Environmental Health

The drought, coupled with rising temperatures, has led to widespread fire restrictions     By TERRY TANG Associated Press A wildfire in Arizona that had neighboring New Mexico breathing in smoke was one of several blazes scorching the drought-stricken Southwest, ...

Emergency plans and new evacuation zones     By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In northeast Oregon’s Union County, the snowpack is so thin that it has completely melted away in measurement sites. Rivers are running lower, ...

Approximately 90% of the state is in an extreme drought category     By SOPHIA EPPOLITO Associated Press/Report for America SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox urged residents and businesses to cut down on their water usage ...

Four recommendations for smarter firefighting as megafires menace the U.S.     Natasha Stavros, University of Colorado Boulder (THE CONVERSATION) Record-breaking fires over the past decade suggest the western U.S. has entered a new era of megafires. Fire itself is ...

Independent review examines recently marked trees     PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An independent forester hired to do a hasty review of the state’s controversial hazard tree removal program has concluded that 96% of the 2,200 trees he recently examined ...

Oregon is now starting fire season amid some of the worst conditions in memory     By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press OTIS, Ore. (AP) — Wildfire smoke was thick when Tye and Melynda Small went to bed on Labor Day, ...

Over 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than they should be this time of year     By ADAM BEAM Associated Press OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon ...

Thousands of the giant trees were killed in the Castle Fire     SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — At least a tenth of the world’s mature giant sequoia trees were destroyed by a single California wildfire that tore through ...

Drought continues for much of the western U.S.     National Interagency Fire Center Deep snow cover persists in the eastern Northwest Territories and extreme northern Saskatchewan. In other regions, snow is either gone or roughly follows the mean snowmelt ...

Staffing, prescribed burns, and increased home protection     By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrats who control the state Senate said Thursday they intend to advance a 10-bill package to the Assembly in the next week ...