[Stoves] MUST CHARCOAL BE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Tom and Jeff: 

In the absence of the concept of Biochar, I am sure that leaving as much around as possible is the best strategy from the point of view of soil health. But if we are serious about removing CO2 from the atmosphere through Biochar, and we generally believe that Biochar greatly helps most soils, I am guessing that there is today a different optimum. Any idea whether Scott Moser (or any forester) might have taken another look since Biochar's impacts on soils have been recognized? 

(I also couldn't open either of the reports) 

Ron 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com> 
To: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org> 
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 1:18:13 PM 
Subject: Re: [Stoves] MUST CHARCOAL BE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN? 





Chris Maser elegantly described this process for our Pacific Northwest environment in his 1984 publication, "The Seen and Unseen World of the fallen tree." Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-164. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 56 p http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/5625 



There is an online chapter at www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/164part2.pdf 



Unfortunately these references seem to be offline at the moment. 



A similar story can probably ne told for most environments. 



Tom 



On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 10:20 AM, Jeff Davis < jeff0124 at velocity.net > wrote: 

Dear All, 
One statement that is constantly written on this list is, "use the small 
limbs from the trees and do not cut the whole tree." This is a false 
economy. A tree is a conductor of current, nutrients flow from the soil 
up the stem to the top of the tree then the leaves and limbs fall back 
down to the ground to be recycled. In this case the tree is not 
conducting electricity but nutrients. People need to be able to see this 
fundamental process. If you have the capacity to understand this you 
will see the reason for selectively harvesting the tree trunks and 
leaving the tops and small diameter wood. The nutrients in the tree are 
in the branches, bark and leaves, the stem having the least amount. It's 
also good to leave the bark in the woodlot. Otherwise, in time, you will 
kill off your woodlot. It is not the tree that cleans the air it is the 
whole system that cleans the air and if you steal the small diameter 
wood your essentially shorting out this system. 

It doesn't matter whether your fuel is wood, grass, weed or crop residue 
there still is a common denominator. If you care for the soil the soil 
will take care of your biomass. 


Best regards, 


Jeff 



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