Lincoln County outlines pinyon–juniper removal pilot and Lucresi biofuels plan to turn fuels into local economic opportunity
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Summary
Lincoln County and Resource Concepts presented a multi-year plan to reduce wildfire risk and develop a biomass-to-biofuels industrial park (modeled on Denmark’s GreenLab) that would aggregate pinyon–juniper feedstock for pyrolysis and other conversions. The project relies on federal land-treatment throughput and MOUs with BLM and GOED.
Resource specialists and Lincoln County leaders told the committee that proactive pinyon–juniper (PJ) treatments can reduce catastrophic fire risk, restore understory habitat and support economic development if biomass can be aggregated cost‑effectively. Jeremy Drew described the ecological phases of PJ encroachment, fuel-load doubling as woodlands move from phase 1 into phases 2–3, and the fire-risk consequences of infill.
"Fire in a pinyon–juniper woodland is a matter of when, not if," Drew said, arguing the need for watershed-scale treatment planning and mosaicked fuel breaks that retain native understory. The presenters described several treatment tools—lop-and-drop, mastication and chaining—and emphasized that large-scale treatments carry high costs and require markets for removed biomass.
Lincoln County’s proposal (the Lincoln County Renewable Energy and Sustainability Complex, Lecresi) would emulate Denmark’s GreenLab model: a circular industrial park hosting multiple tenants that convert biomass into products (biochar, drop-in biofuels, construction boards) powered by on-site renewables. County and private partners (including SIXCO) have signed MOUs and letters of interest; the county has set aside land for staging and testing.
The presenters stressed the need for coordinated NEPA and BLM treatment throughput, transportation/rail access and a nonprofit aggregator to purchase feedstock and ensure ecological priorities drive harvest selection. They said no onsite burning is planned; conversion processes such as pyrolysis would be used.
Why it matters: the project aims to link wildfire risk reduction to rural economic development by creating markets for treatment byproducts. Success depends on federal cooperation (BLM NEPA and treatment scheduling), infrastructure investment and long-term market demand for biomass-derived products.
Next steps: continuing MOUs with BLM and GOED, site development work at the Lucresi parcels, pilot feedstock aggregation and fundraising for energy infrastructure.