This week, Mast Reforestation announced that it has secured $25 million in Series B funding for its market-first restorative carbon dioxide removal (CDR) project.
The company, focused on post-wildfire restorative reforestation in Western North America, will use this funding to expand its operations into biomass burial, also known as Biomass Carbon Removal & Storage (BiCRS).
New investor Pulse Fund co-led the funding round with previous investor Social Capital, along with Seven Seven Six, who was a co-lead in the Series A funding.
The round saw participation from numerous other supporters, including Elemental Impact, Spero Ventures, Thistledown Capital, Resilience Reserve, Julius Genachowski (former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission), as well as several investor groups.
Mast is launching its first restorative carbon removal project, called Mast Wood Preserve MT1, that will include the burial of biomass in central Montana.
Through its onsite burial operations of fire-killed trees that are unmerchantable and would otherwise be piled and burned, releasing CO2 in the atmosphere, Mast Reforestation plans to generate carbon removal credits.
According to the company, dead trees from wildfires total 2.3 million tonnes in Montana alone, presenting a meaningful carbon removal opportunity.
Simultaneously, this project will work to restore approximately 900 acres of forestland that were severely burned during the 2021 Poverty Flats Fire.
This combined approach offers carbon removal buyers the chance to finance post-wildfire nature restoration while securing durable CDR credits that can be retired by 2030.
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Slated to begin biomass burial operations in 2025, the Mast Wood Preserve MT1 project is expected to generate up to 30,000 tonnes of removal credits through 2026, which the company is currently offering for presale.
The project has been submitted for rating by BeZero and is currently in the process of registration for future verification by Puro.earth.
As the owner of two of the largest wild tree seed and seedling nurseries in the West, Mast’s activities in this area will also include the restoration of native species with wild-collected seeds that are grown in-house and matched to the environmental specifics of the project region.
Read more: New Research: Reforestation Is More Cost-Effective Than Previously Understood
