Forest Service Issues Final Decision on Bitterroot Front Project

(Hamilton, MT, May 12, 2026) — The Bitterroot National Forest has issued a final decision for the Bitterroot Front Project to implement vegetation and fuel reduction activities and address wildfire risk to communities. 

The project is designed to address the clear urgency for action by reducing the current density of trees and high fuels loadings and thereby reducing the risk for high intensity, stand-replacing wildfires and resulting impacts to habitat, property, infrastructure, and public and firefighter safety.   

The project is located on the Stevensville and Darby-Sula Ranger Districts. The planning area extends the length of the main Bitterroot Valley along the front of the mountains from McClain Creek on the northern end of the forest to Trapper Creek on the southern end. The landscape-scale project includes a wide range of tools including tree thinning, harvest, and prescribed burning to reduce current and future wildfire risks.   

The forest contains five of the highest risk firesheds in the nation, four of which are in the Bitterroot Front Project area. The Montana Forest Action plan has identified the area as having high wildfire risk to communities and infrastructure and significant forest health concerns.  There are more than 7,000 homes and structures at risk in the greater project area. Ravalli County currently has the highest risk to structures from wildfire of any county in Montana.

Increased tree mortality from insects and disease is also a serious concern. The project area has dense pockets of dead and dying trees impacted by mountain pine beetle, Douglas-fir bark beetle, and western spruce budworm damage. 

The Bitterroot Front Project does not include changes in public road access or any regeneration harvest (clearcutting).       

The project was first announced back in 2022, following a series of public meetings and field trips.  The project’s primary purpose has been refined since the initial scoping notice to focus on restoring a healthy and resilient forest ecosystem through prescribed fire and fuels treatments. 

Project planning was completed with participation and input from local collaborative organizations and partners such as the Ravalli County Collaborative and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.  The forest also received more than 400 public comments (most in favor of the project) during the scoping comment period.

For more information on the Bitterroot Front Project, please visit our website, follow updates on Facebook, or contact Steve Brown, Darby/Sula District Ranger at (406) 821-3913 or Seth Romocki, Stevensville District Ranger at (406) 777-5461. 

About the Forest Service: The USDA Forest Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology– and rooted in communities–the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

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