When wildland firefighters are on prescribed fires, they’re breathing the same smoke and facing many of the same hazards found on wildfires, but they don’t get the same hazard pay. That could soon change.

Pitkin County recently approved an updated management plan for the North Star Nature Reserve. While the process has been contentious in recent years, Elizabeth Stewart-Severy reported for Aspen Journalism that the county has been pouring resources into balancing the community and ecological interests in the area.

As data centers rapidly expand across the Mountain West, researchers say a key question is getting harder to answer: how much water are they actually using?

Aspen Public Radio published a story on April 1 about a ski patroller leaving the profession. Some of her coworkers spoke out in defense of the career choice.

Ski areas with special-use permits must be primarily focused on skiing and other snow sports. But in a final rule, the U.S. Forest Service said that focus will no longer be determined by revenue, which could help ski areas to adapt business to a changing climate.

Wind and solar power are rapidly expanding across the Mountain West, with some states now generating a significant share of their electricity from renewable sources, according to a new report from Climate Central, a nonpartisan research group.

Rangelands cover 50 percent of the earth’s land surface, including much of the Roaring Fork Valley. But these ecosystems — a critical carbon sink — are under threat as climate change worsens.

The grizzly was previously relocated from Montana to Wyoming to improve genetic connectivity. Now, she has reproduced.

The monthly National Interagency Fire Center outlooks are typically staid documents, providing just-the-facts analysis. But the latest is superlative-laden as it describes record-low snowpacks, record-early snow melt and record-high temperatures.

Several new bridges and tunnels were built in the last few years to prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions. Now, state lawmakers are looking to build on the momentum — and qualify for remaining federal grant dollars.