Environment

Temperatures can vary widely across a city, even in the same neighborhood. As the climate heats up, volunteers in Missoula are mapping hot spots in their community.

A wind energy development project in southeast Montana is facing pushback from neighbors. At the same time, the Trump administration is pushing for further investment into gas and oil energy. Montana Free Press' Tom Lutey joined Elinor Smith to explain.

The state’s department of livestock confirmed a Beaverhead County bull contracted a case of brucellosis this month.

The Congressional Western Caucus met with federal and state officials at a conference in the Flathead this week. They called for more aggressive natural resource management, more state control and less federal bureaucracy.

As the song says, “don’t go chasing waterfalls” — unless you’re a research team looking for an elusive bird that only nests in the “splash zone.” MTPR’s Ellis Juhlin recently joined one such group on a scouting trip.

State wildlife officials will take up a proposal Thursday to overhaul hunting regulations in order to reduce wolf numbers statewide. But locals near Yellowstone National Park say the proposal would impact the region’s vulnerable wolf population and the economy built around it.

Summertime at the county fair means rides, farm animals and lots of food. Whether it’s turkey legs, cotton candy or corn dogs – trash goes along with ready-to-go food. But a collaboration between vendors and local organizations at the Western Montana Fair is working to divert that waste away from landfills.

A weed-control contractor stirred up outrage after driving a utility terrain vehicle nearly nine miles through the Blackfoot River. Powell County has been fined $500. Conservation groups are now calling on officials to pursue criminal charges.

The Environmental Protection Agency says it’s halting a program that could have helped low-income Montanans reduce their power bills. The “Solar for All” program, which helped homeowners buy and install solar panels, was eliminated by the President's tax and spending bill.

A biofuels manufacturer in Great Falls announced plans to build a water treatment facility. This comes after the company previously proposed injecting the wastewater underground.