Emily Silver

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University (MSU) 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. …While some of the damaged timber has been salvaged for traditional forest products, Silver said the sheer volume of wood has exceeded what existing markets can absorb. … The surplus led Silver to consider another potential use for the wood: biochar. Biochar is a char product that USDA defines as “black carbon produced from biomass sources,” such as wood chips, plant residues and other agricultural and forest waste products.