In 2023, the Colorado state legislature considered SB 23-213 Land Use, which would have overhauled local government planning and zoning to require more infill and greater density. However, this bill did not pass. Instead, the state legislature passed many elements from the 2023 bill as individual pieces in the 2024 session, ultimately accomplishing many of the goals of the 2023 bill. Promoted as housing affordability measures, these changes will also help encourage infill development with greater density, reducing the appeal of sprawling low-density development. Colorado’s Division of Local Government provides assistance and maintains a wide variety of planning resources.

Colorado requires local governments to develop and adopt comprehensive plans that include a water supply element, and also requires that developers provide adequate evidence of water availability, though this is not well defined. The state is required to review water supply applications for new development and provide an opinion, but ultimately the decision is made at the local level by water districts. 

In 2023, the state legislature passed SB23-166 which created a Wildfire Resiliency Code Board. Local governments within the wildland-urban interface, as defined and mapped by the code board, will be required to adopt a wildfire resiliency code once it is finalized by the code board, or have the option to adopt one that is stronger. 

Local governments are responsible for wildlife and wildlife habitat considerations when planning for and approving new development. Colorado Parks and Wildlife offers guidance, but it is advisory only.

Idaho does not have a strong state-level land use planning framework in place. Idaho’s Local Land Use Planning Act, passed in 1975, requires local governments to develop comprehensive plans which address a set of specified components, including natural resources, recreation, and housing. However, the law does not offer guidance as to how these components are to be prioritized and addressed, and the state does not have a department or agency to provide oversight or assistance to local governments.

Idaho’s population has been growing rapidly, increasing housing demand and contributing to a strain on Idaho’s water supply in recent years. In 2023, Governor Brad Little convened the Governor’s Water Summit to discuss water topics, and in June 2024, he signed Executive Order 2024-06 Protecting Idaho Water Sovereignty, which, among other things, required agricultural water users to agree on how to better manage water resources. So far, the state has focused on water infrastructure improvements and efforts such as cloud seeding. However, the water requirements of housing development have not yet been addressed at the state level, despite the clear and increasing impacts of housing development on Idaho’s groundwater supplies and a recognition on the part of state officials of the role population and housing growth play in Idaho’s water supply challenges. Idaho does not have a statewide requirement or framework for water conservation when planning and approving new development, though some individual local governments have adopted their own measures (such as the City of Boise’s assured water supply requirements).

Recognizing the increasing risk and impacts of wildfire in Idaho, Governor Little hosted a wildfire roundtable in 2023, which led to the formation of working groups and the release of a wildfire report and recommendations in 2024. The report included a number of requests for improved state-level policy and initiatives and recommended that Idaho consider adopting a wildland-urban interface code, which is a building code designed for high fire risk areas that would require special wildfire mitigation measures. However, neither the roundtable nor the report suggested using land use planning tools to manage new development in the wildland-urban interface. The state does not maintain a publicly-available wildfire risk map that would help developers, homebuyers, and residents make informed decisions. Meanwhile, private insurers are dropping Idaho policyholders from coverage due to wildfire risk. 

Idaho does not have a statewide requirement or framework for considering impacts to wildlife and habitats when planning and approving new development, though some individual local governments have adopted their own measures. 

In 2022, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte created a Housing Task Force, which was charged with developing recommendations to improve Montana’s housing availability and affordability. Several of these recommendations addressed issues such as prioritizing infill over greenfield development and other measures to help local governments encourage greater density. Many of these recommendations were passed by the state legislature in the 2023 legislative session, improving policy around zoning to make infill and greater density easier, providing an alternative to sprawl at the outskirts of communities. The Montana Land Use Planning Act, passed in 2023, overhauled the local government land use planning process and required local governments to choose from a menu of reforms to adopt. 

In theory, Montana requires that subdivisions be evaluated for their effects on water supply. In practice, for years developers have been granted permission for subdivisions that rely on groundwater despite declining groundwater levels across the state. However, a 2024 district court ruling sharply criticized a recent subdivision approval that was based on an “abjectly deficient” environmental assessment that failed to properly evaluate the proposal’s impacts on groundwater. Importantly, the ruling goes beyond the individual subdivision proposal and finds that the state’s policy for approving groundwater use for development violates state law, a finding with potentially sweeping ramifications for potential future development in water-stressed areas of the state. 

Montana’s Subdivision and Platting Act, first passed in 1973 and since amended, requires that a local government’s subdivision regulations provide for open space, encourage cluster development, and minimize hazard risk, including wildfire. Local governments are also required to analyze subdivision applications for their impacts to wildlife and wildlife habitat as one of the primary evaluation criteria. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks offers recommendations to help guide this analysis. 

Montana’s wildfire policies are mixed and currently not strong enough to guide development away from high fire risk areas. Local governments are allowed, but not required, to adopt growth policies which address issues including development in high fire risk areas. However, these documents are advisory, not regulatory. Similarly, the state maintains a map of the wildland-urban interface, but does not require its use in decision-making. Local governments are allowed, but not required, to adopt a wildland-urban interface code, a building code designed for high fire risk areas that would require special wildfire mitigation measures.

