U.S. Forest Service

For millennia, Indigenous peoples have intentionally set fires to care for the land. Colonization and fire exclusion largely put an end to those practices, though the tradition endured. Now, California tribes have opened the door to a new era of cultural burning - a potential model for the rest of the West.

An all-female trail crew maintains trails in the wake of federal firings. Is the worst still to come?

But it isn’t easy since she never knows when she could lose her job again. The Supreme Court recently approved the mass firings.

Montana is home to the first agreement of its kind in the nation.

The plan, released last week by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, would eliminate the Forest Service’s nine regional offices over the next year, including offices in Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Retirees from the agency said they were "extremely concerned."

Consolidating wildfire response could professionalize the field and increase efficiencies, according to the expert WPR talked to. But it could also mean fewer of the collaborations that reduce the risk of destructive burns.

For three years now, Sacha Wells, an interpretive ranger for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, has made “Ground Squirrel High School” an annual summer exhibit. Last year’s theme was prom. This summer, it’s spirit week.

The Forest Service's new chief recently published a letter that called for wildfires to be suppressed "as swiftly as possible." That may sound prudent to many, but it raised eyebrows among some who study fire policy. They worried that it may signal a return to aggressive suppression that has been linked to growing wildfire severity.

Wyoming’s Governor and Congressional representative voiced support for the proposal, which now excludes national forests but still offers up BLM parcels for housing. Meanwhile, residents are planning a statewide protest.

President Trump has signed an executive order on wildfire policy, which seeks to speed responses to wildfires and address what it calls “reckless mismanagement.”