The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana last week allowed the Forest Service's Gold Butterfly Project to proceed on the Bitterroot National Forest in Ravalli County, east of Corvallis in southwest Montana, the Department of Justice said.
The project authorizes almost 5,300 acres of commercial harvest, almost 2,100 acres of non-commercial treatments, prescribed burning, and replanting across several years. Nearly 60 percent of the treatments are in the wildland-urban interface, and more than 90 percent are in an area designated under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act.
According to the Forest Service, the work will reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire affecting nearby communities, provide timber products and related jobs, improve water quality, and restore forest habitats.