KISU-FM (Pocatello, ID)

This year’s already strong El Niño is strengthening, a trend with potentially significant implications for the intense – and now tragic – fire season. During El Niño, Pacific Ocean temperatures around the equator are above normal. The weather effects are felt around the world, and in the American West, they vary regionally. Clark University climatologist Abby Frazier said they often bring more moisture to the Southwest, which can reduce fire risk in the short term.

About 50 miles west of Albuquerque, a red-and-white checkered diner sits beside a small gas station along the historic Route 66. Around lunchtime, the dining room fills with travelers, truck drivers and local families waiting for one of New Mexico’s best-known burgers, the Laguna Burger. A half-pound burger stacked with melted cheese and roasted green chile, balanced by crisp lettuce, tomato, red onion, and pickles. This order is not complete without the crispy, fresh hand-cut fries.

The Solar Energy Industries Association found that utility-scale solar occupies less than one-tenth of 1% of the nation's prime farmland – areas considered most suitable for growing crops. It also found the West uses the smallest share of that land for utility-scale solar of any region in the country. "There's zero states where solar uses more than half a percent of prime farmland," said Sean Gallagher, the trade group’s senior vice president of policy.

The recent burnover deaths of three wildland firefighters brought the fireline’s immediate dangers into sharp focus. At the same time, federal land management agencies are taking further measures to address the work’s many long-term health risks. Firefighters will now be able to use N95 masks on the fireline – building on a more limited, voluntary rollout of masking that started last fall.

Resilience and growth are at the heart of a new energy pact signed by 11 governors in the West in an effort to have states collaborate and strengthen the region's power grid. The agreement endorses goals described in the new Western Transmission Expansion Coalition, or WestTEC, which analyzed transmission needs across the region with input from utilities, state and tribal governments and others.

Federal land agencies want to know how many people are hiking, camping and sightseeing on public lands -- and are testing dozens of pilot projects to get better data. Traditional methods for tracking recreation numbers include trailhead surveys or vehicle counters. But those techniques don’t capture all visitors, especially in less popular areas. Last year, Congress passed the EXPLORE Act, a package of measures to boost outdoor recreation access as record numbers participate in outdoor activities.

When you hear the word “makerspace,” you might picture rows of 3D printers and laser cutters. A new makerspace in Grand Lake, Colorado, looks a little different: industrial machines to carve wood, shape silver and stitch leather. Inside the 3,000-square-foot workshop, apprentice cobbler Marcie Shearon – she goes by Marcie She – is rebuilding a donated pair of cowboy boots. Hours earlier, she had stripped the boot down to its bones.

The Trump administration says it has surpassed a major milestone in nuclear energy. It wanted to help bring at least three privately-developed nuclear reactors online by the country’s birthday. A fourth went “critical” in the early morning hours of July 4. Antares was the first company to “go critical,” or turn on its relatively small test reactor. That happened in early June at Idaho National Lab in the eastern part of the state's high desert.

Acres burned are up 50% compared to the 20‑year average, forest leader says Tom Schultz, the head of the U.S. Forest Service provided a pointed appraisal of the nation’s forests during a gathering of governors from western states. The forest fires ravaging many regions are collectively worse than in prior years. “As of June 27, more than 35,000 fires have burned more than 3 million acres nationwide,” he said. “So, the acres burned this year, compared to the 20 year average, is up about 50%.

Following the burnover deaths of three wildland firefighters near the Utah-Colorado border last weekend, a top federal fire official has strong words of warning ahead of Independence Day – the single biggest day for human-started fires. Echoing the concerns of other local and state officials, U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy expressed deep concerns about fireworks at a press conference this week regarding the firefighter deaths.