Webinar Program Schedule

Program schedule for both days. Speaker bios below . . .

Speakers and times may change as we approach the event.

“The ultimate mitigation potential of biochar depends on many factors but is limited primarily by the efficiency of biomass conversion and the availability of biomass. With current technologies and biomass availability, estimates range between 2 and 5 Gt of CO2eq drawdown by 2050. With maximum biomass conversion efficiency and sustainable biomass quantities, the upper limit could be on the order of 20 Gt CO2eq by 2050.”

— James Amonette

Presentation Descriptions and Bios

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13th

7:45 to 8 AM — Attendees Join Webinar ALL TIMES PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

8 to 8:05 — Raymond Baltar, Opening Remarks

8:05 to 8:25 — Keynote: Josiah Hunt

Josiah Hunt resized.jpg — **Josiah Hunt,** *CEO, Pacific Biochar*

**Dark Earth for a**
**Bright Future**
The big picture view on biochar context, uses, and how it can play an important role in Regenerative Agriculture and Carbon Farming.
I’ll offer a brief overview of what biochar is and how it’s created, and some of the characteristics that make it so useful in a range of applications. Some historical background of the origins and occurrence in natural and anthropological settings too, then I’ll bring it all together into a current context with specific focus on the great carbon imbalance primarily responsible for climate change and the travesty of land degradation juxtaposed with a growing population. And not to leave the audience in despair, I will highlight some hopeful signs in this nascent industry worth noting, and worth supporting.
**BIO**:
Josiah graduated from UH Hilo in 2004 with a BS in Agroecology and Environmental Quality. From his rural home farm on the Big Island of Hawaii he has helped to pioneer methods for biochar production, processing, and application in farming systems using organic and biological approaches since 2008.

8:25 to 8:55 — Johannes Lehmann

Lehmann resized.jpg — **Johannes Lehmann,** *Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry & Soil Fertility Management, Cornell University*
**Biochar science and implementation — climate mitigation, soil health, and environmental quality.**
Biochar is a systems approach of upcycling biomass residues to address key sustainability issues. This presentation focuses on the scientific foundations of biochar as a soil amendment to develop principles for designing sustainable biochar systems.
**BIO**: Johannes received his graduate degrees in Soil Science at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. During the past 20 years, he has focused on nano-scale investigations of soil organic matter, the biogeochemistry of pyrogenic carbon and sequestration in soil, and sustainable land management practices in tropical agriculture, focusing on innovative recycling of carbon and nutrients including biochar systems. Dr. Lehmann is a member of the steering group of the International Soil Carbon Network, has testified in the US congress, and briefed the President’s council of advisors, authored more than 250 journal publications and was named Highly-Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuter since 2014.

8:55 to 9:15 — Brett KenCairn

Brett KenCairn resized.jpg — **Brett KenCairn:** *City of Boulder, Colorado’s Senior Policy Advisory for Climate and Resilience*
**Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance Bioenergy — Biochar Initiative Overview:**

A multi-national working group of cities including Helsinki, Stockholm, Minneapolis and Boulder are developing a bioenergy-biochar opportunity assessment and development guide that will be used as part of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance climate action “game changer” strategies. Over 70 cities and counties from these two networks have signed on to participate in either working groups or direct pilot projects. We believe bioenergy-biochar will be a critical tool for these cities as both global climate mitigation and local climate change resilience and environmental regeneration strategies.
**BIO**: Brett serves as the city of Boulder’s senior policy advisory for climate and resilience. His primary responsibility is coordination of the city’s climate action and climate resilience strategies. In addition to overall program coordination, Brett is the city’s lead for development of its carbon drawdown focus area. Prior to working for the city, Brett worked across the western US in community-based sustainable development, working in both rural, Native American and other communities in transition across the western US. He is the founder or co-founder at the Rogue River Institute for Ecology and Economy, Indigenous Community Enterprises, Veterans Green Jobs, and Community Energy Systems.