As in many other Western states, local governments in Nevada are required to adopt master plans that include, among other things, conservation, land use, and housing elements. Local government ordinances must conform to the master plan. More importantly, the most influential planning framework is the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. This unique federal law lays out a framework for the Bureau of Land Management and local governments to coordinate on identifying public lands for both growth and conservation within a boundary around the Las Vegas Valley while generating revenue that remains in Nevada and is dedicated to conservation purposes. Given that three-quarters of the state’s population lives in this area, SNPLMA plays a role that is close to a state-level framework for land use planning and development in Nevada. Critics note that SNPLMA lacks density or affordability requirements, and that it allows and even incentivizes suburban sprawl. However, a planning framework that includes conservation is better than one that doesn’t, or than no framework at all.  

Nevada has also taken steps to implement and enforce limits on development that would deplete groundwater supplies. For example, in 2020 the Nevada state engineer (responsible for administering and enforcing water rights) issued Order #1309 which established a sustainable groundwater pumping threshold for a hydrographic basin including part of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. The order was challenged in court by a housing developer when the state engineer refused to approve the developer’s subdivision maps because of the impact the development would have on groundwater. The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the state engineer’s order in a 2024 decision, clarifying the state engineer’s authority to regulate groundwater pumping. 

In 2021, Nevada passed AB 211, which requires subdivision developers to submit proposed maps to the Department of Wildlife for review and written comments on the potential impacts to wildlife habitat, and requires that impacts to wildlife and habitats be considered when deciding whether to approve a proposed subdivision. The Board of Wildlife Commissioners followed up in 2024 with regulations to implement AB 211.

Nevada’s Division of Forestry maintains a publicly-accessible online wildfire threat map to help local governments and residents understand an area’s wildfire risk, but it is informational only. Nevada does not have a statewide framework for guiding development in high fire risk areas and it shows: A recent study found that among Western states, Nevada had the highest percentage increase of homes built in the wildland-urban interface, with a 208 percent increase since 1990.

New Mexico leaves land use planning to local governments with minimal guidance from the state. In the 2024 session the state legislature provided funding for a variety of housing programs, but these were mainly focused on affordable housing infrastructure and projects. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham also announced a workforce housing program, which may prioritize funding applications from communities that update their land use and zoning. While these measures are helpful, the state lacks a strong overall planning framework to guide development in a way that integrates land conservation and discourages sprawl. 

Counties in New Mexico are required to request an opinion from the state engineer (responsible for administering and enforcing water rights) when considering any new subdivision applications. The state engineer’s review includes verification of water rights and, if necessary, an analysis to determine if the water supply the subdivision plans to rely on can actually meet the needs of the subdivision. Based on this review, the state engineer issues either a positive or a negative opinion, which is one of the factors a county considers when evaluating the subdivision proposal. In recent years, state engineer denials of applications to pump groundwater for new developments have been upheld in court, demonstrating that while imperfect, the framework is succeeding in making it more challenging for developers to move forward with plans that would deplete groundwater supplies.  

New Mexico has taken several positive steps related to managing wildfire risk. In 2003 the state legislature established a fire planning task force, which continues to meet annually. The Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department also completed a Communities at Risk Assessment Plan which evaluates wildfire risk for communities across the state and encourages adoption of building codes and model ordinances, but does not address forward-looking development planning. Many local governments have adopted their own measures to guide development in high fire risk areas but there is no state-level framework guiding development. 

Local governments are not required to consider wildlife habitat in their land use plans or in their subdivision regulations. New Mexico’s Wildlife Corridors Action Plan, discussed in the “Land protection and access” section of this scorecard, is an important state-level policy for wildlife and habitat protection, but is primarily focused on existing development and so far has not prioritized guiding future growth.

Utah engages in a unique process to develop a State Resource Management Plan and also requires every county to develop its own County Resource Management Plan. This is, in concept, a promising framework which could be used by conservation-minded elected leaders to guide development and natural resource protection in a balanced and sustainable way. Unfortunately, Utah has instead used this document to complain about the federal government and its land management policies and activities. 

In recent years, the state legislature has passed new laws requiring local governments to incorporate water use and preservation into their land use plans. The state has also set statewide and regional water demand reduction targets. And in the 2024 legislative session, the state passed a number of bills that will require better water planning. These efforts are good steps forward and hopefully will result in stronger policy in the future, but for now they still stop short of preventing unsustainable development that outstrips existing water supply. At the same time, the state continues to pursue controversial water pipelines and other water import projects to support new development, and developers across the state continue to propose and develop new subdivisions.

Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands has developed a number of plans and resources, including a Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal, a Fire Strategic Plan, and a Catastrophic Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy. These resources are important steps towards better management of wildfire risk, but stop short of steering new development away from high fire risk areas or requiring the adoption of wildfire mitigation measures in high fire risk areas.  

Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources recently released its new Wildlife Habitat Analysis Tool, a resource that offers maps and other information to support decision-making with wildlife and their habitats in mind. However, its use is voluntary, not required.

As in many other Western states, Wyoming leaves planning to local governments, which are limited in what areas they can regulate in their planning. The state lacks a strong framework to guide growth in a way that encourages conservation and discourages sprawl and habitat loss. 

Compared to other Western states, Wyoming does not have strong laws or regulations in place to tie subdivision and housing development to water supply.

Wyoming maintains a wildfire risk assessment tool, but its use is not required.

In 2009, the Wyoming legislature passed HB 9 which provides an incentive for subdivisions that use a conservation design process that includes cluster development and preservation of open space. However, it is optional for local governments to adopt this incentive.