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“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” -Theodore Roethke

This quote encapsulates the feeling of finally gaining ownership of Willow Creek Conservancy. The struggle has always been along the lines of: “We need to get this piece of equipment delivered here, but the roads aren’t passable.” Or, “We want to host a public event but there isn’t anywhere for 50 people to park.” Or, “We need a decent workspace but all of our structures are cluttered with junk and neglected.” Metaphorically, we have been standing in the valley, not seeing the path over the mountain of work (Not to mention the 20 other projects the RCD is involved with).

Enter Blaze Elation (of Elationscapes Ecological Landscaping & Permaculture Design) and James R. Henry Construction Professional. Everything changed.

The first week of June 2024 marked the beginning of a two week road maintenance and junk removal project at Willow Creek Conservancy. The Willow Creek Conservancy crew teamed up with James and Blaze to repair roughly 1.5 miles of farm roads throughout the property. The process involved scraping the roads to fill any ruts and remove unwanted vegetation obstructing the roads. The crews also widened the roads to a generous 12ft+ to accommodate larger trucks or emergency vehicles. Additional goals for the two weeks of work included clearing a weed-patch to create space for a parking lot, accessibility improvements and junk removal in and around the two existing structures on site, and a new layer of decomposed granite in the pole barn.

As per our conservation easement contract, approximately 10% of the land area at WCC is allowed to be farmed and the remaining acreage must be kept as a nature preserve in perpetuity. The vision for the 10% arable land we have includes a native plant nursery, a regenerative agriculture demonstration farm, a seed bank, and other educational/cultural resources. It is our hope to invite the community to this land for gatherings and workshops and provide people an opportunity to shape their relationship with the land. This maintenance project was just the first step of many it will take to get the Conservancy in a presentable shape for the community.

Some things we are aiming to accomplish in the near future include incorporating high density mob grazing of sheep and goats in especially-weedy lowland areas to clear the land, reduce the addition of non-native seed to areas we aim to plant, add fertility to the soil from the herd’s droppings, and show that there are climate-friendly alternatives to mowing and tilling for site prep. Stay tuned for our next project update!

Biochar is a carbon-rich substance that can rejuvenate soil. It is produced by burning biomass in low-oxygen conditions. Biochar can act like a sponge and serve as a habitat for many beneficial soil microorganisms that are known to promote soil and plant health.

On April 10, 2024, US-LT RCD staff performed their first day of biochar production. Weeks prior to the production day, US-LT RCD staff members gathered downed woody material that had accumulated throughout the property and consolidated that material into piles to cure. Once the wood had cured, it was then placed in one larger pile inside of our Wilson Ring of Fire Biochar Kiln. The feedstock pile was composed of 100% coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) from a large tree that had fallen over in the historic storms of 2023 and had blocked an access road at the Conservancy. The feedstock volume was approximately three cubic yards of material.

Ignitions took place at 10:30am and ended at 11:45am. The kiln itself was not overtopped with feedstock, and ignitions went smoothly and safely. There was very little smoke from the ignitions due to the counter-flow combustion design of the Biochar Kiln. The instruction manual from the Ring of Fire Biochar Kiln describes counterflow combustion as “… [when] all the air for combustion comes from the top. This control of the air flow is what allows the kiln to preserve char as it is made in the kiln. Each time the user adds new material, the air comes down from the top to feed the flame. Char beneath the burning material is protected from the air, because the flame uses up all of the available air.”

Our staff members estimated that the kiln produced roughly 25 gallons of biochar. The biochar production day was fun and informative, with many lessons learned on fuels management and climate strategies in an agricultural setting. For example, our staff found that pieces of feedstock larger than 4 inches in diameter took longer to process into more uniform sized pieces of biochar, and consequently were less than ideal for use in our kiln. A solution devised by our staff to mitigate this sizing issue was to utilize log splitting to bring feedstock diameters down to more manageable sizes. We’re looking forward to conducting another biochar production day and hope to involve more members of our growing regenerative agriculture community.