Insider Brief
- Mast Reforestation has raised $25 million in Series B funding, co-led by Pulse Fund and Social Capital, to scale biomass burial as a durable carbon removal solution alongside its post-wildfire reforestation work.
- The company’s first biomass burial project, Mast Wood Preserve MT1 in Montana, will bury fire-killed trees to generate up to 30,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits by 2026, preventing CO2 release for at least 100 years.
- Mast estimates Montana alone has 2.3 million tonnes of dead trees from recent wildfires, highlighting the potential for biomass burial to serve as a scalable, nature-based carbon sequestration method.
PRESS RELEASE – Mast Reforestation, North America’s leading post-wildfire reforestation company, today announced a $25 million Series B funding round to scale its expansion into biomass burial—also known as Biomass Carbon Removal & Storage (BiCRS)—an emerging durable and scalable carbon removal solution that Mast is integrating with its restorative reforestation services. Co-led by new investor Pulse Fund and existing investor Social Capital with participation from the Series A co-lead Seven Seven Six, the investment accelerates Mast’s work to restore forestland lost to high-severity wildfires across the Western United States.
Mast is launching its first restorative biomass burial project, Mast Wood Preserve MT1, in central Montana. The company will generate carbon removal credits from the onsite burial of unmerchantable, fire-killed trees that would otherwise release stored carbon as they are piled and burned. The project also includes Mast’s restoration of approximately 900 acres of forestland that experienced severe burns during the 2021 Poverty Flats Fire, offering a unique opportunity for organizations to finance post-wildfire restoration while locking in durable credits that can be retired by 2030. To provide additional third-party validation of this new carbon removal pathway, Mast has submitted the project for a BeZero rating in addition to undergoing registration and future verification with Puro.earth. Mast plans to begin burial activities in 2025 and the project is expected to generate up to 30,000 tonnes of removal credits through 2026–now available for presale.
After severe wildfire, landowners face hazardous landscape conditions and limited options for reforestation. With no alternative uses or value for the burned trees, many clear and pile burn in order to reduce wildfire fuel on their property. This releases greenhouse gases and has demonstrated impacts to local air quality during seasonal windows of burn opportunity. The MT1 project, located hundreds of miles from facilities that could repurpose the burned wood for lumber, biochar, or energy production, provides the most efficient and immediate pathway to carbon sequestration. Protected under a 100-year easement and rigorous monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements, the geotechnically designed, anoxic (oxygen-limited) ‘chamber’ is designed to halt the decomposition of the buried wood. This prevents the release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) for a minimum of 100 years, with research and modeling indicating preservation for as long as3,000 years. Conservative accounting under Puro.earth ensures appropriate baseline, additionality, leakage, and operational emissions are addressed.
The company estimates that Montana alone contains 2.3 million tonnes of dead trees from wildfires in the last four years—demonstrating a significant opportunity to permanently remove this tonnage from the carbon cycle—a challenge that many other carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are pursuing as a long-term goal.
This innovative approach aligns seamlessly with Mast’s expertise in reforestation, ensuring optimal site conditions for replanting resilient forests where high-severity wildfires have caused irreversible loss. The first and most expensive step in post-wildfire recovery is removing dead, burned trees to mitigate risks to replanting crews and make way for new seedlings. Mast’s reforestation operations for this property will include the restoration of native species cultivated from wild-collected seed, grown in-house, and matched to the project area’s elevation and climate to re-establish ecological function, biodiversity, and resilience.
“Wildfire-destroyed trees pose both a hazard and an opportunity,” said Grant Canary, CEO of Mast Reforestation. “By burying this biomass, we lock away additional carbon, clear the way for new seedlings to thrive, and reduce the risk of these trees fueling future wildfires. This advancement, coupled with Mast’s progress in expanding the wild seed and seedling supply for urgent reforestation needs across the West, takes us to the next frontier of the challenge of scaling responsible reforestation and carbon removal in a way that’s never been done before.”
“With wildfires worsening and communities being devastated faster than recovery has been able to keep pace, supporting Mast’s work was a clear choice for the Pulse Fund,” said Tenzin Seldon, Founder and Managing Partner of the Pulse Fund. “We are committed to restoring the most vulnerable ecosystems through Mast’s ambitious and holistic approach to forest restoration.”
“Mast Reforestation has consistently demonstrated resilience and innovation amidst the complexities of the carbon market,” said Katelin Holloway, Founding Partner at Seven Seven Six. “The company’s introduction of restorative carbon credits enables companies to achieve durable carbon removal while actively contributing to forest ecosystem recovery. Mast’s mission aligns perfectly with Seven Seven Six’s commitment to supporting founders who are leveraging innovation to change the world for the better.”
“I don’t believe in every carbon credit, but I believe in the work Mast is doing,” said Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO at Social Capital. “In a market full of uncertainty, Mast’s projects deliver real, measurable impact.”
Additional investors in the Series B round include Elemental Impact; Spero Ventures, with Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning as board observer; Thistledown Capital; Julius Genachowski, former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and Resilience Reserve. Mast also welcomes reinvestment from several investor groups, including LGBTQ+ investors Gaingels, as well as sector-focused Climate Avengers and Climate Capital; and longtime supporters from Mast’s beginning days in Techstars, Drone.vc, Asymmetry Ventures and Massive Capital Partners also participated in the round.
