Last week, a team of Helena National Forest employees did what's known as a "rapid assessment" and put together a list of high-priority areas to deal with pine beetle infestations.

Most of the options involve removing trees -- including those that are dead, dying and even those still alive -- to try to slow down the infestation marching its way through the Rocky Mountains.

The team put together a list of eight high priority areas. Those include:

• The South Hills of Helena, which has moderate infestation levels that are building rapidly. The dense forest poses a risk to the city from wildfires. They want to try to start thinning out the stands by 2010; salvage logging may be viable until 2013. This landscape was ranked as the number one priority.

• Telegraph Creek in the Little Blackfoot drainage west of Helena, which has moderate to high infestation levels. The plan is to remove infested stands and thin non-infested stands on 100-plus acre units before the 2010 beetle flight.

• Dalton Mountain, west of the Continental Divide near Helmville, where they're looking at doing sanitation and salvage logging in 2010.

• Warm Springs in the North Elkhorns near Strawberry Butte. Large numbers of pine beetles are in the trees here, and the focus may be on sanitation and salvage logging in 2010.

• Cabin Gulch east of Townsend, which borders the Mount Baldy roadless area. The project area has been analyzed, with a draft environmental impact statement due this fall. The majority of the lodgepole here has been killed. This might be done in 2010.

• York and Nelson, northeast of Helena. The beetles are just beginning to impact the area, and this area is considered a good candidate for thinning projects while keeping an eye on providing adequate elk cover. This is slated for 2011.

• East Stemple Pass south of Lincoln. It's in the early stages of pine beetle infestation, but the Douglas fir is experiencing significant western spruce budworm defoliation. They'd like to get to it before the beetles fly in 2010, but add that timber probably is salvageable until 2013.

• The Stonewall/Dry Creek areas north of Lincoln. Foresters want to thin both infested and non-infested stands before the beetles fly in 2011.

Helena National Forest Supervisor Kevin Riordan is quick to note these time frames are "highly aggressive" and may be adjusted. Funding hasn't been appropriated for these projects yet, and he's not sure where the money will come from. In addition, the projects all must go through forest analysis processes.