Binational groups are preserving migratory corridors and restoring degraded areas in the Borderlands. Will the landscape be severed?
Wildfire
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How do you fight wildfire during a pandemic?
Keeping first responders socially distant, and evacuating communities safely, would be a challenge.
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Are wildland firefighters at a greater risk from COVID-19?
New research suggests that the smoke firefighters breathe makes the disease more threatening.
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Extreme wildfires are changing Western forests
New studies show how high-intensity fires alter flower pollen, soil health and tree growth.
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After the Camp Fire, Paradise is still home
How our connection to place will shape the future of the West.
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Trump administration manipulated wildfire science to promote logging
Emails show Interior appointees crafted a narrative that blamed forest protection efforts for wildfires.
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FEMA spent billions fighting California wildfires. Now, it wants victims to pay it back.
The agency is pushing bankrupt PG&E to reimburse the taxpayer money it spent on disaster relief.
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What’s the best way to save California’s redwoods?
Scientists debate whether controlled burns and logging are really the best way to preserve the state’s iconic forests.
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How not to fight a fire
Will we learn to confront an existential threat to the West for what it is?
Posted inNovember 25, 2019: Forever Mines
California could have helped low-income residents weather PG&E blackouts
The state had a program — and $72 million — but hardly anyone applied.
Posted inDecember 9, 2019: Party Favors
When disaster strikes, Indigenous communities receive unequal recovery aid
U.S. citizens recovering from natural disasters receive $26 per person, per year from the federal government. Tribal citizens? Just $3.
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Smog and smoke: The West’s air is the dirtiest it’s been since 2009
A growing economy, looser regulations and uptick in fires are all factors.
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In California, more than 340,000 lose wildfire insurance
Residents are left with little to no options in the state’s fire-prone areas.
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Climate change is already scary in Alaska
Sea ice is retreating, skies are choked with wildfire smoke, and fish are vanishing.
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Gunnison sage grouse are vulnerable to climate chaos
The dancing birds are especially susceptible to changing weather patterns, which is bad news going forward.
Posted inSeptember 2, 2019: In Bad Faith
When public lands become tribal lands again
A story of fire, stolen lands, and how hard it is to get the U.S. to follow its own laws.
Posted inAugust 5, 2019: From Prison to Fireline
When Arizona catches fire, prisoners step up
In one of the West’s harshest penal systems, incarcerated wildfire fighters learn to see themselves anew.
Posted inAugust 5, 2019: From Prison to Fireline
See the journey to a new career at a wildland fire academy
Ex-gang members, veterans and immigrants alike take a three-month course to become California firefighters.
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Record heat in Alaska fuels wildfires
Anchorage sees 90 F as nearly 120 fires blaze across the state.