Saratoga, California—6/23/2022—Earth Foundries, Inc., a woman-owned California-based Benefit Corporation delivering sustainable forest waste disposal to end catastrophic wildfire, is honored and excited to be one of the recipients of the USDA 2022 Wood Innovation Grants. The grant will fund efforts to develop the San Francisco Bay Area Biochar market which will provide a beneficial end-use for otherwise unmerchantable forest waste. The USDA grant will supplement a Cal Fire Business and Work Force Development grant funding secured by Earth Foundries for the same purpose.
“Biochar, a by-product of pyrolysis, is a key element of Earth Foundries’ waste-to-value vision for addressing the increasing quantities of forest waste California is generating to confront our catastrophic wildfire threat. Developing a vibrant, growing biochar market in the SF Bay Area will help make forest health projects more affordable so we can do more to prepare for the growing wildfire threat in the Bay Area’s Wildland Urban Interfaces or WUI’s” says Roger Smullen CEO of Earth Foundries.
With the grant funding Earth Foundries, Inc. will be partnering to create biochar demonstration projects in three specific areas: compost, stormwater remediation and manure management. To support these efforts, Earth Foundries is working with the Sonoma Ecology Center. [www.sonomaecologycenter.org] “Biochar production and use is increasingly viewed as an important natural climate solution by a wide array of organizations including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Biochar has many beneficial uses including in stormwater remediation , compost amendment and manure management, and the Sonoma Biochar Initiative is excited to be working on this important project with Earth Foundries and all the demonstration project hosts” said Raymond Baltar, Director of the Sonoma Biochar Initiative, a project of the Sonoma Ecology Center.
Earth Foundries Inc. is seeking additional demonstration project partners in the San Francisco Bay Area for stormwater remediation, composting, and manure management. If you are interested in partnering on a pilot project or would like to be on the public information and outreach list for these projects, please contact Dede Smullen via email at dede.smullen@earthfoundriesinc.com.
About The Wood Innovation Grant:
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more than $32 million to fund 2022 wood innovations and community wood grants. Bolstered by $12 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these grants aim to expand the use of wood products, strengthen emerging wood markets, and support active management to improve forest health and resilience, in light of the ongoing nationwide wildfire crisis. “Wood innovation and community wood grants projects like these show us how we can tackle problems like the wildfire crisis and climate change while creating new markets, supporting jobs, building affordable housing and improving conditions on our forests at the same time,” said Secretary Vilsack. [https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/energy-forest-products/wood-innovation]
About Earth Foundries:
At Earth Foundries we’re all about ending California’s catastrophic wildfires. Now more than ever, public, and private land managers are working hard to restore the health of California forests. Earth Foundries helps by incentivizing the removal of forest waste from the landscape.
The earth has multiple biological systems that naturally sequester carbon—soil, oceans, and forests. Working with these natural systems, Earth Foundries will help end California’s catastrophic wildfires and slow climate change. We take the naturally sequestered carbon in forest waste and limit its re-release into the atmosphere, making forest management a more profitable and more carbon negative activity.
Founded in June of 2021, Earth Foundries, Inc. is a privately held, California corporation and nationally certified women owned business headquartered in Saratoga, California. For more information, please visit Earth Foundries’ website at www.earthfoundriesinc.com and follow us on Twitter @earthfoundries.
CONTACT:
Dede Smullen
Dede.smullen@earthfoundriesinc.com