9:15 to 9:35 — Andy Mercy

Andy Mercy resized.jpg — **Andy Mercy,** *Entrepreneur, Investor, Managing Director, Tam Brands LLC ,*
**Biochar Land Restoration Fund**
For decades, biomass energy plants dumped biochar on fields to dispose of unwanted byproduct, inadvertently creating the terra preta soils of CA, OR and WA. Some of these fields desertified when the dumping began and are now fertile productive farms. This session examines the opportunity to start a biochar land fund seeking to acquire underutilized, undervalued, dry, sandy, unfarmable land, converting to highly productive land over 5 years by adding biochar, cover crops and other regenerative practices. Our goal is to convert over 1,000,000 acres in the next 10 years, adding over 50,000,000 tons of biochar thereby sequestering approximately 125,000,000 tons of CO2 while generating exciting returns for investors.
**BIO**: Andy Mercy is an entrepreneur and investor who uses his mountaineering and start-up success to bring innovation and inspiration to new markets. Extended mountaineering expeditions on ice and snow honed his leadership style and passion for the environment. He founded AngelPoints in 2000, an enterprise software company that pioneered the CSR movement by powering the philanthropy and sustainability programs of the world's biggest corporations. He then opened two restaurants in San Francisco focused on locally sourced food. Today Andy is 100% focused on climate change and believes that biochar is key to finding scalable, profitable solutions. He lives in Mill Valley, CA with his wife, 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 40,000 bees.

9:35 to 9:55 — Kelpie Wilson

Kelpie Wilson resized.jpg — **Kelpie Wilson**, founding board member, USBI, Teacher and Author
**A Carbon Conservation Corps to Restore Forests with Biochar.**
As forests go up in smoke, we are experiencing the loss of one of our most important natural carbon sinks. This is a tragic development that we must attempt to reverse by massively increasing fuels treatment programs. However, one of the biggest challenges in utilizing forest biomass is its widely distributed nature. Gathering, handling and transporting woody debris is labor and resource intensive. Often the best solution is to treat it in place, especially if it can be converted to biochar and applied to forest soils to promote forest health and improve the carbon sequestration capacity of forests. In this presentation, Wilson will report on results from the field using technologies at different scales. She will provide economic, social and climate impact analysis of various biochar production opportunities using forestry and tree waste that she has analyzed for many clients including state and federal agencies, watershed councils, environmental groups and private companies. And she will describe the concept of a Carbon Conservation Corps (CCC) that can take on this work while providing jobs and economic development opportunities to rural areas.
**BIO:**
Kelpie Wilson is a writer and a mechanical engineer with a passion for wild nature and renewable energy. Throughout the 1990s, Kelpie was a forest protection advocate with the Siskiyou Regional Education Project. From 2008 to 2012 she worked for the International Biochar Initiative as a project developer and managed the multi-stakeholder process to create the first set of standards and testing guidelines for biochar. Since 2012, she has worked as an independent consultant on biochar production technologies and biochar markets for biochar companies, NGOs and government agencies. She is a founding board member of the USBI. She lives in rural Oregon, where she makes biochar compost and grows a large organic garden.

9:55 to 10:15 — Charles Hegberg

Charles Hegberg resized.jpg — **Charles Hegberg,** *Vice president of Business Development for Ecotone, Inc.*
**Catch Rain Where It Falls – Rebuilding the Soil/Carbon Sponge to Rewater and Cool Our Communities**
Based on actual work and projects, implementing a broadscale urban soil restoration program would significantly change watershed hydrodynamics by improving infiltration, water retention, pollutant removal, air/soil thermal management and carbon sequestration. This talk presents the science, processes and economics of implementing such an effort in our cities and suburban communities.
**BIO:** Since the inception of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Program in 1987, Chuck has worked on numerous ecological restoration and water resources related projects spanning their life cycle from planning thru construction and monitoring. Focused on non-point source pollution targeting nutrients and runoff reduction in the Bay’s urbanized areas, Chuck began working with biochar and its potential in green infrastructure and urban soil repair. Partnered with several academic institutions, he’s worked on stormwater R&D projects using biochar as an enhanced media and/or soil amendment to improve efficiencies of existing Best Practices and urban soil restoration. Chuck is VP of Biz Dev at Ecotone Inc., an ecological restoration design/build B-Corp, and owner of Infinite Solutions, L3C and Terra Aeration, LLC.

