Lani spent years in California fire service. He watched forests burn. He watched crews clear thousands of acres of brush and timber — necessary work, expensive work, work that produced mountains of biomass that had no destination except a burn pile or a landfill.
Every year, the state spent more. The biomass problem grew. Landowners, utilities, mills, and fire management agencies all faced the same question: what do you do with the material once it's cleared? The answers were bad. Pile it. Burn it. Pay someone to take it.
Lani knew there was a better answer. He started asking different questions. Not "how do we dispose of this?" but "what is this actually worth, and who knows how to capture that value?"