western states

A multi-decade drought worsened by climate change is adding to the urgency.

Parts of the plan describe a triage system as officials with limited resources try to restore and protect sagebrush country.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The Western lawmakers have been fighting for years to end "fire borrowing," a practice they say devastates rational budgeting for the Forest Service and other agencies.

Nonetheless, the confidence index jumped to 52.4 from 46.7 in January.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey of bankers, says more than half of the bankers reported that they have restructured farm loans.

Bankers expect farmland prices to decline by another 3.5 percent on average over the next year.

Western states in a belt from Montana to New Mexico are looking for ways to lower their highest-in-the-nation suicide rates, although gun-specific initiatives are a touchy topic.

DENVER (AP) — A new poll suggests Western voters see the region's vast public lands as an economic asset and support limiting energy exploration on them — even though they're concerned about the nation's dependence on foreign oil. The Conservation in the West poll found strong support for conservation in six western states where it sampled voters — Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and