Wildfire Mitigation

The Sawatch Range, including fourteener Mt. Massive, looms in the background as a cowboy tows a skier down Harrison Avenue during Leadville Skijoring in March, 2025.

Maeve Conran

This week on Regional Roundup: protests in Denver and Salt Lake City, hazard mitigation planning in the West, a social media regulation bill in Colorado, and land conservation efforts in Colorado and Wyoming.

FEMA Cuts Local Resilience Funding, Impacting Rural West in Climate Disaster Prevention

Caroline Llanes

Rural communities in the Rocky Mountain West, like Leadville, rely on federal funds for climate resilience, including wildfire and storm mitigation. However, Trump-era cuts threaten these efforts.

Colorado ditches plan to reduce utilities' wildfire liability. Homeowners may face fees instead.

Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun

A 0.5% fee would be imposed under House Bill 1302 on every home insurance policy in Colorado, unless a house meets certain wildfire mitigation standards

The White River National Forest, one of the most-visited national forests in the country, is headquartered in Glenwood Springs. The U.S. Forest Service saw thousands of jobs cut across the country, including close to 100 in Colorado, according to Sen. Bennet. (D-Colo.).

Lawmakers, advocates warn of consequences of land management agency job cuts

Caroline Llanes

Lawmakers and advocates in the West are sounding the alarm on the impacts of federal jobs cuts in land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. They say services like firefighting, recreation management, and access to permits for extraction will be affected.