Michigan State Research Explores Using Storm-Damaged Timber For Biochar

A Michigan State University researcher has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) to explore a new use for timber damaged by recent ice storms in northern Michigan.

Emily Silver, an associate professor and associate chairperson in the MSU Department of Forestry, will study how damaged timber and other wood unsuitable for traditional forest products could instead be turned into and sold as biochar.

In March 2025, severe ice storms swept through parts of northern Michigan and the Upper Midwest, causing unprecedented damage to Michigan forests. Countless trees across these counties snapped due to the weight of ice frozen on their branches, leaving behind a historic cleanup effort.

While some of the damaged timber has been salvaged for traditional forest products, Silver says the sheer volume of wood has exceeded what existing markets can absorb.

“There’s just a ton of wood out there,” Silver says. “Hats off to the forest product sector for doing their absolute best to get this material out of the woods and used in some form or fashion, but they hit a point where they became saturated. They made all the 2x4s they could and wondered, ‘What else do we do?’”

The surplus led Silver to consider another potential use for the wood: Biochar. Silver, who serves as the natural resources and social science advisor with the MSU Landscape Intelligence Network and runs the Great Lakes Biochar Network, believes local, state and regional biochar markets could provide an outlet for timber damaged by the storms. Converting that wood into biochar could generate revenue for landowners, improve soil health for farmers and increase environmental resilience to drought and flooding. Silver says key goals of the project are to identify barriers limiting those markets and find ways to overcome them.

“We pitched this project with objectives that are twofold,” Silver explains. “One is to figure out what the challenges and barriers are to use the material. We want to get it to a place where it can be processed and pyrolyzed into biochar—that’s step one. Step two is then what do we do with it? We’ve made the char. Now, who are we selling and giving it to? This grant will fund the production of content about how to make biochar and what different types of biochar are like, as well as issues involving what the end uses of it are, what the possible markets for it are, and where it can be sent.”

Through workshops, demonstrations, logger training, economic impact assessments and biochar testing, the project will provide information and resources to support biochar production and use. Tom Stanton, an independent clean energy policy consultant and founder of Community Energy Solutions, and MC Rothhorn, co-owner of Eastside Compost in Lansing, say this type of education and outreach will be critical to developing biochar markets in Michigan.

Stanton says in addition to the nutrients that biochar can restore within the soil and the benefits it can bring to agriculture, monetizing it as a carbon credit or other type of emission-reduction unit can help drive adoption of the product while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and generating revenue for its producers and users. This research, he said, will be instrumental in demonstrating how that approach can work in practice.

“I think more and more farmers, gardeners and food producers are going to recognize the potential behind making these changes to help make money and grow wealth in our local communities,” Stanton adds. “Dr. Silver and her team will play an essential role in helping advance and disseminate that information.”

This project builds on research and outreach led by the Great Lakes Biochar Network, supported by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Forest Resources Division and Project GREEEN.