Identifying optimal locations for biochar production facilities to reduce wildfire risk and bolster rural economies: A New Mexico case study

Many land managers throughout the Intermountain West practice periodic thinning of woody biomass to reduce forest stand density and thereby reduce the risk of high severity wildfire. Pyrolyzing biomass wastes, such as slash from thinning, into biochar can help sequester carbon to mitigate climate change and improve soil health. However, there are insufficient biochar facilities to process the amount of woody biomass available from thinning throughout the Intermountain West. By presenting a case of New Mexico, this study provides a spatially explicit framework, which explains relationships among variables based on their spatial dimension, to utilize a variety of factors such as biomass availability, wildfire risks, markets, soil conditions, and road networks to identify optimal location(s) for new biochar production facilities. Several locations suitable for biochar production facilities have been identified, but the number needed depends on facility capacity and feedstock hauling distances. Findings from this study can help establish several medium-size or a single centralized biochar production facility(ies) in the region. Furthermore, establishment of biochar production facilities can incentivize forestry contractors and landowners to expedite thinning operations in densely overstocked forests of New Mexico. Finally, it can serve as a model that other regions in the Intermountain West can use to facilitate scaling of biochar facilities and production.