Caroline Llanes

Cities across the West have been gathering data on extreme heat, but heat mapping looks a little different in rural areas like Moab, Utah, where outdoor recreation is the main economic driver.

Hot, dry weather and abundant fuels created the perfect storm for lightning-caused fires on the Western Slope and in southeastern Utah. Drought forecasters are predicting little relief later this summer.

The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to go ahead with firing thousands of federal workers across several agencies. Advocates worry that if a lower court rules the firings are illegal, agencies will be too hollowed-out to hire workers back.

Invasive mussels cause billions of dollars in damage to water infrastructure annually and threaten aquatic ecosystems. Colorado Parks and Wildlife detected the larval stage of the zebra mussel in the Colorado River in New Castle in June— giving researchers a hint as to its origins in the basin.

Researchers estimate that energy costs will go up for consumers, and jobs could be lost as Republicans gut clean energy programs. In fast-growing areas like the Mountain West, these cuts could severely hurt grid capacity.

New analysis shows that rural areas are just as likely to be impacted by extreme heat as urban areas, but these places require different solutions to mitigate those impacts.

Senate Republicans would have mandated the sale of over a million acres of BLM lands across the West, but that proposal was axed late Saturday night. Conservation advocates are celebrating, but say the fight isn’t over yet.

Federal money for solar projects, especially for smaller rural farms, could be at risk as Congress attempts to pass a federal budget through reconciliation. Small farms in the Mountain West could lose out on those benefits.

Speaking in New Mexico, President Trump's Secretary of Agriculture announced her intention to roll back a landmark 2001 conservation rule passed in the late hour of the Clinton administration.

Though often on opposite sides of the political debate, both conservative and liberal voices have criticized a proposal that would sell millions of acres of federal public lands in the West.