wildfires

Snowpack is often described as the West’s largest natural reservoir, storing water through the winter and slowly releasing it into rivers and reservoirs each spring. But new research suggests the way forests are managed can influence how much of that snow actually becomes part of the water supply.

Conservation groups filed a lawsuit on March 2 challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of federal protections for the greater sage-grouse across nine states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Modern drones map farmland, inspect power lines and help fight wildfires across the Mountain West. Nationwide, the drone industry now employs more than 100,000 people — and demand for trained pilots continues to grow.

A new report finds 2025 brought widespread drought, massive wildfires and destructive windstorms across several Mountain West states — and underscores how closely connected those disasters have become.

The power grid across Western states is under growing strain. Now, a new report argues the region’s governments and utilities need to work together to keep the lights on and costs down.

Economic and environmental challenges could complicate the Trump administration’s proposal to create housing on public lands. A new analysis supports the idea, but says it is unlikely to solve the affordable housing crisis by itself.

New polling shows widespread support for increasing or keeping funding the same for the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. This comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s recent firings of federal park and forest employees.

In the Western U.S., extreme wildfires are damaging tribal lands. Climate change has only made the situation more dire. That’s why the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California is working to reintroduce intentional, cultural fire. These are once-banned burning practices they use to restore the health of their forests and plants.

Climate change is causing wildfires in the West to get bigger, hurricanes in the South to get stronger, and temperatures to rise across the U.S. But when candidates talk about the issue on the campaign trail, does it sway voters?

A new report shows climate change is causing more extreme fires, putting more homes at risk. The findings come as the Davis Fire south of Reno, which sparked on Sept. 7, 2024, has burned more than 5,000 acres and destroyed at least 14 buildings.