The Butte North pilot project in the Beaverhead – Deerlodge National Forest in central Montana ranged from 5,500-7,500 feet elevation and covered 45,000 acres populated primarily by mid-seral stage lodgepole pine forest.

Forest managers wished to address concerns of future change in fuel and resulting susceptibility to fire caused by heavy pine bark beetle activity in lodgepole pine areas. Salvage logging options designed to reduce the threat of problem fires and to provide diversity of habitat conditions were evaluated in this area.

Forest managers worked in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana. The Butte North project evaluated both internally generated data and LANDFIRE Project data. The study design included the use of models such as FARSITE, FlamMap, SIMPPLLE, and MAGIS to evaluate treatment effects, costs, and revenues; a wildlife habitat response model, and an understory response model.