Mountain migration

Forty-five percent of voters said “too many people moving” into their state is a “very” or “extremely” serious problem – more than double the rate from 2016.

A new data tool estimates the future population of all of Montana's counties. The website also shows that Flathead County is home to more vacant homes than any other county.

As more developments confront local resistance, a once sleepy Columbia Falls continues to wrestle with the best path forward.

Gov. Spencer Cox said Utah, the fastest-growing state for the past 10 years, is beset by problems including housing and water shortages.

Recent experience and research suggests the benefits of remote work are compelling enough that there’s no going back, says Marketplace’s senior economics contributor, Chris Farrell.

Alta Ski Area hits 500 inches of snow in a season on the earliest date ever recorded, but the race with 1981-82 for best season ever carries on.

Steamboat Ski Resort has been one of the standouts, already receiving more snow this season than in all of last season.

“One really good winter can actually go quite a long way. The water supplies that we ended up with in our rivers here in Colorado are very much driven by whether the snowpack is good or not in any given winter,” said Colorado State Climatologist Russ Schumacher. “But when you aggregate that all together into the water situation over the entire Southwest, where it's dependent on these huge reservoirs, 20-plus years of dryness are not going to be made up by one or two years of good snow.”

Faith communities and hope are necessary when it comes to solving this issue, according to Brigham Young University professor of Ecology Ben Abbott, who described the consequences of inaction as “genuinely biblical.”

Utah lawmakers have shut down a measure that would have mandated transparency around water applied on Utah golf courses, arguing the public might draw “uninformed” conclusions if these facilities were required to reveal how much water they use.

The idea that chopping down trees is the solution to the Great Salt Lake’s impending doom appears to have originated with a county council member.

The EPA has formally rejected Utah’s plan to reduce emissions implicated in neighboring states’ ozone pollution problems, triggering the first round of what is expected to be multimillion-dollar litigation. State leaders have long signaled they would rather sue the EPA than require Utah power plants to clean up their emissions.

Snowy surfaces increase the chance of temperature inversions, which contribute to air quality problems in the Salt Lake City area.

In December, legislative aide Drew Zinecker publicly questioned whether Native Americans living on reservations in Montana should be able to participate in state elections. It’s one of the examples Sen. Shane Morigeau alluded to when introducing a bill that would enhance lawmakers’ understanding of state-tribal relations.

An Indigenous-led push to halt what tribes say is a flawed effort to put the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Herrera v. Wyoming off-reservation hunting decision into action failed Tuesday.

A recent bison harvest in Montana is one example of the work being done in a growing number of state-level curriculum programs that immerse students in sacred ceremony and food traditions.

With a new state-of-the-art irrigation project, Arizona’s Pima Indians are transforming their land into what it once was: the granary of the Southwest

Reporters think they do “marginalized communities” a favor by covering them. But that coverage is too often extractive and riddled with racist tropes.

A bill outlining Montana’s grizzly bear post-delisting management policy saw wide ranging questions and some concerns Tuesday, but it was the definition of “threatening” that brought significant attention from opponents and lawmakers.

Idaho Republican Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, along with Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), reintroduced the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2023.

Beattie Gulch sits between Yellowstone National Park and residential areas near Gardiner.

The agricultural industry argued the bill was pointless because there are already federal laws governing the humane transport of livestock. Also, they said, slaughter is sometimes the most humane option for a horse, rather than neglect or an inhumane killing.

The Federal Highway Administration this year is expected to unveil its grant program funded by $350 million from the 2021 infrastructure law.

Idaho’s top elected officials, some state legislators and local stakeholders last week expressed concerns about or voiced solid opposition to the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project, which calls for installing up to 400 massive wind turbines on federal, state and private lands northeast of Twin Falls.

The idea is to keep carbon locked away in a special type of charcoal known as biochar, which is made by burning organic matter at high heat and low oxygen. The substance could be used to fill defunct oil and gas wells. Proponents say biochar would not only filter dangerous gas leaks but also stop that carbon from forming carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

House Bill 69 gives Gov. Mark Gordon more ways to use money already set aside to defend the coal industry in court.

The Wyoming Legislature may double down on mandates designed to keep coal-fired power plants running, and fossil fuel revenues flowing, despite the high costs of existing directives and electric utility industry concerns.

The Danish turbine manufacturer is among a growing group of companies working to repurpose and recycle turbine blades as wind energy expands.

Legislation would lower the tax on gasoline and create a new tax on electric-vehicle charging, which critics say is incentivizing polluting vehicles and discouraging clean vehicles.

Go inside the scramble to mine lithium, a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

A new report highlights recovery solutions to fires, droughts and other climate catastrophes.

A final cleanup deal for a century of toxic smelting waste in the community of Anaconda goes into effect this week. Residents spoke about what a post-cleanup future might look like.

"My generation can't wait for the next one"

The procedural battles might soon end when the Supreme Court reviews Suncor v. Boulder County later this year, a case that promises to be a turning point for climate litigation.

There’s a historic reckoning in the Colorado River Basin – and Katie Hobbs is here to play hard ball.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a 3% drop in the country's cattle and calves inventory as of Jan. 1. The number of beef cows was down 4%, the smallest count in more than 60 years.

A helicopter with a shooter will fly over a portion of the vast Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico next week, searching for feral cows to kill.

Aging water lines burst near-daily in Truth or Consequences, but funding for repairs has run dry.

Skiers want uphill access. So does the resort. But accidents could change that.

Glamping was a $2.35 billion global industry in 2021 and is sweeping Utah and drawing praise and criticism.