About the Project

This is a market-first opportunity in restorative carbon removal combining biomass burial with reforestation. Credits generated through the onsite burial of unmerchantable trees destroyed by severe wildfire (biomass) will be available for 2026 retirement, while also supporting up to 900 acres of climate-resilient, ecological restoration that further contributes to non-monetized carbon sequestration.

Mast is working with a family landowner outside of Billings, Montana to restore areas impacted by the July 2021 Poverty Flats Fire. Dead trees are a ready wildfire fuel source. To reduce this risk, as landowners traditionally do and the state of Montana recommends,* salvage operations initially stockpiled many of these dead trees for burning.  

The site is protected under a 100-year easement with rigorous monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements. The geotechnically designed, anoxic (oxygen-limited) ‘chamber’ halts the decomposition of the buried wood,  preventing the release of carbon dioxide. Research and modeling indicates preservation for as long as 3,000 years. Mast's conservative crediting with Puro.earth ensures appropriate baseline, additionality, leakage, and operational emissions are addressed. 

What is the scale beyond this project?

Montana alone contains 2.3 million tonnes of trees killed from wildfires in the last four years. Wildfires continue to outpace traditional reforestation capacity and funding.

Without Mast, and your catalytic carbon investment, it would take 50 years to restore what has already been lost across the West. We are permanently removing this tonnage from the atmospheric carbon cycle and bringing these ecosystems back to life. We invite you to join us. 

*Montana Forestry Best Management Practices (Montana DNRC BMP) lists slash pile burning as a suggested approach to biomass management and the Control of Timber Slash and Debris law requires logging slash to be reduced, where burning slash piles is the most cost-effective (business as usual) practice.