Wetland ecosystems are negatively impacted by invasive species proliferation, often driven by disturbance and nutrient pollution. Prior research has shown that invasive clonal plant harvesting [e.g. hybrid cattail (Typha × glauca)] effectively reduces invasion pressures to improve biodiversity across trophic levels. This practice, however, accumulates metric tons of low-value biomass rich in viable propagules leading to biomass movement and cost impracticality. Biochar production from invasive biomass shows potential for storing long-term carbon and sorbing available soil solution nutrients while concurrently reducing biomass volume. Biochar is produced when organic material is pyrolyzed in a low-oxygen kiln to produce stable carbon with high cation-ion exchange capacity. This presentation summarizes our current successes and challenges in biochar production / wetland reapplication following hybrid cattail harvesting. Furthermore, this session will share current research results from our team’s multi-year large-scale experiment[total = 56 plots; plot size = 1.1 acres] at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge near Saginaw, MI. This research investigates peak biomass cattail harvesting [control, annual, biennial] and annual cattail biochar production/reapplication [0 metric tons (T) / hectare(ha), 10T/ha, 50T/ha] at a land management scale to serving as a launching point to scale–up ecological restoration while closing logistic loops in invaded wetlands.
