By Matthew Anderson

Smoke is beginning to rise from the West’s public lands — and it is just a taste of what’s to come. In a briefing to members of Congress, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue shared predictions of above-average potential for significant wildfire activity this summer across the West. Some states are bracing for the worst severe wildfire outbreak since 2012, fearing it may eclipse even that historic fire year. (full article)