10:15 to 10:30 — Break

10:30 to 10:50 — Dominic Woolf

Dominic Woolf.jpg — **Dominic Woolf,** *Senior Research Associate, Cornell University*
**The Global Potential for Biochar to Reduce Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases.**

How much is society willing to pay for carbon drawdown (the carbon price)? Are there other more cost-effective ways of reducing GHGs? How valuable is biochar’s end use in terms of offsetting production cost? And how should available biomass best be allocated between competing GHG abatement methods such as soil organic carbon, biochar, bioenergy and bioenergy, with carbon capture and storage? A range of other constraints could play out in the real world, such as political and social preferences. In this webinar, we’ll look at each of these factors to build a picture of how large biochar’s potential could be, and how the various constraints will affect decisions about where, when and how much biochar we can or should produce.
**BIO**: Dominic’s research aims at how best to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide., and applying analyses to inform policy decisions about the impacts and most appropriate technology choices, land use and land management, taking into account economic and environmental trade-offs and synergies, particularly between food security and climate-change mitigation. His approach to these systems includes soil carbon modeling; improved cost-effective and rigorous greenhouse gas inventories of national scale programs; techno-economic analysis of biomass conversion technologies; geospatial modeling and analysis of food-security interventions; and integrated assessment of biochar-bioenergy systems.

10:50 to 11:20 Albert Bates

Albert Bates resized.jpg — **Albert Bates,** *Author, Teacher, Ecovillage Designer*
**Biochar as a Climate Change Strategy**
This talk examines “negative emissions technologies,” why we need them, what stage of progress they’re at, and how and why they will soon become the global economy’s central organizing principle. Enhanced photosynthesis in combination with biochar and bio-oils emerge as the best value proposition because they can mobilize philanthropy and government incentives in the early stages and then be driven by the market because of a unique and significant advantage: biochar does not require a high peg for dollar per carbon ton. Anything that comes its way from selling carbon credits is gravy. It will be profitable because it confers advantages over competing products. This is a disruptive technology that will favor those first in with these applications.
**BIO**: author of *Dark Side of the Ocean* (2020), *Making Waves* (2020), *Taming Plastic* (2020), *Burn: Igniting a New Drawdown Economy to Reverse Climate Change* (2019, with Kathleen Draper), *The Paris Agreement* (2015), *The Biochar Solution* (2009), he holds degrees in political science, law and permaculture, and patents in food technology and renewable energy systems. When not tinkering with fireproof green roofs or pyrolizing cookstoves, he teaches permaculture and ecovillage design. Learn more at: http://AlbertBates.Cool.

11:20 to 11:40 Kathleen Draper

Kathleen Draper resized.jpg — **Kathleen Draper,** Board Chair, lnt’l Biochar Initiative/US Director, Ithaka Instit. for Carbon Intelligence.
**Opportunities for Drawdown: How biochar can help the construction industry pivot from emitting carbon to banking it.**

