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A new report called “Ready or Not” measures every state's emergency preparedness and finds that fewer than half of all states are well prepared. In the Mountain West, Nevada and Wyoming rated “low.” New Mexico, Idaho and Utah rated in the “middle” tier. Colorado rated “high” for public health emergency preparedness.
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A new study brings clarity to a long-running debate over whether mountains produce carbon dioxide or remove it from the atmosphere.
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Prescribed fires and mechanical thinning efforts are increasingly common land management tools intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. But research into their long term effectiveness is somewhat limited. A recent study looked at the effects of such interventions over more than 20 years on a dry, low-elevation research forest in Montana, and found that the combination of thinning and burning was the most likely to reduce fire risk.
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A recent paper explored the challenges exacerbated by climate change faced by Latino farmworkers in Idaho, which are comparable to the issues faced by such workers across the West.
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The Western Governors' Association has been looking for ways for its member states to reduce their carbon footprint. One thing they're exploring is how government buildings are built and whether carbon can be stored in concrete.
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The federal government says this is the nation’s warmest winter on record. And a new study shows human-caused climate change was the driver in many cities, including parts of the Mountain West region.
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The Gila River Indian Tribe (GRIC) in Arizona said it does not support the Lower Basin's proposal for post-2026 river management, adding a new layer to complicated negotiations.
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More than 100 years ago, a professor in the Mountain West invented a tool and technique to measure the amount of water in a snowpack — a discovery that still lives on to this day.
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The seven states that use water from the Colorado River have proposed competing plans for how it should be managed after 2026. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming have one plan in mind. California, Arizona and Nevada have a different idea. The states primarily disagree about the how to account for climate change and how to release water from Lake Powell.
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The Environmental Voter Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that surveyed at voters in 18 states to see which ones prioritize climate change or environmental issues. The report found that voters 65 and older are the second-most concerned group when it comes to the environment.