Saplings are again sprouting at the Biocycle Farm, marking the start of another milestone at the 595-acre site. In the last week of May, contractors planted more than 34,000 hybrid poplar trees. They’re replacing the farm’s original trees, planted in 2004, which were harvested over the last three summers.
To establish growth, the new trees will be irrigated with recycled water from the wastewater facility plant throughout the summer. Poplar trees remain the plant of choice at the Biocycle Farm, mostly for their high nitrogen uptake rate and ability to utilize a lot of water.
Once harvested, the trees are turned into wood chips and sold for newsprint pulp and other items. The Biocycle Farm adds diversity, flexibility and stability to the biosolids program. The tree farm was developed in three stages and holds approximately 88,000 poplar trees.