Hannah Merzbach

Hunters and hikers were among almost 133,000 people opposing potential changes to the Travel Management Rule in national forests. Snowmobile groups were part of the 1% of commenters in favor.

General practitioners who come from — or train in — rural areas are more likely to practice in rural areas long term. Utah is getting $1.5 million federal dollars to support those programs.

Contractors across the nation lost over $1 billion between 2024 and 2025. Small businesses in the West were hit hard, especially those that mitigate and suppress wildfires on the ground.

That's especially true in the Mountain West. In Utah, if one delivery unit shuts down, the next closest one is 40 minutes away. For most other states, it's more than an hour.

A decade ago, only two states let Medicaid help cover the cost of doulas, who provide emotional support and information to people around childbirth. Now, 28 do, including five in the Mountain West.

Mountain West texters are more likely to bring up self-harm in crisis conversations than Americans at large. Rural areas face barriers like geographic isolation and a lack of mental health resources.

The proposal would flip current motorized use rules on their head, allowing access unless designated otherwise. Recreationists called the change overdue, but conservationists fear a free-for-all.

A dozen press freedom organizations signed onto a letter last week opposing the memo, which the Washington Post reported on in June. The department said its guidance has been mischaracterized.

A new generation of small nuclear reactors is poised to come online in the next few years. Safety experts worry the Trump administration has chosen speed over safety.

The Trump administration created a new report showing how much coal lies under public acres. It's part of a federal initiative to reinvigorate the declining industry.