PUBLIC LANDS -- On Monday, students and teachers will get a huge opportunity to hear Jimmy Carter explain an historic federal public lands deal that was big, big, big in every way. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter doubled the size of the National Park System…
WINTER SPORTS -- Silver Mountain Resort plans to open its lifts for skiers on Friday, Nov. 29, joining the rest of the region's ski resorts in opening limited terrain to take advantage of early season snow. Although Schweitzer Mountain Resort does its own thing with…
WINTER SPORTS -- As more backcountry skiers use roads and parking areas plowed by ski resorts and then strap on skins and climb their way up groomed or controlled slopes to reach their backcountry destinations, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed a rule change that…
WILDLIFE -- Wild turkeys are found across Idaho, and there’s even an open hunting season on them right now in the Panhandle Region and portions of the Clearwater. But wild turkeys are not native to the state. Merriam's strain turkeys were introduced by the Idaho…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The Clearwater National Forest Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) has been released to guide where motor vehicles can be used on the forest. The published maps, which answer frequently asked questions about roads and trails open to motorized traffic, are available online…
Updated 11-26-13 at 9 a.m. with correction from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. WILDLIFE -- Just in time for Thanksgiving! Montana's online permitting system to legally take possession of road-killed big game goes operational today. A new state law allows people to salvage deer, elk,…
Habitat loss blamed for decline in monarch butterflies, wild bees The return of the monarch butterflies to central Mexico didn't happen on Nov. 1 this year, but instead just a fraction of the millions of butterflies expected straggled in a week late, and the decline…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Birders and biologists were scratching their heads last week at reports of the dearth of bald eagles gathering to feed on on spawning kokanee at Lake Coeur d'Alene's Wolf Lodge Bay. Could the revival of kokanee at Lake Pend Oreille be detouring…
POACHING -- Rewards of up to $5,000 are being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for illegally shooting a cow elk recently and leaving it to waste on private land between Moscow and Troy. Anyone with…
Colorado's elk, deer lure hunters despite new gun laws After Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a trio of new gun bills into law earlier this year, there was a public outcry and a warning that hunters would shy away from the Centennial State, but preliminary…
WILDLIFE -- Following last week's milestone court settlement in which Duke Energy will pay $1 million to mitigate for the deaths of golden eagles and other birds caused by wind turbines in Wyoming, Northwest Public Radio featured this EarthFix graphic to help explain in simple…
Landers: Canoeists paddle way of Columbia salmon Froma Harrop: Help save the wild turkey Spokane River Centennial Trail one step closer to completion Fall seasons give hunters one last shot at wild turkey dinner Out & About: Wolf kill rumor tracked down Field reports: Idaho…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- A rare dark-colored mule deer was documented recently in photo on the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area as the doe fed with three normal-colored deer, including a buck in the rut. Wildlife biologists say the deer appears to have an unusually high occurrence of…
HUNTING -- While hunting pheasants on Sunday, this is how my English setter, Scout, defined the idiom, "Got 'em dead to rights."
WILDLIFE -- A wind energy company has agreed to pay about $1 million in fines and mitigation actions in the deaths of 14 golden eagles and 149 other protected birds in Wyoming. The American Bird Conservancy says its the first prosecution of a wind company…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Peregrine falcons have long been considered the fastest bird on the planet. But now we're getting firm numbers. Using high-tech sensors, scientists are ending the conjecture on how fast these sleek falcons can stoop on their hapless prey. What's your guess? Watch…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- This week marked the peak of the whitetail breeding season, and this buck was clearly in the mood, said Montana outdoor photographer Jaime Johnson. "Girls on the mind," he said.
PADDLING -- A kayaker's body was recovered this morning from the Palouse River, according to the following statement released this afternoon by the Whitman County Sheriff. Alison Webb, 54, who was on the Palouse city council, was found dead early Friday morning, her life apparently…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Some smart asses had a lot of fun this week spreading rumors that wolves had attacked three horses near La Crosse, Wash. A Whitman County Gazette reporter tried to track down the word-of-mouth reports and so did several Washington Department of Fish…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The annual gathering of bald eagles in the Wolf Lodge Bay area of Lake Coeur d'Alene is lagging. The eagles provide a popular wildlife-viewing attraction as the birds are lured to the northeast corner of the lake from mid-November into January to…
NATIONAL PARKS -- Making a winter visit to Yellowstone National Park will be easier this season with a new shuttle service between Bozeman and Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone National Park Lodges, operated by Xanterra, says the shuttle will start on Dec. 18 with the winter…
MOUNTAIN PASSES -- The Washington Transportation Department has closed Cayuse Pass for the season, but conditions at nearby Chinook Pass are more favorable. Chinook Pass was reopened at noon Wednesday — but no one knows how long the road will remain open. Cayuse Pass is…
TRAILS -- The section of the Spokane River Centennial Trail that's been closed for weeks because of sewer line construction at the Spokane Convention Center expansion site (see story) will reopen this afternoon. The Friends of the Centennial Trail report that Mile 22.5 of the…
Research belies wolf management by the numbers Through 43 years of studying wolves primarily in Alaska, wildlife biologist Gordon Haber says his research found that wolves are the most "social of all nonhuman vertebrates." Trying to manage them by the numbers simply won't work, he…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- From new birdsong collections to smartphone apps, online learning, and a kit for beginning birders, here are 10 holiday gift suggestions for the bird and nature lover in your life. All these items are available from the nonprofit Cornell Lab of Ornithology…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
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