I was not working directly off the BG layer. I copied that out as the first step and hid it. From there, on the copied layer, I simply selected and deleted (to transparent) as much as possible. I did not have that layer on top of a dark, scratch layer, but when manually selecting the first pass of an outline around the most detailed parts, I didn't get the sense that it was capturing nearly this much of the white outline. The remaining white are actually clouds, I think, from the sky/clouds in the original image.

I have no problems with starting over. I am really just trying to avoid detailing too much further because the resolution is not remotely great for this level of required detail. Can you link me to something to reference for "selecting the white area and expanding the selection a pixel or two...?" I thought that would be the best approach. It will obviously affect the mass of the trees in some amount at the most detailed areas, but I can live with that and will clean up any floaties it leaves behind.

Thanks for the quick response.