wildfire preparedness

States in the Colorado River Basin failed to meet a federal deadline Tuesday to conserve an unprecedented amount of water. And Colorado lawmakers will pursue at least ten wildfire prevention programs when they kick off their legislative session in January.

The US House of Representatives passed legislation that may help provide Arizona with more water. And the Colorado Department of Natural Resources recently awarded a one million dollar grant to the Ute Mountain Ute tribe and three local conservation groups.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis was in Southwest Colorado on Tuesday, including a stop in Rico where he met with the town’s volunteer fire department.

2022 is shaping up to be another grim year for the climate crisis, with heat and drought records being broken across the Western United States. Coloradans can take simple steps to help protect their properties against wildfires, which are becoming a year-round phenomenon.

It’s wildfire season across the Four Corners, and peak wildfire season in some places. KUER’s Lexi Peery has more on how people in Utah and others in the region can be prepared.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed a fifty six million dollar wildfire prevention program into law. And the Plumtaw Fire is burning about seven miles north of Pagosa Springs in the San Juan National Forest.

Coloradans are on edge as climate change is fueling bigger, more destructive fires that are destroying entire neighborhoods and forcing evacuations all sound the state. Some forecasters say things could get worse this summer than they’ve ever been.

The dust is just starting to settle in the aftermath of Colorado’s legislative session. Lawmakers were frantically working Wednesday night to pass dozens of bills just minutes before a midnight deadline. But not everything got through. Here are some of the highlights from the final weeks of Colorado’s legislative session.

Governor Jared Polis says Colorado will spend twenty million dollars to better prepare for wildfires this summer. And avian influenza has been detected in multiple counties across the Western Slope.

A new report paints a bleak picture of radioactive waste at the White Mesa Uranium Mill in Southeast Utah. And Utah Senator Mitt Romney is looking for people to join a federal wildland fire commission.