Watershed

Watershed areas, called "ribbons of life" due to their diverse and productive habitats in North America.

Riparian areas sit in close proximity to water, support more productive and diverse vegetation assemblages, and have direct impact on water quality. The most important functions of a these areas include:

• Supporting animal habitat and enhancing fish habitat
• Filtering and retaining sediments and nutrients from terrestrial upland runoff
• Reducing chemical inputs from terrestrial uplands
• Stabilizing stream banks and building-up
• Storing water and recharging subsurface aquafiers and, 
• Reducing floodwater runoff

Furthermore, a very large part of wildlife depends on watershed areas for foraging, nesting or cover during part of their life cycle.  Riparian vegetation provides food, cover and regulation of stream temperature (by shade), three important factors for native fish survival.

Additionally, domestic livestock are attracted to these areas because of the high forage abundance and water availability.

Finally, many aesthetic values of watershed areas are realized as they are considered prime areas for recreational activities such as hiking, cycling, fishing, swimming, rafting, boating, canoeing, bird and wildlife watching picnicking and camping. The high number of uses and value of riparian areas makes managing them a top-priority for many entities nationally.

A large percentage of riparian areas are considered in degraded and non-functional conditions and in need of restoration (Ffolliott et al., 2004). Riparian area destruction as well as needs vary throughout regions of the United States.  Approximately 70-90% of riparian areas are degraded, making them one of the most drastically altered ecosystems.  

Application of biochar with high surface area and porosity, high water holding capacity and cation exchange capacity, has shown to have the most effective results in improving these areas.  Using high-quality biochar in concert with compost in buffering riparian areas has shown significant drop in concentration of:

• NH4
• TP
• Total Suspended Soils
• Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus

Biochar Supreme's Watershed & Runoff RX (TM) listed for Organic Approved, is one of the few biochars to have the high-porosity, high-surface area, high-activity, high cation exchange to achieve these important improvements in remediation such as riparian areas.  Our product was engineered to clean-up riparian areas at the Hybleos Yard in Tacoma, WA.  For more information see, Our Projects. 

We offer the Watershed & Runoff RX product alone or with additional media to suit your remediation needs. We can consult with you about the scope and the characteristics of the project.

To order a sample for testing, please click here. For more specific specs, please email us at info@biocharsupreme.com and we will collaborate with you on your project.