Pine beetle infestation and other blights have devastated over 60 million acres of forests across the Western U.S. and Canada. In addition, fire suppression has allowed forests to become overstocked with old and dead trees, further fueling the risk of catastrophic wildfire, infestation, and habitat loss.
The Earth Partners worked with the U.S. Forest Service to restore degraded forests by creating a market for diseased trees, forest residues, and other low-grade timber resources. In South Dakota, this material has been used as a source of conservation biomass to produce wood pellets for animal bedding and industrial absorption.
The Earth Partners developed a pipeline of bio-heating, animal bedding, absorbents, packaging, and soil amendments by utilizing our identified fiber sources from our land restoration work in Texas, Louisiana, and South Dakota.