Rocky Mountain Community Radio

The Lee Fire burned over 137,000 acres in Rio Blanco County. The fire burned mostly on federal lands, impacting private landowners that lease it. Local officials are considering how the burned area may impact the local economy and environment.

Will Toor, the executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, says consumers have until the end of September to take advantage of federal tax credits for electric vehicles, and until the end of the year for certain home energy efficiency upgrades.

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year to “unleash American energy,” he called uranium a critical mineral. That perked the ears of a small group of miners across the American West. Hear that and other stories in the Regional Roundup.

Public lands advocates are hoping to draw attention to proposed cuts to the National Parks Service and other land management agencies by visiting gateway towns in the West.

During pregnancy, people face a higher risk of respiratory complications and preterm birth.

Yale's Climate Opinion Maps now include questions asking Americans about specific extreme weather events like wildfires and floods and how they relate to climate change. More than other Mountain West states, Colorado residents link climate change to these severe weather events.

Parents with mixed immigration statuses face the threat of family separation as immigration enforcement increases nationwide.

A new report from the Bureau of Reclamation shows water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead remain low. It predicts those conditions could continue or worsen over the next two years. CU Boulder's Chris Winter says this should spur the seven states in the basin to agree on new operating guidelines for the future.

A University of Utah study used data from wildfires in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California to look at how private forests for industrial timber harvest were impacted by severe fire weather, brought about by climate change.

Historically dry fuels and long stretches of fire weather have led to the conditions driving one of Colorado's biggest wildfires. Some experts are saying that climate change, which creates these conditions, could make these kinds of fire the new normal.