Ellis Julin

The Flathead Indian Reservation is home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in northwest Montana.

When wildfires burn, smoke pools in the glacially carved valley.

Wildfire smoke inhalation has negative health impacts, and human-caused climate change is making wildfire seasons longer.

Mike Durglow Jr.

is the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Climate Change Coordinator.

This year, he's opening clean air centers in three of the reservation's six towns.

They're buildings, with proper air filtration, that serve as a refuge.

This is one of several things Derglo's doing as part of the Confederated Tribes Climate Action Plan.

Despite shifts in federal funding, he knows he's doing all he can to prepare his community for a warming world.

For NPR News, I'm Ellis Julin in Ronan, Montana.

The pipeline would move half a million gallons of crude tar sands oil from Canada into the U.S.

daily.

It's in a similar area to the Keystone XL pipeline, which was terminated under President Biden.

The Bridger pipeline would cross major rivers, including the Missouri and the Yellowstone, prompting fears about the potential for contamination of water sources.

It could also run through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes.

Tribal nations were not consulted as part of Trump's permitting decision.

The proposal must still go through several permitting processes at the state and federal levels before construction could begin as early as next summer.

For NPR News, I'm Ellis Julin in Missoula, Montana.

The pipeline would move half a million gallons of crude tar sands oil from Canada into the U.S.

daily.