WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Organizers have assembled a collection of field trips and speakers while nature is supplying the wildlife for the 16th annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival. Sign up in advance on the website; many activities fill quickly. Events kick off Friday (April 5) with…
WINTER SPORTS -- "We had it going on for a while, the melt-freeze I mean," said Kevin Davis in today Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center weekly forecast. "Last weekend the conditions were great and if you could have had this week off you would have been…
BOATING -- The level of Lake Roosevelt was at at the summer-like elevation of 1282.00 feet this morning, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects the level to rise only slightly to1282.6 by Sunday. The elevation likely will drop to about 1279.9 by April 10.…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Cutting firewood for personal or commercial use from national forests requires a permit. Peronal use permits go on sale Monday (April 1). Exception: Colville National Forest permit sales have been delayed until April 8 because of printing delays. Info: (509) 684-7000. Idaho…
WATER SPORTS -- With 3.7 million college students getting ready for a well-earned spring break, history tells us some of them will get hurt or killed, especially around water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offer these Top 10 tips to help you avoid being…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Mushrooms are pushing their way up through the warming spring soil in forests around the region, and pickers are heading out to greet them. National forests generally allow people to pick mushrooms freely, but if you're harvesting more than a few gallons…
HIKING – The 47th annual Buttercup Hike, a free family-style guided walk through the Dishman Hills Natural Area, will be led by Dishman Hills Conservancy members on April 6. Hikers will set out on the two-hour walk at noon from the Camp Caro parking area.…
FISHING -- New fishing regulations with more liberal limits take effect Monday, April 1, on Lake Roosevelt, and the lower reaches of the San Poil and Spokane Rivers. Here are the details from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Action: The daily walleye bag…
PARKS -- Washington State Parks were founded 100 years ago this month. In one of many treats and celebrations to come this year, the park system has designated Saturday a "free day:" vechicles will not be required to display the Discover Pass to visit a…
HUNTING -- The Idaho Fish and Game Commission today (March 28) voted to extend the current wolf hunting season in the Middle Fork and part of the Dworshak-Elk City wolf management zones. The commission extended the wolf hunting season through June 30 in the Middle…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- News that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking into the possibility of delisting gray wolves from endangered species protections ought to be good news. Delisting is the goal of listing. Delisting was applauded where' it's already happened -- much later…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- A new wolf pack has been confirmed in Washington by state wildlife officials, bringing the number of known packs to 10 with AT LEAST four other packs suspected of operating inside or on the state borders. The photo with this post shows…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The headline attraction at the annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival has already arrived for the April 5-7 series of programs, field trips and banquets based out of Othello and the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. More than 1,000 sandhill cranes were at the…
RIVERS – The Corps of Engineers’ plan to dredge portions of the Lower Snake River is a touchy issue politically, economically and in regard so salmon and steelhead. I know this because none of the fisheries biologists I contacted this month would comment. They all…
WILDLIFE -- Montana's big Crown of the Continent wilderness areas are providing fertile ground for research on wolverines, lynx and fishers, as you can read in this Missoulian story. This research eventually will blend with similar efforts in Idaho and Washington to help get a…
WINTER SPORTS -- With 10 operating days left in the season, Lookout Pass Ski and Rereation Area announced today that it's already set a record for skier/snowboarder visits. Lookout CEO Phil Edholm says the resort logged a total of 64,450 visits as of Sunday, topping…
CLIMBING -- Northwest climber/photographer Alan Kearney has an ongoing project to photograph Cascades glaciers from the same spot he photographed them on climbing trips decades ago. As you might expect, having read anything about climate change in the past few decades, the glaciers show considerable…
WILDLIFE -- Hans Krauss, a Spokane Valley wildlife enthusiast and photographer, shot these photos of a bull moose in the Ponderosa neighborhood a few days ago. What first caught his eye are the bases of where antlers had fallen off, and where the new antler…
FISHING -- Steelhead have been working their way into tributaries as they near their spawning areas after a long migration that started last year. Many anglers love this time of year, when the fish are more accessible in the smaller streams. Recent angler surveys show…
FISHERIES -- A new study says a metal-like element called selenium is leeching from coal mines into the Elk river drainage in southeastern British Columbia, threatening fish habitat in Canada and downstream in Montana. The study found five coal mines in the Elk River Valley…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The U.S. Forest Service is proposing changes to the process people use to challenge timber sales and other agency decisions. New guidelines expected to be unveiled later this week would require anyone interested in challenging agency actions to fully take part in…
PREDATORS -- Bounties are back! Utah's plan to kill coyotes to save mule deer questioned A decline in mule deer over the past generation prompted the Utah Legislature to create a $50 bounty to encourage hunters to kill coyotes. However, some scientists question whether the…
Outdoors and wildlife-related stories recently published in The Spokesman-Review include: Moose decline puzzles biologists across the country Moose down in Idaho, but holding on in Washington Out & About: Poacher sends $6,000 check to ease conscience; wolf origin hard to peg Boundary Dam relicensing a…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- As spring returns to northeastern Washington, Mike Munts, wildlife biologist at the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge has resumed his periodic updates on refuge wildlife watching. "It has been a bit of slow start," he reported Sunday. T"he lakes and ponds…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- More than 50,000 snow geese have been resting at Freezeout Lake near Great Falls, Mont., on their annual spring migration. Snow geese are the only waterfowl I know of that are hunted during spring migrations as part of an effort by the…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.