The focus of the Multi-Forest HSE project was to assess currently recorded Chinese sites on the National Forest components through revisits, perform pedestrian survey in areas determined to have a high potential for Chinese sites through historical research, and to produce a management/interpretive plan for these sites across the region. In addition, another outgrowth of this project was the creation of a public-oriented brochure for inclusion to the USFS interpretation efforts.

Chinese Pioneers on Your National Forests brochure (pdf)

During the course of this summer's activities, 3 new Chinese sites were discovered and recorded. In addition, a total of 12 other non-Chinese archaeological sites were found and recorded as targets of opportunity. Besides these numbers we revisited and monitored nearly 60 other archaeological sites.

While the overall new site numbers are small compared to how many Chinese inhabited these targeted areas, there is a reason for this disparity. While performing this research and subsequent surveys, we determined that many of the areas that once had Chinese archaeological sites have been re-mined since their departure (largely during the 1920s-1930s), or other types of developments (roads, subdivisions, dams, etc.) have destroyed them. This means that every known site, and any future discovered site, are even more valuable to our understanding of America's and Montana's past. Together, the University of Montana and the United States Forest Service are helping to piece together this past for the "greatest good for the greatest number".