Since May of this year, Mast Reforestation’s ground team has been making the most of Montana’s best weather to excavate our wood burial chamber.
June 5, 2025: With the geoengineers' green light, the chamber floor passes inspection. Heavy machinery operates in close quarters as the chamber begins receiving logs for the first time.
In 2021, a severe wildfire swept through this landscape, burning more than 60,000 acres—a staggering amount. The fire killed many of the trees in its path, but interestingly those trees still contain most of their carbon; as much as 75% or more. Whether standing or fallen, dead trees are a fire risk and the state of Montana often requires that landowners clear, pile, and burn in place to reduce that risk. If left in place or in piles that long term decay releases the remaining carbon. If burned in place, this negatively impacts local air quality during the limited “burn season” and of course—releases all that carbon at once. Burying this wood removes it from the atmospheric cycle. This removal is verified by Puro.earth for at least 100 years. Archaeological research indicates it will actually remain stored and preserved for thousands of years in the right conditions.
We found the right conditions at this site. Groundwater hydrology, geologic, and soil analysis determined the site would provide the long term stability needed to store this wood for the next century and beyond. We also found a huge amount of dead trees that couldn’t be used for firewood, building materials, or otherwise.
The mills in the area had closed and few take in burned logs as the charred bark can gum up the machinery. We also found that the landowners, a mother-daughter pair determined to bring their forest back to life, were the perfect partners to work with.
Today, we’re helping them restore their lost forests.
“We raised cattle. They rested underneath what trees we used to have. This land has been in our family for over 80 years. It was my grandfather's. My family worked this ranch. My dad farmed and ranched here.”
— Landowner
Thanks to KTVQ’s David Jay for joining us last week to see the project in action. Watch the full 3-minute segment.
This biomass burial project generates carbon removal credits, which fund reforestation of the surrounding landscape. The project, which is the first to combine biomass burial and reforestation, is well underway with excavation completed this week.
We're proud to include local equipment operators and forestry experts on our team. Four years ago, Cody, shown in this video clip below, was fighting the very same fire that swept across the county. Today's he's an integral part of the story as we bring the land back to life.
Cody, a local Montana operator, had fought the very same fire that swept through the region four years ago. Today, he's an integral part of our team delivering logs to the scale in this video. Note the red LED readout and manual transcription, used to ensure each log is weighed before being moved to the chamber.
What’s next?
The decked wood has been sampled and weighed for weeks as excavation has been underway. Now to the next exciting part—placing the logs in the chamber. We expect this phase to go quickly as the deadwood has been arranged for efficient skidding into our engineered biomass burial chamber.
Once the logs are placed, burial begins, and then the site is prepared for credit verification this summer and ultimately issuance this fall. In parallel, our reforestation plan is also underway. We’ll be sowing and growing seeds later this year at our nurseries. These seeds will be species that are matched for this landscape, eco-region, and growing conditions.
The land surrounding MT1 is a biologically rich landscape of ponderosa pine coulees, yucca, and prickly pear cactus. Some of the land is used for rotational, low-intensity cattle grazing as well as recreation. This land is also a corridor for frequent wildlife activity with natural watering holes that support elk, mule deer, pronghorn, porcupine, sharp-tailed grouse, wild turkeys, badgers, bobcats, cougars, and bears.
April 2025 — A herd of elk grazes near the chamber site, captured by a Mast trail cam.
The restoration of the land surrounding our project site is the special sauce that Mast brings. Reforestation will revitalize this landscape, but not rely on future carbon credits to pay for it. This is sound, efficient carbon removal that is taking place right before our eyes. We’re eager to share the progress with you as it happens!
Follow us on LinkedIn for more frequent updates and connect with our team to get this project in your carbon removal portfolio.
🎥 Thanks to KTVQ’s David Jay for joining us last week to see the project in action. Watch the segment here to hear from the landowner and Mast’s very own Lisa Gonzales-Kramer and William Layton.