STEVENSVILLE — Bitterroot National Forest has issued final approval for the Bitterroot Front Project, a plan to reduce wildfire risk through fuel reduction across 148,000 acres along the west side of the Bitterroot Valley.
Ravalli County has the highest wildfire risk to structures among Montana counties.
"It's not a question of if we'll have a fire season in the Bitterroot. It's a matter of when," Darby-Sula District Ranger Steve Brown said. "The whole goal of this project is to reduce the fire risk, fire risk to the landscape, fire risk to the communities and fire risk to our firefighters."
Bitterroot National Forest contains five of the highest-risk firesheds in the country. Four are within the area covered by the Bitterroot Front Project, which stretches from the Florence area to Sula. The Forest Service aims to address high-risk areas by reducing fuels that feed large wildfires.
"It's all about trying to change that fire behavior across the landscape because fires — they burn at a landscape scale," Brown said. "If we haven't done any work ahead of time, then we really have very limited options. It's pretty much just hope for the best, get people out of the way and try to catch it where you can. But, if we have done work ahead of time, then the fire behavior that we see is much more manageable."
The agency's work will begin on the ground by removing built-up fuel on the forest floor, along with trees and other vegetation, through techniques including tree harvesting, thinning and prescribed burning. About 28,000 acres of the project area, or 19%, will be commercially harvested. The Forest Service said the project will not involve clear-cutting.
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For rangers, the project goes beyond wildfire response.
"What we're really looking to do is set these landscapes up so we don't have to put as much effort into fighting the fires," Stevensville District Ranger Seth Romocki said. "We spend a lot of money fighting these large fires."
Romocki said the Sharrott Creek Fire, which burned about 3,000 acres outside Stevensville in 2024, cost about $7,000 per acre. He said some work included in the Bitterroot Front Project will pay for itself through commercial harvests and help fund other parts of the project. Other treatments will cost money, ranging from a few hundred dollars to $1,000 per acre.
"I think the benefit of that is on the back end. We don't have the risk and the amount of money putting into suppressing these fires," Romocki said.
The project does not aim to stop all fires from burning in the Bitterroot, but instead to prevent large-scale fires that threaten lives and land. Officials plan to allow smaller fires, including prescribed burns, to reduce fuel buildup.
"The forests around western Montana, and particularly in the project area, they were evolved with fire," Romocki said. "They need that fire to thrive. It's sort of like water to us."
Brown said the work also will have a positive impact on recreation and wildlife by creating more open space, particularly in areas where dense forest growth has limited vegetation that animals rely on.
"One of the issues we've had with wildlife in the Bitterroot here, across Montana, for quite a while is animals moving out of the forest down onto the farmlands below because the forests have become so ingrown," Brown said. "If we can open up that canopy, reintroduce fire that cleans up the fuels on the ground and gives a chance for those grasses and forbs to get going, the animals will have more food."
The project will begin in areas the Forest Service identified as higher risk and continue over the next 20 years. Planning included input from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Ravalli County Collaborative and members of the public through meetings and comments.
With the final decision issued, the Forest Service will begin implementing the project, including seeking logging contractors. Some early work could begin late this summer or in the fall.
"We've got a landscape that overall is not in a healthy condition from a wildfire risk standpoint or an insect and disease risk standpoint, and we planned this at a scale that we are hopeful will make a difference to both," Brown said. "Our intent is having a healthy forest for my kids and grandkids to enjoy."
