State government leaders throughout the nation head into 2024 better prepared to manage the ups and downs of their finances than they were at the start of the Great Recession in 2007. Often with technical assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts, many states have adopted practices and policies strengthening their budgets since that downturn: Several states built large rainy day reserve funds, paid down public pension liabilities, worked to lessen the effects of volatile revenue sources, and evaluated which spending programs were effective and provided value for taxpayers.

A steady breeze carries the smell of smoking goose and beaver meat to a circle of people gathered on the shore of lake Pekuakami on a brilliant mid-June day in the Ilnu community of Mashteuiatsh, Quebec. The group is sharing stories about working together, some for more than two decades, on a campaign to conserve the lands and waters of the boreal forest in Canada, which spans 1.3 billion acres from coast to coast and is one of the largest intact forest and wetland ecosystems on Earth.