In the Rockies today, another large oil spill is reported in Alberta, and the U.S. Interior and Agriculture departments release an updated national wildfire management strategy.
Early estimates are that a pipeline has spilled between 1,000 and 3,000 barrels of light crude oil into Jackson Creek, a tributary of the Red Deer River, one of Alberta's most important rivers, and with the Red Deer River running at flood stage, the spill's extent is expected to be quite large.
The pipeline is owned by Plains Midstream Canada, which also owns the Rainbow pipeline that leaked 28,000 barrels in Northern Alberta last year.
On Thursday, the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture released a national wildfire management strategy based on recent assessments of conditions of federal lands in the West, Northeast and Southeast.
The wildfire season in the West is quite active already, with conditions in Colorado being compared to those in 2002, when the Hayman Fire burned its way into the record books.
And on Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that will allow the U.S. Forest Service to waive a 30-day waiting period before it signs contracts for seven more air tankers.
Today in Western Perspective, Headwaters Economics tracks the economic impact of federal protected lands to the West.
The report found that, in the decade 40 years between 1970 and 2010, the number of jobs in non-metropolitan counties with more than 30 percent of protected public lands within their borders increased by 345 percent, while jobs in non-metro counties with no protected public lands increased by 83 percent.
Yellowstone Public Radio will broadcast this week's edition of Mountain West Voices at 7 a.m. on Sunday.
Tune in to hear the fishing tale of a 12-year-old angler who's set a goal of catching at least one of each of Montana's 86 fish species -- and he's already caught 46 on the list.
If you miss the Sunday broadcast, you can listen online via the Mountain West Voices website.