Judging from the labour intensive nature of this process, I suspect that he has a market for these needles that pays more than would be realized by using them to replace straw.
This clean up might help with fire control but it is bound to affect small creatures who occupy the duff layer and the soil. May also cause greater evaporation. In general the soil would become dryer and brighter and probably warmer. In many soils that grow pine, this would be considdered detrimental.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I just did some googling and found that 3 cubic foot bales
sell for $10 to $20 each. As suspected they are used by landscapers. If other straw is available it is bound to be less expensive. Still' I'm glad I read this since I will soon be searching for
land in an area of mostly pines. The news that needles have value is new to me. I'm going to research this to death.