Mountain West News Bureau

The new chapter will cover about 650 workers at 12 park sites or offices in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Montana and other states.

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. There will also be expanded access to showers, time for routine gear cleaning and so-called “clean air recovery periods” that can limit other risks.

They include analyzing aggregated cell phone location data, public social media and visitor surveys.

Local leaders in Grand Lake, Colorado, hope the workshop expands opportunities for locals and helps attract tourists year round.

Startup Aalo Atomics joined Antares, Valar Atomics and Deployable Energy, and successfully turned on its test reactor for the first time at Idaho National Lab.

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.

Prescribed fires can reduce wildfire risk while also improving wildlife habitat, according to a new study from the Nature Conservancy.

It supported an $118 million bridge at Yellowstone National Park, employee housing at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, wastewater upgrades at Great Basin National Park in Nevada and hundreds of other projects.

Low morale, staffing woes and health worries are among the top issues shared by hundreds of federal wildland firefighters who responded.

Wildland firefighters face extreme conditions. For those who identify as LGBTQ, there are challenges beyond the fireline. This Pride Month, the Mountain West News Bureau reports on how that community is responding.