A Montana project has buried thousands of dead trees from a 2021 wildfire in an effort to store their carbon underground for centuries. The approach by Mast Reforestation replaces the usual practice of burning the trees in piles. It also allows the company to sell carbon credits while planting new trees on the site.
In 2021 a wildfire at Poverty Flats burned 267 square kilometres and killed 50,000 ponderosa pines on the Gentry Ranch. Instead of piling and burning the snags, which would have released nearly 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, crews placed the trees in a 5,000-square-metre pit and covered them with six metres of soil, gravel and fabric.