GOVERNORS' MEETING

WGA's 2025 Annual Meeting

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will host the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Western Governors' Association at the Eldorado Hotel and Spa in Santa Fe's historic downtown on June 23 and 24. This year's meeting will feature Western Governors in public policy discussions about housing, outdoor recreation, post-fire flooding, rural health care, and much more.

Register here

PODCAST

Leave it to Beaver: How Nature’s Engineers are Helping Us Mitigate Disasters

Western water resources are stretched thin and many western states are looking to beavers – long known as nature’s engineers – to ensure more water is retained on the landscape. New research suggests this will help restore biodiversity and mitigate the effects of prolonged drought, unexpected flooding, and catastrophic wildfires. In this episode of Out West, WGA policy advisors Jonah Seifer and Zach Nowak spoke with beaver experts from around the region about how these aquatic rodents can help us restore balance to the West’s water systems.

Listen here

INITIATIVE WEBINAR

Watch the BRAND West initiative webinar: Rethinking Rental Policy

Panelists from the National Housing Crisis Task Force, National Council of State Housing Agencies, Montana Board of Housing, and the Office of Colorado Governor Jared Polis explore the role of renting in ensuring access to safe and affordable housing for western residents while examining strategies to improve rental assistance, preserve existing rental units, and expand the rental supply.

Watch here

WEBINAR

WATCH: WGA hosts webinar to help align land management and public health goals related to prescribed fire

In order to identify pathways for increasing the deployment of prescribed fire while also protecting the public from smoke-related health concerns, agency partners in California, Oregon, and Georgia organized exercises to examine the existing policies and procedures for prescribed burns and public health communications. WGA convened officials from DOI, USDA, EPA, and CDC to discuss the lessons learned from these prescribed fire exercises and help future communities better align public health considerations with prescribed fire.

Watch here

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