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Comment 32 for Natural and Working Lands Joint Agency Workshop (nat-workinglands-ws) - 1st Workshop.


First Name: Raymond
Last Name: Baltar
Email Address: rbaltar@sonic.net
Affiliation: California Biochar Association

Subject: Biochar production and use in land restoration activities should be a Best Practice
Comment:
The production and use of biochar, a form of recalcitrant carbon
with a number of important benefits for agricultural production and
land restoration activities, should absolutely be viewed as an
integral part of any natural and working lands climate change
implementation plan.
 
The production and use of biochar can help address the following
challenges facing California:

Millions of tons of surplus agricultural biomass generated in the
State each year, not to mention over 125 million dead or dying
trees in the Sierras caused by the changing climate, or the
millions of tons of forest slash produced during fuels reduction
work around the state, could be turned into a valuable soil
amendment to help reduce water use by farmers in the Central Valley
or to help restore degraded landscapes. 

A huge side benefit of storing biochar in soils is the carbon
sequestration value of the practice. A significant amount of
research is ongoing around the world to quantify which types of
biochars will persist for the longest time in soils, but existing
research indicates the time scale for most biochars are in the
century or millennia time frames.

Some forms of production can produce a renewable form of energy
that can contribute baseload power to the grid that could replace
fossil fuel plants, and in fact much of the biochar produced and
sold in California currently comes from Co-Gen plants that have
been adapted to produce a high-carbon by-product. We should be
modernizing or building more efficient biomass energy plants, not
simply closing down older plants.

The value of biochar production and use for enhancing forestry
restoration activities specifically has been championed by
Oregon-based, US Forest Service Biomass Manager James Archuleta and
others. Even the NRCS has warmed up to biochar use and now includes
biochar production from forest slash as an acceptable Conservation
Activity as part of their Conservation Stewardship Program. 

We strongly suggest that ANY California Natural and Working Lands
Climate Change Implementation Plan include biochar production and
use as part of its recommendations. 

Raymond Baltar
Director
California Biochar Association








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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2018-06-15 22:22:03



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