic yards of burn piles statewide and said even a 10% conversion to biochar would materially reduce ash production.
The presentation closed with an offer of future community workshops and a call for the council to consider workforce development and pilot projects that would convert a portion of vegetation-management outputs into biochar.
