MWNB

The declines were felt across the Mountain West. In Idaho, SNAP participation fell nearly 8%. Nevada saw a drop of more than 14%. In Arizona, participation fell by nearly 34%. New Mexico saw a decrease of about 6%, while Wyoming dropped by more than 11%.

When wildland firefighters are on prescribed fires, they’re breathing the same smoke and facing many of the same hazards found on wildfires, but they don’t get the same hazard pay. That could soon change.

The monthly National Interagency Fire Center outlooks are typically staid documents, providing just-the-facts analysis. But the latest is superlative-laden as it describes record-low snowpacks, record-early snow melt and record-high temperatures.

In recent years, concerns among the workforce about health risks of all kinds have been getting louder. And mental health is no exception.

Proposed legislation would protect nearly 450 miles of waterways from dams and mining amid the Trump administration’s push for more development.

Statehouses across the West are considering reforms to respond to the homeowners insurance crisis. While some are hitting headwinds, concern about the issue isn’t going away.

Using a massive data set detailing some 70 million policies, researchers have found that “credit scores impact homeowners insurance premiums as much as disaster risk.”

Using new data, a team of scientists has assembled one of the first comprehensive analyses of emissions from homes burned in wildfires. What they found is that such pollution is serious, and in some cases can exceed emissions from all other human sources.

Researchers say remote geography, inaccurate federal maps, and funding barriers continue to limit reliable high-speed internet in many tribal communities.

The Trump administration is trying to repeal the Roadless Rule, which prohibits new road construction in large swaths of national forests. They say this will aid fire response, but new research is calling that into question.