Biochar has traditionally been viewed through an agricultural lens, but urban environments also generate significant biomass and can provide carbon sink opportunities too. Beyond carbon drawdown, biochar production and use can amongst other things, help cities adapt to climate change, improve organics management, provide renewable energy and improve the longevity and resiliency of urban trees. Few other negative emissions technologies that are safe, scalable and shovel-ready can provide similar long-lasting sequestration with so many additional co-benefits. A growing number of pyrolysis pilot plants have been tested around the globe, each generating different quantities and qualities of biochar. This presentation will highlight some of the current and near-term opportunities for cities to more efficiently manage organic waste streams through carbonization and how the resulting biochar and other co-products are being or could be utilized to reduce emissions and plan for a more resilient urban future.
**BIO**: Kathleen Draper is the owner of Finger Lakes Biochar which is focused on biochar activities in NY State and is US Director of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence which has a global focus for biochar research, education and consulting. Kathleen is the Board Chair of the International Biochar Initiative and is Vice Chair of the U.S. Biochar Initiative. She is a co-author of “BURN: Using Fire to Cool the Earth” as well as “Terra Preta: How the World’s Most Fertile Soil Can Help Reverse Climate Change and Reduce World Hunger”. Most recently Kathleen and 4 co-founders launched CINTEREST, a start-up commercializing biochar based composites.

11:40 to 12:00 — John Novitsky

John Novitsky 2.jpg — **John Novitsky**, AQUAPRAWNICS
**AquaPrawnics, Leveraging Silicon Valley Techies to Bend the Curve of Climate Change**
Shrimp are the world’s most popular seafood, and the USA is the largest market for shrimp in the world. 92% are imported. Nearly all are contaminated and unsustainable, both farmed and wild caught, for different reasons. AquaPrawnics farms shrimp indoors at a yield rate over 30x more shrimp/acre/year than about 70% of the world’s outdoor shrimp farms. Better still, our shrimp are contaminant free, fresh (not frozen), and sustainable, and buyers pay a premium. Why are we presenting at a bio-char conference? We can put those indoor shrimp farms anyplace in the world where we can acquire or make inexpensive energy. Our first indoor shrimp farm is in production now in rural Montana; there we pay $0.057/kW-hr for renewable hydroelectricity. First harvest and revenue will be this year. We will then “copy exact” the equipment and process to three different types of sites:
We can build them standalone in an urban city, selling fresh shrimp year-round locally. Several such sites are planned for 2021.
We can “bolt” the shrimp farm onto the side of a pyrolysis system. Most biochar producers waste the heat through a chimney/cooling tower. We’ll capture the heat in the form of warm water, run it through a heat exchanger, and use it to heat our shrimp tanks. Better still, we combine the solid wastes from the shrimp farm with some biochar, mix in several other ingredients and produce a great organic soil amendment. 1 such site is already in planning for 2021.
We can co-locate our indoor shrimp farm at a farm which produces Ag waste that has no commercial value. We install a pyrolysis system there, consume their Ag waste to produce our own energy (heat and electricity), and the bio-char. The bio-char is used both as a cattle feed supplement, and as an ingredient with the shrimp wastes in an organic soil amendment - which is sold back to the farm. 4 such sites are currently being planned, starting in 2021.
This “circular economy” at a farm eliminates air pollution, dramatically reduces water pollution, reduces crop irrigation water by some 20%, has significant benefits to the dairyman/cattle rancher, including significantly reduced costs- so the farmer makes more money without the need for gov’t subsidy. The environmental benefits happen “for free”. We invite interested investors or partners to contact us at www.aquaprawnics.com

12:00 to 12:20 — James Archuleta

James Archuleta resized.jpg — **Jim Archuleta,** Regional Biomass and Wood Innovation Coordinator (OR & WA), USFS *(Co-Authors: Debbie Page Dumroese, and Carlos Rodriguez-Franco)*
**Toward Sustainable Forest, Farm and Urban Management: Biochar’s place within Landscape reallocation of Organic Matter**
Environmental conditions in U.S. western states have significantly increased the risk of catastrophic wildfire, putting property and lives in danger and prompting an urgent need for forest restoration treatments, including fuel reduction and salvage logging of dead trees across these affected areas. One solution, in addition to use small diameter trees for Cross Laminated Timber, could be using biomass residues from thinning application for biochar. Biochar production on site with portable pyrolysis equipment can lower transportation costs of moving un-merchantable woody material to a pyrolysis unit.
**BIO:** Starting with the USFS in 1995, he got a degree in Crop & Soil Science (1997). Working first in the moist western Oregon forests, then on to the dry eastern Oregon forests, Archuleta’s experiences varied from project planning, forest restoration projects, wildfire suppression and fire restoration projects. This collective work helped Archuleta win the Forest Service 2011 Field Soil Scientist Award. Since 2018, he has been the Regional Biomass and Wood Innovation Coordinator (OR & WA). Currently managing reimbursable grants within Oregon and Washington. Grant project areas are Mass Timber (Cross Laminated Timber materials in construction), Wood Energy and Biochar.

