When I was young, fire was interesting for its destructiveness. But as I learned at Clark University about the natural world (B.A. 1980, Science, Technology & Society), I began to appreciate fire's important role in ecology, deepened by studying permaculture (1982 PDC with Bill Mollison; several advanced courses).

In 1982 Robert Martin let me attend a session on fire ecology in his forestry class at Cal. It made good sense, but I didn’t see how to make a living at it, so I chose to start an arboriculture business instead. In 1991, I snuck through police lines to the front of the Oakland Hills fire with my chain saws and shovels, thinking I could help, but when water from a fireman's hose was turned away from a burning house by the wind, I quickly joined the exodus of fleeing homeowners. Some of my clients lost their homes in that fire, and I did cleanup work in the horrible aftermath. A tension arose in me between fire's dual nature as both help and harm that I needed to reconcile, but I didn't know how.

I came to Humboldt sideways, through a tragic blessing. In 2009, my partner Karyn lost her ex and gained his land and cabin on Seely Creek Road through his will. She had a house in Berkeley, so we began living in both places. For the next 12 years I continued my tree business half-time in Berkeley and spent the other half in Humboldt.

Immediately, I recognized the fire danger and began fuel reduction, helped by a FLASH grant in 2011. The following winter I wastefully burned the piles, but I knew that waste is just a misallocated resource. Within three years I had learned about biochar and commissioned my first kiln, which I still use, and began using the char as a soil amendment in our garden. With biochar, I finally had an ecological solution to wildfire.

The Institute for Sustainable Forestry presented the internationally renowned biochar expert Kelpie Wilson in Piercy and Garberville in 2018, with her slide show and kiln. ISF had a new mission to reduce forest fuel and make biochar, same as my own, so naturally I joined. When I presented a poster about my low-tech, ecology-based biochar work at Biochar and Bioenergy 2019 in Fort Collins, I came up with the name Black Ripple. By calling it a ripple, I was distinguishing biochar from the waves of exploitation that had passed through Humboldt County already.

In 2022 I retired from 40 years as an ISA certified commercial arborist in the East Bay, dba Arbor Artist, and Humboldt became my full-time home. Currently I am on the board of the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council and a member of Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association. I produced local (KMUD) radio programs about forest management and biochar for the Institute for Sustainable Forestry from 2020 to 2022, and I currently host Fire Radio for SHFSC (first Mondays at 7 pm). I co-founded the Biochar Road Show in 2020, providing public education about making and using biochar on-site from native materials.

To bridge public unfamiliarity with biochar and lack of equipment, I’ve begun a Biochar Kiln Loan Program, the first of its kind in Humboldt County. Sign up below to receive notices of upcoming trainings and qualify for a kiln loan. This is a free program for land owners and contractors, which I hope will be picked up eventually by a local agency.

Professional Affiliations

Board Member, Institute for Sustainable Forestry, 2023–2025
Board Member, Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council, 2022–present
Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association, member
Biochar Road Show, providing public education about making and using biochar on-site from native materials (for ISF, 2020–2025)
Producer and host, Fire Radio—programs about adapting to a fire-adapted landscape for SHFSC, 2024–present, first Mondays 7 pm on KMUD
Producer, Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project—programs about forest management and biochar (for ISF, 2020–2023)

Contact

Gray Shaw
gray@blackripple.com
510 418-3420