County credits biomass partnerships and Novo Power with doubling forest restoration acreage

County staff presented an update on Navajo County’s forest health and watershed protection initiatives, emphasizing regional partnerships and a market-based approach to biomass disposal.

Rochelle, speaking for Administrative Services, noted Navajo County’s participation in the Eastern Arizona Counties Organization and a 2024 legislative field tour that brought nearly 20 state legislators into the field "to see firsthand some of the challenges facing Arizona’s forests." She credited the region’s public-private collaboration and a revised power-purchase agreement (PPA) for enabling Novo Power to remain operational and handle logging slash at landscape scale.

Rochelle said forest treatments in northeastern Arizona have grown from roughly 8,000 acres a year during earlier stewardship contracts to nearly 16,000 acres annually now. She added that treatment byproducts are substantial — about 17 tons of biomass per acre — and that sustainable biomass disposal is essential to reduce wildfire risk.

Board members thanked partners including SRP, APS, Novo Power and the U.S. Forest Service, and noted the role of the county’s ECO leadership in convening stakeholders. The presentation highlighted how inflationary adjustments to the PPA helped Novo Power avoid closure, which staff said would have jeopardized the region’s ability to process biomass.

What happens next: Staff said they will continue partnership work to sustain biomass-to-energy operations and pursue funding and policy mechanisms that support large-scale treatment and watershed protection.