During 2024, our forestry team performed routine monitoring and pre-confirmation site visits at our Feather River Dome Reforestation Project, a 166.6 acre project to restore native conifer forests lost to severe wildfire in 2020.
Feather River Dome remains on schedule for confirmation. The survival of our seedlings has exceeded Mast’s original conservative estimates and project requirements.
This project is located in a dry area of high elevation and faces degraded soil conditions following the severity of the burn. However, the project area received adequate precipitation during the first growing season and the seedlings are showing healthy growth rates and densities. A spring 2025 stocking survey will be conducted to ensure that the project is ready for confirmation.
Key Project Details:
Species planted: Ponderosa pine, Sugar pine, Douglas-fir, and Incense cedar
A view from Mast’s restoration of California’s iconic Feather River Dome, destroyed in the 2020 "Bear Fire". The burn severity and rugged terrain make conifer regeneration impossible without our help.
When did the restoration begin?
Since 2023, Mast has been restoring and rehabilitating this stunning area that experienced devastating losses to wildfire in 2020. Mast created a custom reforestation plan for the landowners, prepared the ground to reduce competing vegetation, felled snags, chipped dense biomass, and reduced overall fuel loading to reduce future fire risk. We sourced seed from seed zones that would match this location well, and to increase the climate resilience of this forest.
In 2024, Mast planted 47,617 seedlings, a diverse, native species mix of Ponderosa pine, Sugar pine, Douglas-fir, Incense cedar; all grown at our nurseries.
How severe was the fire?
Three years before restoration planning began, more than 200,000 acres were devastated by a group of wildfires known as the 2020 North Complex Fire. Twenty-one individual fires were started by lighting strikes during a dry thunderstorm, burning significant area across the Plumas National Forest in the counties of Plumas and Butte.
A healthy Douglas-fir seeding grows against a backdrop of fire-killed trees, planted by Mast in 2024.
During certain site visits on our reforestation projects, we dig up (and replant) a small number of seedlings to assess root development which is a good indicator of seedling health. Samples like these provide critical data to track the progress of the restoration and help us determine whether additional support may be needed. There are three Douglas-fir and three ponderosa pine in this photo. Can you tell which is which?
The Feather River Dome project is occurring over multiple years and the early progress is outperforming expectations. With our two subsidiary nurseries, SilvaSeed in Roy, WA and Cal Forest in Etna, CA, Mast is able to ensure sowing, cultivation, and planting activities remain in step with the ecosystem we're bringing back to life.
Learn more about how Mast’s recently announced project approach combining biomass burial and reforestation can expand and accelerate scalable, durable carbon removal and forest recovery. Together, we can 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 projects such as Sheep Creek or Feather River Dome.
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