Bitterroot Front Project
Region 1 - Bitterroot National Forest
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 fuel loadings and thereby reducing the risk for high-intensity, stand-replacing wildfires and resulting impacts to habitat, property, infrastructure, and public and firefighter safety.
Why are we doing this?
The Roaring Lion Fire burned over 8,000 acres in less than 24 hours. Sixteen homes were destroyed and 600 families evacuated.
Wildfires have burned more than 800,000 acres of the Bitterroot National Forest since 1999, destroying homes, burning thousands of acres, adversely impacting forest health, and costing millions in taxpayer dollars.
The forest contains five of the highest risk fire sheds 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.
Project location, planned treatments, and background?
The Bitterroot Front Project area, outlined in purple, is located on the western portion of the Bitterroot National Forest.
Located on the Stevensville and Darby-Sula Ranger Districts, the project’s planning area extends the length of the main Bitterroot Valley from McClain Creek on the northern end of the forest to Trapper Creek on the southern end.
The project includes a variety of treatments including commercial harvests, non-commercial treatments, prescribed burning, and a variety of restoration activities meant to bolster forest resiliency.
The project was first announced in 2022, following a series of public meetings and field trips. The forest received more than 400 public comments during the scoping and draft Environmental Assessment (EA) comment periods. Most letters received from the local public were in favor of the project. 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.
Photos taken before and after non-commercial thinning on Piquett Creek Project on the Bitterroot National Forest's West Fork Ranger District.
Will the project close any roads or include clearcutting of any units?
The project does not include changes in public road access or any regeneration harvest (clearcutting).
What partners are involved in the Bitterroot Front Project?
The National Wild Turkey Federation is partnering with the forest on this project through a shared stewardship agreement to help improve wildlife habitat and forage.
Project planning was completed with participation and input from local collaborative organizations and partners including the Ravalli County Collaborative and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
How does prescribed burning improve forest health and what changes will visitors notice over the course of this project?
Prescribed fire on the Bitterroot National Forest.
Recurring fire is needed under the right conditions and during a favorable time of year. The forested ecosystems that we live in and enjoy are fire-adapted landscapes; they evolved with fire and the benefits that frequent low or moderate-intensity fires provide.
With no action, or postponed action, we face higher wildfire severity. Over time, more areas would move into a maintenance cycle instead of an initial treatment mode, which means less smoke and greatly reduced costs for taxpayers.
Over the next 10 years noticeable changes may include a reduction in excess fuels near homes and communities, fewer small trees in treated areas and a new recovering understory of bushes, forbs and grasses.
In dry, low elevation forests, some forests will be more open. In forests that naturally had a mixed severity fire regime, some forests will likely have more openings. While this benefits people and communities, it also provides numerous ecological and wildlife benefits.
How will smoke impacts be mitigated?
We coordinate with Montana Department of Environmental Quality for each of our prescribed burns to minimize smoke impacts on the community. While we do everything possible to minimize smoke, we cannot completely eliminate the smoke impacts.
Firefighters light strips of fire that burn at a low to moderate intensity along the ground beneath the forest canopy.
The Montana Department of Health and Human Services provides useful information about how residents can build a low-cost air filter as well as some subsidies available through state resources for those who are sensitive to impacts from smoke.
Next Steps
Over the long term, this project increases our efficiency and ability to get more work done on the ground by completing our environmental analysis at a landscape-scale. This will allow flexibility in our implementation and make sure we are urgently addressing wildfire risk to communities in an interconnected way.
Work is anticipated to start in the Summer/Fall of 2026.