Workshops focus on firewood, biochar and private woodlands

Learn all about firewood in three workshops sponsored by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service.

The workshops will cover topics such as managing private woodlands, stacking and storing wood, and creating biochar to boost vegetable production.

The series begins Monday, July 25, 6-7:30 p.m., with Cooperative Extension Service energy specialist Art Nash and horticulture agent Dario Canelon. They will cover how to boost vegetable production by heating greenhouses with wood and by using biochar, the high-carbon substance left after heating wood or other plant-based material in the absence of oxygen.

On Tuesday, July 26, 6-7:30 p.m., Glen Holt, a forester with the Cooperative Extension Service, will host a free, interactive workshop on how to get the most from firewood with the least impact on air quality. He will discuss the best way to split, stack, cover and season firewood. The same evening, from 7:30-8 p.m., Jesse and Melissa Kreye, faculty members visiting from Penn State University's Department of Ecosystem and Science Management, will talk about private woodlands, prescribed burns and carbon management. They will share how private forests can be managed to help enhance carbon storage and address climate change, as well as ways people are working to bring good fire back to the landscape.

All presentations will be at the Tanana District headquarters, 1000 University Ave., Room 108, in Fairbanks.

Participants will receive publications on safe tree cutting, a firewood cutters checklist and the FireWise defensible space booklet.

All workshops are free; however, space is limited. Register at https://bit.ly/FirewoodWorkshops.

Masks are recommended on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

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