Murphy Woodhouse
Mountain West News Bureau Boise ReporterExpertise: Audio production, field reporting, photography, wildfire policy
Education: University of Montana + University of Arizona
Highlights
- I’m fluent in Spanish and love putting Spanish on the air
- I’m an all-conditions bike commuter and e-bike evangelist – EVERY day is a good day to ride
- I’ve seen two total solar eclipses, and intend to see many more before I die
Experience
I joined Boise State Public Radio and the Mountain West News Bureau (MWNB) in April 2023 after about a decade working as a print and radio reporter on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border. Most recently I was based in the Sonoran capital Hermosillo working for the Phoenix NPR affiliate KJZZ. At the MWNB, I’ve tried to leverage my past experience as a wildland firefighter to provide listeners with informed coverage of a number of key issues in wildland fire. I’m especially interested in efforts to improve the famously challenging and dangerous working conditions on the fireline.
I’ve been a news photographer for a number of years now, but have more recently decided to really hone my skills. As a part of that, I try to have a camera on me whenever I’m out and about. I love sharing images that capture something essential about wherever I’m shooting, like young folks flinging themselves off the Greenbelt truss bridge last summer or car lights stretching along Highway 28 as meteors streak overhead in the lonely Lemhi Valley.
Email: Trail tips? Story tips? Know a secret the public ought to hear? Drop me a line!
-
The National Federation of Federal Employees, which has been pushing hard for the reform, is hopeful of ultimate passage, pointing to significant bipartisan support for firefighter raises.
-
The Forest Corps, a new collaboration between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service, just inaugurated its first cohort of nearly 90 members. They’ll be sent out into priority landscapes across the West to do fuels reduction, prescribed burn and tree reseeding projects, all intended to support the USFS’ broader Wildfire Crisis and Reforestation strategies.
-
Many parts of the West are in for at least a weekend of extreme heat – with daily temperatures exceeding normal readings by as much as 35 degrees. The group Climate Central says that 40 million people in the region are set to experience heat made at least three times more likely by human-caused climate change. Parts of states including Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Colorado are expected to see temps made five times more likely.
-
In the wake of the devastating Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in 2022, the U.S. Forest Service paused prescribed fires – which started the infernos – to review the agency’s program. A newly released Government Accountability Office report looks into how well the agency has implemented changes since then. While acknowledging that changes necessary to resume burning have been made, the government watchdog says more work remains.
-
There’s little doubt that insurance markets in the West and elsewhere are being severely impacted by climate change-fueled disasters. However, robust, granular data on the phenomenon is hard to come by. That is until a pair of researchers developed a clever methodology to extract detailed, zip code-level data on tens of millions of properties across the country. What they find is steep increases in premiums in disaster-threatened areas, and the promise of even steeper jumps in years to come.
-
Beneficial fire is an essential part of confronting the wildfire crisis. But for now, there’s not enough people to do the work. A prescribed burn this spring in Central Idaho shows how partnerships can get more workers on the line.
-
More wildfires are started in the United States on the 4th of July than any other day of the year. This year, the holiday comes on the heels of a federal wildfire outlook report that paints a troubling picture for much of the West.
-
For several years, federal wildland firefighters have enjoyed temporary raises without any clear way toward permanent raises. Now advocates are hopeful that language tucked into a larger spending bill could be the way forward.
-
The cost of housing has long been an issue for wildland firefighters, many of whom end up living in vehicles or camping on days off to avoid those expenses.
-
The Forest Service has put out a draft environmental impact statement on its proposed national old growth forest plan amendment, starting a 90-day public comment period.