Overview

The Marin Biomass Project was developed to explore sustainable uses of biomass feedstocks being generated in Marin County, an urbanized coastal region in California comprised of towns and cities, mixed woodland, agricultural lands, and preserved open space.

The Project addresses increasing flows of biomass materials generated by wildfire prevention activities and by landfill diversion efforts in the County overseen, respectively, by the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA) and by Zero Waste Marin (ZWM). These materials include woody biomass generated by woodland thinning and landscape trimmings to source-separated and mixed organic streams generated by the collection of metropolitan wood debris, food scraps, yard materials, and agricultural biomass.

The increasing biomass flows may soon exceed the handling capacity of available infrastructure in Marin County. Strategic coordination and capital investment are needed to turn these materials into ecologically sound, value-added products leading to economic opportunities in the County. The Project will ensure that biomass utilization pathways support wildfire prevention and landfill diversion, while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Project has been developed to be collaborative and to foster cooperation among stakeholders in biomass utilization, particularly the public authorities who oversee and the private organizations that manage biomass management infrastructure and processes. A forum, called the “Marin Biomass Collaborative,” has been formed and is intended to support rapid implementation of recommendations developed during the Study.

The Marin Biomass Project is one of seven pilot projects funded by the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) to identify ways to overcome barriers to biomass feedstock utilization and to build a bioeconomy that support the State's wildfire safety goals.

Initiatives of the Marin Biomass Project

The Marin Biomass Project is taking progressive steps to help develop a better biomass economy in Marin -- one that is capable of the following:

• Providing scientific insights and economic support for Marin's wildfire safety programs, 
• Creating value-added bio-products of local interest,
• Expanding greenhouse gases reduction and carbon sequestration options for Marin's climate action plans,
• Assuring access to infrastructure that supports land diversion and Senate Bill 1383 goals and obligations,
• Increasing opportunities for ecological conservation and regeneration, and
•  Improving the long-run affordability and sustainability of biomass systems in Marin.

Our project areas are profiled below. 

The Marin Biomass Study

This groundbreak report offers a strategic assessment of biomass flows and utilization opportunities in Marin County. This biomass utilization study is intended to produce information that will support strategic conversations and capital investment among public and private stakeholders in the County, as well as to produce insights and lessons relevant for other urban-rural coastal regions in California.

The Marin Biomass Study involves a detailed evaluation of the potentially recoverable biomass feedstocks in Marin County. It also involves the assessment of infrastructure and products that can utilize these feedstocks in the most economically and environmentally responsible manner possible. Specific Study deliverables include:

• Confirmation of biomass feedstock amounts, types, and characterization in Marin, both current and projected.
• Identification of the most promising biomass utilization pathways in Marin.
• Carbon analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration potential of each pathway most suitable for Marin, and how they might be improved.
• Economic analysis of the feasibility and economic development potential of each biomass pathway most suitable for Marin, and how they might be improved.

Pathway Action Plans

The Marin Biomass Study identifies gap in Marin's infrastructure or opportunties.  It offers a blueprint for building on Marin's current system and growing a more regenerative biomass economy. Starting in summer 2026, a series of topic-specific roundtables will delve into the seven primary recommendations in Chapter 5 of The Marin Biomass Study. These roundtables will explore the business plans and funding strategies needed to expand, scale up, develop, or enhance the recommended pathways -- each culminating in a pathway action plan. 

 

The pathways are economic channels and value chains for turning biomass generated in Marin into products of local use and climate action benefit. The Study provides a broad blueprint for a more regenerative biomass economy, and the Action Plans lay out more detailed acceleration opportunities.
The Marin Biomass Project is also exploring the growth in institutional capacity needed to assure the viability and sustainability of Marin's biomass economy. These two initiatives are part of this effort:

Marin Biomass Collaborative 

The Steering Committee is organizing a wider Biomass Collaborative as a forum to share information and insights and discuss Project results with the Steering Committee. The purpose of the Collaborative is to help key public and private organizations improve biomass utilization in alignment with their respective operations and interests. The Collaborative has no standing responsibilities under grant funding. Its nature and objectives are expected to evolve as the Project progresses.

Governance of the Bioeconomy

Chapter 5 of the Marin Biomass Proejct makes several complementary recommendations. These focus on growing the social and political conditions that aid advancing and sustainability of a regenerative bioeconomy in Marin and beyond. The overall goal is to align the strategic principles, organizational objectives, and metrics in the public sector to create conditions that facilitate near- and long-term investment in Marin's bioeconomy. Development of a governance model delves further into the agency coordination and systems integration needed for Marin's biomass economy to achieve its potential.