Encroaching woody brush on rangelands in New Mexico, Texas, and the broader Southwestern US has resulted in over 100 million acres of degraded grazing lands, impacting local hydrology, biodiversity, and agricultural productivity. The responsible removal of woody brush on these historic grasslands helps increase grazing potential and reduces catastrophic fire risk while enhancing soils, water resources, and habitat. It also produces a scalable, sustainable source of conservation biomass.
Our program has brought unwanted brush on private lands under long-term easement for large-scale production of woodchips and wood pellets, with potential to support renewable energy and bioproducts. We’ve enrolled over 700,000 acres with landowners across Texas and New Mexico in our brush management program.
Though there are hundreds of millions of acres of this brush-infested land, only certain areas can be harvested and transported at a competitive cost. The Earth Partners has carefully screened these areas to identify such economically feasible “collection zones,” considering brush density, accessibility, property size, and proximity to transportation infrastructure.
This material has been successfully processed and tested in European power plants, where conservation biomass has received preferred sustainability status compared to more conventional biomass.