So much dead wood, the branches and slash are problematic

In the mountains west of Denver, there are areas with so much dead and dying Lodge Pole Pine, that the limbs and slash are problematic: The valleys fill with smoke of burning slash piles in the winter and spring, much to the annoyance of the epa types.

An industrial chipper shredder is nice, but so many of the trees are dead that there are too many chips to simply "broadcast" into (what used to be) the woods.

I wonder if "junk wood", slash and dead needles and cones can be used in a hammer mill for making pellets?

Dexter