As of March 13, 2026, the Sheep Creek Reforestation Project has closed.
Project Status
Reforestation: Two phases of reforestation were completed.
Credit project development status: closed. No credits were generated, issued, or transacted.
Carbon buyers impacted: None.
Landowner outcome: The landowner received more than $1,000,000 in reforestation services, seedling planting, removal of fire-killed trees and site preparation that will allow future plantings, and improved roadwork to allow planter access
Closure note: The project was affected by a USDA declared drought. The drought impacted the economic viability of the project. Mast, its project financing partner Carbon Streaming, and the landowners reached a mutual agreement and the project has been brought to a final and orderly close.
Project note:
897,114 seedlings of three species were planted at the Sheep Creek property between 2023 and 2024. Mast anticipated dry, harsh conditions in our multi-year replanting prescription, but unfortunately seedling growth and survival rates were impacted by a nationally declared drought disaster affecting Cascade County, MT, delaying the expected project development timeline. The project’s economics were impacted and hindered the project from proceeding. No credits were developed, issued, or sold in advance. Mast, its project financing partner Carbon Streaming, and the landowner, came to a mutual agreement to close the project in 2025.
While the project did not proceed to develop credits, the landowner received more than $1,000,000 in reforestation services, seedling planting, removal of fire-killed trees and site preparation that will allow future plantings, and improved roadwork to allow planter access. Mast and its partners provided these services free of charge, with no landowner commitments or obligations.
Seedlings planted
Both years' plantings included a mix of Ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and Lodgepole Pine.
Acreage planted
USDA Drought Disaster Declaration
Drought occurs in forestry and agriculture. In May 2024, the Secretary of the USDA made a drought declaration for Cascade County, Montana1 where the Sheep Creek project is located. As a result, despite conservative modeling and planting practices, the project has experienced significantly higher than expected mortality rates and the surviving seedlings have exhibited slower than expected growth rates.
No carbon credits have been issued or confirmed by public registries. The carbon crediting process with registries exists to ensure that trees are healthy and alive prior to any issuance of credits–exactly because drought does occur.
Key Project Details:
Species planted: Ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and Lodgepole Pine
How bad was the fire?
In July 2021, the Harris Mountain Fire swept through 30,000 acres south of Cascade, MT. The forested area where this project is located was decimated by the fire. The fire's severity destroyed the native tree seed supply in the forests on the property, which means that the conifer forest would not be able to naturally regenerate. In 2023, the landowner partnered with Mast Reforestation to reforest more than 2,500 acres. The project is being financed through the sale of carbon removal credits generated by the reforestation project. The reforested acres are held in a conservation easement for the next 200+ years.
Watch our video to hear from the landowner about what this means for them.
The progression of seedlings though the planting process at Sheep Creek. Refrigerated storage keeps seedlings cool before they are planted (top), seedlings staged in planting bags (left), loading seedlings to be taken to the planting site (middle), seedling going into the ground (right).
Our two subsidiary nurseries, SilvaSeed in Roy, WA and Cal Forest in Etna, CA, enable Mast to move faster than any other reforestation company to keep sowing, cultivation, and planting activities moving forward.
Learn more about how Mast’s innovative approach combining burned biomass burial and reforestation is setting a new standard for scalable, durable carbon removal and forest recovery to redefine what’s possible for our forests and our planet.
Connect with us to learn more about our restorative carbon removal credits available for near term retirement and other ways you can support our active projects.
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SOURCES
1 - 2024 USDA drought disaster declaration counties (PDF), U.S. Drought Monitor