MV Vision Fellow Maggie Craig has been exploring local applications of biochar, an innovative method of converting wood and yard waste into charred material that can be used to store carbon and nutrients. The project began in 2023 and has established a growing network of participating businesses, nonprofits, and individuals on the Island. Below are some highlights from 2025.

A trip to to Sonora, CA, in January to learn about a study funded by the nonprofit American Forestry Foundation to help private landowners research how low-tech biochar production can access carbon markets in partnership with Wilson Biochar Associates. 

The third annual Northeast-Midwest Prescribed Fire Science and Management Workshop in July included a field trip to the Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth County. Some of the forest's understory is regularly burned to manage habitat, mitigate wildland fire risk, and suppress blight such as that caused by the southern pine beetle. 

 

In July, Maggie spoke about biochar at a book launch at the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway in Tisbury. The First and Last Bank: Climate Change, Currency, and a New Carbon Commons, by Ben Luzzatto and Gustav Peebles, envisions small communities creating their own co-operative carbon banks that trade currency for biochar made from local organic waste.