Murphy Woodhouse
Mountain West News Bureau Boise ReporterHey everyone! I’m Murphy Woodhouse, Boise State Public Radio’s Mountain West News Bureau reporter.
I grew up in Pocatello, got my undergraduate journalism degree at the University of Montana and now I’m back home in the West after a long stretch on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border. Most recently I was at the Phoenix NPR affiliate KJZZ’s office in Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, Mexico, where I reported for nearly five years.
Outside of work, I’m learning to be a good uncle and looking forward to getting to know every piece of singletrack near Boise. Trail tips? Story tips? Know a secret the public ought to hear? Drop me a line! Si prefiere hablar en español, ¡no se preocupe!
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In recent years, there have been a number of wildfires that resulted in the loss of numerous structures, and in some cases many lives. A new paper argues that thinking about these incidents as “wildfires that involved houses” has a lot of counterproductive policy implications.
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While many aren’t aware of the risks, flooding is a major concern in the wake of wildfires. But because most homeowners insurance policies don’t cover flood damage, residents near recent burns can be vulnerable to major, uncovered losses.
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For now a third time, Congress has extended temporary pay increases for federal wildland firefighters with a continuing resolution. This time they go through just early March.
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A piece of legislation that seeks to improve access to public lands and address a number of other recreation issues has been unanimously voted out of a U.S. House committee. That bodes well for ultimate passage, as a similar bill has already cleared the same hurdle in the Senate.
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Prescribed fires can be an effective way to reduce the risk of severe wildfires. But they of course also give off smoke, and researchers are trying to better understand that public health tradeoff. A new paper finds that prescribed fire can reduce overall smoke exposure, but that those benefits can diminish as the level of prescribed fire increases.
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Last month, the Bureau of Land Management released a five-year Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Action Plan. The basic idea is to get more members of the public involved in scientific research that helps the agency better manage the many millions of acres under its control.
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Laura Daniel-Davis, the acting deputy secretary of the Interior Department, made the announcement at NIFC in Boise.
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New research shows that wildfires can leave behind concerning levels of the carcinogenic chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). But researchers also looked at ways that homeowners can clean their properties after wildfires to substantially reduce the risk presented by PAHs.
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Snowpacks across the region are looking lackluster, with much of the West below 50% of normal. However, a regional fire meteorologist says storms are on the way, and that it’s still too early to worry about any implications for the upcoming fire season.
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In its first three years, the Biden administration has protected millions of acres and spent billions on conservation.