KJZZ is an associate partner of the Mountain West News Bureau, a regional newsroom exploring the issues that define our region — from land and water to urban growth to culture and heritage. The bureau is a partnership with NPR and public media stations that serve Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
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Much of Arizona's water supply starts as mountain snow. Scientists with the Salt River Project measure it to build forecasts. -
President Trump's nominee, Steve Pearce, is a former New Mexico congressman and Vietnam War pilot. The opposition feels he could sell off public land. -
The team, led by a Boise State University civil engineering researcher, looked at half a million wildfire starts, and hundreds of attributes about them. Beyond the obvious weather variables like wind speed, temperature and humidity, they also considered human factors like density of development. -
Much of the U.S. was just blanketed in snow and ice. But in the West, states like Nevada are seeing unusually warm temperatures this year. -
More than a century after the Mountain West's silver and gold rushes, mercury used to process those metals is still moving through a northern Nevada river system and showing up in local wildlife. -
A coalition of public lands advocates and historians has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of censoring American history and science at national parks, including several in the Mountain West. -
The 16th annual "Conservation in the West" poll by Colorado College revealed that voters across the political spectrum are concerned by the Trump administration's cuts to public land management. -
The 11 senators and representatives - all Democrats - said that the consolidation of four Department of Interior agencies' wildfire programs is being done "without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness." -
Leaders of environmental groups are issuing fresh warnings this week about the impacts the ongoing gridlock could have in the river basin. -
Tribes could lease land or sell power — and it might be a way to diversify some tribal economies
More about Mountain West Bureau
The Mountain West News Bureau has six managing partner stations — Boise State Public Radio, KANW in New Mexico, KUNC in Colorado, KUNR Public Radio in Nevada, Nevada Public Radio, and Wyoming Public Media. Colorado Public Radio in Denver and KJZZ in Phoenix are associate partners and nearly a dozen other stations are affiliate members.
The bureau also produces “Our Living Lands,” a weekly radio segment exploring how climate change affects Indigenous communities, in partnership with Koahnic Broadcast Corp. and Native Public Media.
The Mountain West News Bureau was formed in 2018 and joined NPR’s network of regional newsrooms in 2025. It receives funding from Eric and Wendy Schmidt and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Managing Editor: Michael de Yoanna