Environment

When is the last time you’ve had a clear view of the Milky Way? Chances are you’re among the 99 percent of Americans who can’t see all that much of the night sky from where you live.

In another shuffle of department leadership, the Bureau of Land Management has a new Deputy Director of Operations. The agency, along with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, still await Senate-confirmed directors. 

Mosquitos found in traps west of Parma have tested positive for West Nile Virus, according to the Canyon County Mosquito Abatement District.

Public lands facilities around the nation are cutting budgets and staff. But in the Mountain West region, cutbacks at Montana's National Bison Refuge are prompting accusations of a political vendetta by regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managers. 

Wild horses that were removed from their range three years ago after the Soda Fire are headed back home. 

Light pollution is the presence of artificial light in the night sky and as development has increased throughout the west, astronomers lament the lack clean, dark skies to observe the heavens. Fortunately, Idaho is home to some of the darkest skies in America and we talk about efforts to create a "dark sky reserve" with Stanley mayor Steve Botti and former Ketchum mayor Nina Jonas. 

A handful of rangeland wildfires have cropped up in southwest Idaho despite recent rain showers across the region.

Four different fires near Grand View, Kuna, Marsing and Murphy have been contained this week – the largest of which burned more than 200 acres.

Environmental Protection Agency leader Scott Pruitt made a quiet visit to Boise Tuesday, to sign a new agreement between his agency and the state of Idaho.

Federal officials have approved a project that aims to help the iconic sage grouse in southwest Idaho. The threat? An encroaching evergreen that has infiltrated much of the region's sage brush steppe.