During 2024, our forestry team performed routine monitoring and pre-confirmation site visits at the Sheep Creek Reforestation Project to monitor the health and growth rates of the more than 897,000 seedlings we planted over the last two years.
The project is ongoing, with reforestation occurring over multiple years. Drought conditions in 2024 have impacted seedling growth and survival. The project has not yet undergone the carbon credit confirmation process.
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. Additional seedlings have been growing in Mast's nurseries and are ready for planting.
Confirmation of the project will proceed once planted seedlings meet carbon registry requirements. 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).
While the Sheep Creek project has faced a setback, 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. 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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SOURCES
1 - 2024 USDA drought disaster declaration counties (PDF), U.S. Drought Monitor