Storm-Damaged Michigan Timber Eyed for Biochar

A $300,000 USDA grant funds research into whether surplus ice-storm wood can become soil-enriching biochar, though no commercial market exists yet.

Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Environmental

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a steel kiln beside a stacked pile of broken timber at a forest edge, with a thin ribbon of smoke rising. — Michigan State University received a $300,000 USDA grant to study converting storm-damaged northern Michigan timber into biochar, though no commercial market exists yet. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Should Michigan spend public money turning storm-damaged timber into biochar?

Michigan State University received a $300,000 grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study converting storm-damaged northern Michigan timber into biochar. The project is research-stage: it will produce workshops, demonstrations, logger trainings, economic impact assessments and biochar testing rather than a commercial product.

Why it matters

Ice storms in March 2025 damaged forests across northern Michigan, and the salvageable timber now exceeds what traditional wood-product markets can absorb. Biochar, a charcoal-like material made by heating wood or other biological material, offers a possible outlet for wood that cannot go into conventional products.

The grant is a $300,000 award from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, with no measured performance or yield figures reported yet. The project's outputs are education and assessment materials, including biochar testing, so its technical results remain to be established.

The players

Michigan State University

A Michigan public research university conducting the biochar project on storm-damaged timber.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

The federal agency funding the $300,000 biochar grant to Michigan State University.

The details

Damaged wood unsuitable for traditional products would be heated to produce biochar, a charcoal-like material that can enrich soil and store carbon. Heating biomass in low-oxygen conditions drives off volatile compounds and leaves a stable, carbon-rich solid. The project will share findings through workshops, demonstrations, logger trainings and economic impact assessments.

March 2025: Severe ice storms struck northern Michigan, damaging forests.
November 3, 2026: The MSU biochar project grant was announced.

The Tech Race

Biochar has a long history of use by Indigenous communities in the Amazon basin, and its current appeal rests on soil enrichment and carbon storage. The stub notes there is little market for biochar in the United States, so this project's research on end uses and markets is positioned as an early step rather than a competitive contest.

The project is research-stage, so no biochar product is available to buyers yet. Its workshops, demonstrations and logger trainings are intended to inform landowners and loggers in northern Michigan about how damaged timber could be used.

The takeaway

The project's economic impact assessments and biochar testing will show whether storm-damaged timber can find a viable market. Watch for the workshop and logger-training schedule Michigan State University publishes as the grant begins.