In the Philippines, plows clear cut the rainforest to make room for humans. In South Asia, farmers treat their livestock with an anti-inflammatory drug. In the Arctic, temperatures are slowly warming. In Idaho, invasive cheatgrass is crowding out sagebrush.

All these activities have one significant connection - they’re killing raptors in all corners of the globe. The numbers of more than half of all raptor species are falling and 20 percent of them face extinction.

The loss of these birds can be devastating to ecosystems and are an indicator of larger environmental issues around the world.

Dr. Chris McClure is the Executive Vice President of Science and Conservation at The Peregrine Fund and he’s been working to track and protect raptors through the Global Raptor Impact Network or GRIN. The Golden Eagle Audubon Society is hosting his State of Raptors of the World talk on March 19 at the Boise Library at Hillcrest and he joined Idaho Matters for a preview.

In Boise, a lot has been written about the history of places like Harrison Boulevard, Warm Springs Avenue, and the River Street neighborhood. But other areas, like South Boise, are less well-known.

Barbara Perry Bauer is hoping to change that. She’s a historian and co-owner of Tag Historical Research and Consulting and she’s been researching how the South Side transformed over time from a farming area to an urban village.

She will be talking about her work March 13 at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boise and she joined Idaho Matters for a preview.

Demand for quality child care in our state is reaching a critical level. According to the Child Care Gap Assessment, there are close to 75,000 Idaho children in need of child care but our state only has 55,000 slots available.

One solution to this problem is training people to become qualified childcare providers. Darcy Heath, supply senior manager at Wonderschool, sat down with Idaho Matters to tell us more.

Despite the recent rain - and in some spots snow showers - the weather is starting to warm up and the mountain snowpack is starting to melt and drain into Idaho rivers and streams.

But some of that snow disappears before it melts and scientists are trying to find out why. Last year, KUNC’s Alex Hager visited a team of researchers trying to solve this mystery and he filed this report for the Mountain West News Bureau.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River produced by KUNC and supported by the Walton Family Foundation.

More than 100 years ago, a professor in our region invented a tool and technique to measure the amount of water in a mountain snowpack.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel explains the importance of this discovery – and why it lives on to this day.

At one time, millions of buffalo covered over 30 million acres of landscape that stretches through the U.S. and into Canada. That was before these giant animals were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800s.

Now many people are coming together to try to return the buffalo to Blackfoot lands and all the way into Glacier National Park. It’s called the Iinnii Initiative and it’s no ordinary conservation project. This reintroduction is being led by The Blackfeet Nation and it’s as much about healing the people as it is healing the animals and the land.

Dr. Libby Lunstrum supports the project through her research. She is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Global Studies and the Research Director of Boise State University’s School of Public Service. She’ll be speaking about National Parks After Dispossession: The Return of Buffalo on March 13 at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boise.

She joined Idaho Matters to talk about the Initiative and this new model of conservation.

The Colorado River is shrinking due to climate change. And states that use it are at odds about how to share its water.

The current rules for managing the river expire in 2026 and need to be replaced. States are on deadline to submit a first draft this week, but they have not agreed on just one proposal.

KUNC’s Alex Hager reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC and supported by the Walton Family Foundation.

Who would ever think that a library would be involved in a Homeland Security initiative? That question comes from Elizabeth Ramsey, a librarian at Boise State University's Albertsons Library and the head of the “Disinfo Squad.”

It's a group that works to dispel disinformation online and Ramsey helped to put it together. She sat down with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about the never-ending pushback against disinformation.

Have you ever wondered if there's a connection between vintage signs and death masks?

Perhaps not, but that's exactly the kind of question that the Sun Valley Museum of Art is encouraging you to ask in their upcoming Mashup. The special lecture series is a partnership between the museum and Boise State's College of Innovation and Design.

Jen Schneider, Boise State's Associate Dean of the College of Innovation and Design, joined Idaho Matters to give us a preview.

The Idaho Legislature has more to do this year and won’t go home on time, folks turned out this week to testify before a senate committee about state funding for school buildings, there’s new research “shaking” up what we knew about a 2020 earthquake and a big road project is on the horizon in the Treasure Valley.

It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.

Our journalist panel today: