MWNB

New research shows that job growth in our region has been faster in areas with serious wildfire danger, a trend that raises the prospect of serious economic fallout from major blazes.

For example, Utah’s Zion National Park has four days annually on average above 92.4 degrees – its 99th percentile temperature. That could jump to 21 days, or even higher.

The move comes in the wake of massive Trump administration layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which runs the program.

Much of southern Arizona and New Mexico are expected to see above average potential for wildfire in April.

In recent decades, wildfires have gotten larger and more intense, and community-destroying blazes are an increasingly common occurrence. But new research looking at centuries of wildfires shows that compared with fires in the 19th and earlier centuries, today’s blazes pale in comparison – at least in terms of size.

Wildland firefighter advocates are celebrating the permanent pay raises included in a larger funding bill passed by Congress late last week.

Wildland firefighters have been pushing for permanent pay raises for years. A stopgap funding measure approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and now heading to the Senate would do just that.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will reinstate thousands of workers laid off in February starting this Wednesday. That includes many hundreds of Forest Service workers across the Mountain West.

The Conservation in the West poll asks voters across the region about a wide range of environmental and policy topics. For 15 years, the Colorado College-run opinion survey has found strong support for conservation on public lands.

The federal wildland firefighting force is currently split between five land management agencies – the Forest Service (under the U.S. Department of Agriculture), the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (under the Department of the Interior).