12:20 to 12:40 — Debbie Dumroese/Carlos Rodriguez-Franco, USFS

Debbie Dumroese resized.jpg — **Debbie Page Dumroese,** *USFS Research Soil Scientist*
*(Co-Authors: Carlos Rodriguez-Franco, and Jim Archuleta).*
**Using Biochar for Abandoned Mine Lands**

For the Forest Service the use of biochar for AML restoration is an opportunity to work with the industry to produce biochar, bioenergy, and wood chips from slash piles of small-diameter trees, branches, shrubs, and twigs created when forests are thinned to reduce excess fuel and lower fire danger.

Biochar application on AML’s has been studied as a tool for reclamation and soil and water remediation for more than 20 years in the U.S. Biochar application to mine-land materials has also been shown to increase ecological and hydrological function, vegetative yield and cover, and reduced the bioavailability of heavy metals, produced by a positive change in soil conditions and improved plant growth. Biochar has an important role in absorbing, sequestering, precipitating, and ultimately reducing bioavailable metals in contaminated solutions, soils, and mine-lands. This presentation will address the Forest Service experiences on this topic.
**BIO:**
Debbie has worked with National Forest System for the past 30 years working on the North American Long-Term Soil Productivity study. This study is one of the most successful and extensive collaborative science efforts undertaken by the Forest Service. She also developed a soil monitoring protocol which has been adopted across the U.S. She specializes in understanding how management activities alter soil physical, chemical, and biological properties to support the development of best management practices that maintain long-term soil quality and forest and range health. Current projects include use non-merchantable wood to create biochar for use in carbon sequestration and to improve soil health.

carlos-rodriguez-franco (1).jpg — **CO-PRESENTER Carlos Rodríguez- Franco, PhD, Forest Sciences, Yale University**

**BIO**:
Carlos worked for the National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Research (INIFAP) for 25 years. He was the former Forestry Research General Director at INIFAP from 1996 to 2000. Currently, he works with the US Forest Service, where he is a Senior Forester. He is the former Deputy Chief for Research and Development (2016 – 2018).
He has covered several positions as the Associate Deputy Chief for FS R&D. Previously he was the Director for Forest Management Sciences staff from 2007 to 2013.
He has written 90 scientific articles on subjects related to forest inventories, silviculture, forest management, plant production techniques, forest plantations, and agroforestry systems published in Mexico and the USA. Carlos authored a book in Spanish titled “Sampling designs applied to forest inventories”. Some of his contributions were his participation in the “Forestry Compendium” published by CAB International in the United Kingdom; the book “Pines of silvicultural importance” published by CAB International in 2002, and a chapter in the book “Urban air pollution and Forests: Resources at risk in the Mexico City Air Basin” published by Springer Verlag.

12:40 to 12:45 — Raymond Baltar Closing Remarks

12:45 to 1 — Short Lunch Break

1:00 to 2:00 PM —One Breakout Session

Breakout Session: Biochar From the Grower’s Perspective: Dr. Amit Dhingra, WSU Dept. of Horticulture; Dr. Doug Beck, Soil Scientist with Monterey Pacific Vineyard Management; Cuauhtemoc Villa, Cannabis Farmer and Teacher, Specialist in the integrations of indigenous and modern farming techniques.