The Bitterroot Valley, located in western Montana, is bounded by the Bitterroot Range to the west and the Sapphire Mountains to the east. The steep rock walls of the Bitterroots rise dramatically from the canyon floor. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery across these rugged, snow-clad mountains in the fall of 1805 on their epic journey to the Pacific. Today thirty-six thousand people make their home in the Bitterroot Valley. Missoula, Montana's second largest city, sits at the head of the valley, and the road south is dotted with bedroom communities and rural homesites at the forest's edge. Private forested lands and a growing number of homes border the Bitterroot National Forest for about 540 miles. During the summer of 2000 fires burned 8. 4 million acres nationwide, making it the worst fire season in four decades...