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Birk took an interest in the French presence in Minnesota early in his career, stemming from early projects for the MHS including testing at the site of Fort Saint Charles in 1974. As early as 1982, probably inspired by the discovery of 21MO20, Birk began considering a "major study" of French activities in the region that would synthesize archaeological investigations at various fort sites with the written historical record. Birk gathered material for this study throughout the 1980s and 1990s and published multiple articles and studies of limited scope with the intent of incorporating them as eventual book chapters in the larger study. By the late 1990s this planned study had the working title "The History and Archaeology of the French Regime in Minnesota." Birk seems to have worked on this project only sporadically following the collapse of the IMA and no extensive draft of the final manuscript is known.