wildfire

Late last month, the Forest Service announced plans to close 57 of its 77 research stations, located across 31 states, merging them into a single organization in Fort Collins, Colorado.

PacifiCorp has won a notable victory in a lawsuit tying it to four major wildfires that burned in Oregon over the 2020 Labor Day weekend.

The bill is estimated to generate about $30 million for each two-year budget cycle and will supplement the roughly $120 million for the wildfire programs in each biennium.

Allowing temporary egress for emergency vehicles could ease concerns over access to a Missoula Valley subdivision until it can complete a new phase that will create permanent access off Mullan Road.

As the winter season winds down and spring draws near, Missoula County and its partners are racing to burn slash from recent work on Marshall Mountain while ensuring homeowners are prepared for the 2026 wildfire season.

The Idaho Legislature’s budget committee rejected a pair of proposals Wednesday that would have restored a total of $285,000 in state funding for wildfire protection that the Idaho Legislature cut last month.

PacifiCorp said with the DOJ settlement, it has now agreed to pay $2.2 billion to resolve claims from the Labor Day 2020 fires in Oregon and California.

Tim Seaman writes, "Healthy ecosystems are important to all Montanans. Unfortunately, a suite of projects which would meaningfully restore BLM lands in southwest Montana is now stalled due to a lawsuit by Alliance for the Wild Rockies."

The proposal comes in light of rising property insurance premiums and policy cancellations or nonrenewals across the country and much of the West.

Katie Bilodeau writes, "If discarding robust land-management plans that were developed with public participation under laws in existence for 50 years isn’t radical, then I don’t know what is."