skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Virginia mass shooting kills 3 people and wounds 3 others; suspects in custody; IRS agrees to share immigrants' data with ICE; You won't be able to apply by phone for SSA starting next week; New law clears path for Ohio drivers with unpaid fines; Black farmers mostly unaffected by USDA funding freeze.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The North Carolina Supreme Court pauses a purge of legally cast ballots. Labor unions protest student visas lost over protesting. And, Texas lawmakers want proof of citizenship for both new and existing voter registrations.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Dems want the DNC to bring working class voters back into the fold, kids in Maine are losing a federal program that supplies local food to schools, and Trump's tariffs are sowing doubt and stress for America's farmers.

$8 million to be used to reduce Montana wildfire fuel

play audio
Play

Wednesday, September 18, 2024   

The U.S. Forest Service is spending $8 million to reduce wildfire risk in Montana, part of a larger federal program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The money allocated to Montana is part of the 14-state Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program and will be used to reduce fire fuels in the Custer Gallatin and Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forests.

Melissa Simpson, northern regional partnership coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service, said the program also seeks to restore habitat for native species and protect the Bozeman watershed.

"Specifically, some of the treatments for the Bozeman project include things like thinning, some commercial timber harvest, pile burning and other activities related to reducing hazardous fuels," Simpson outlined. "Also, really protecting watershed health and forest health."

Regionwide, the program funds 21 fire risk-reduction projects in national forests and mostly within the urban-wildland interface.

Simpson pointed out the projects should increase the overall health of the Custer Gallatin and Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forests, by reducing what's known as "fuel loading," which lessens the chances fires become catastrophic when they do break out.

"(It) provides better access for firefighters to respond if there were a fire in those areas," Simpson explained. "Both of these projects are in municipal watersheds, so providing healthy forests for healthy water is really important."

In one instance, the project seeks to protect the Tenmile municipal watershed, which supplies drinking water to 40,000 people in the greater Helena area.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Protestors at the "Hands Off" rally in Santa Barbara, Calif., last Saturday rallied in support of federal workers who care for public lands. (Erik Molvar)

Social Issues

play sound

A lawsuit to reinstate 16,000 fired federal probationary workers could get new life today at a federal district court hearing in San Francisco…


Social Issues

play sound

In less than a week, many Wisconsinites will be unable to apply for Social Security benefits over the phone, which could lead to potential …

Environment

play sound

Indiana lawmakers have approved a measure to study ways to use advanced transmission technologies to squeeze more energy from the state's aging electr…


A gold star in the upper right corner is a distinct characteristic of the federally mandated REAL ID. (Photo courtesy of Minn. DPS)

Social Issues

play sound

Time is winding down for Minnesotans to upgrade their driver's license, with new federal rules soon to kick in for what's known as "REAL ID." On May …

Social Issues

play sound

A bill in the Nevada Legislature would prohibit school districts and staff from banning books without legal justification to brand the material "obsce…

Of the nearly half million mining claims on federal public lands across the U.S., more than 120,000 are within 30 miles of a national park or monument. (Billy Clay Myers/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

The number of mining claims on U.S. public lands is growing. A 27% increase since 2019 has brought the total to nearly a half-million. A new study …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Colorado now has 21 health providers treating patients regardless of their ability to pay, after Denver's Uptown Community Health Center won …

Social Issues

play sound

With planting season here, North Dakota farmers have plenty on their minds, including the escalating trade war and some hope a bipartisan bill in …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021