CONSERVATION -- The Spokane-based Inland Northwest Land Trust has named a new executive director to oversee its private-land conservation efforts in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Garry Schalla has assumed the post held by Christopher DeForest, who has moved to a field-related position. Schalla previously…
FISHING -- Fall chinook have finally livened up the Yakima River, according to this report posted today by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologist Paul Hoffarth: This past week WDFW staff interviewed 136 anglers fishing for salmon in the lower Yakima River with…
PUBLIC LANDS -- A task force appointed by the governor has recommended bringing back two unpopular taxes to help fund Washington state parks and boost the outdoor recreation industry. The report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Parks and Outdoor Recreation recommends a sales…
ENVIRONMENT -- Helping assure critters have some room to roam ... Conservation easement in Alberta largest in Canada's history The $37.5-million deal between the Nature Conservancy of Canada and a ranching cooperative in Alberta will ensure the 30,000-acre Waldron Ranch along the East Range of…
SALMON FISHING -- Harvest and effort continues to increase in the Hanford Reach fall Chinook fishery on the Columbia River below Priest Rapids Dam. Washington Fish and Wildlife Columbia River fisheries biologists report an estimated 3,407 boats fished for salmon in the Hanford Reach this…
WILDLIFE — The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has approved purchasing 4,200 acres of a Douglas County ranch to protect shrub-steppe habitat for wildlife, especially for threatened sharp-tailed grouse, and provide public access for outdoor recreation. It's the first phase of the state's plan to…
ENDANGERED SPECIES — Two recent wolf attacks have killed eight sheep and two livestock-protection dogs in Umatilla County, Oregon officials have confirmed. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife says the attacks took place Sept. 15 and 16 on public grazing land near Ruckle Junction…
THREATENED SPECIES -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management once again violated federal laws when it issued grazing permits instead of analyzing how grazing could harm sage grouse in four allotments in south-central Idaho, a federal judge ruled today. According to the Associated Press, U.S.…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Washington wildlife officials estimate they spent about $53,000 this summer to deal with the Huckleberry Pack attacks on a flock of 1,800 sheep on a grazing allotment in Stevens County. The costs were almost equally split between the effort to prevent attacks…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Here's the outcome of one of the cases in Yellowstone that helped the National Park Service solidify its policy to ban the use of drones in our national parks. Man fined for crashing drone in Yellowstone Park's Grand Prismatic Spring A visitor…
SHOOTING -- There's a reason it's illegal. Exploding target ignited August wildfire in Montana A Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks official said the August wildfire in the Sapphire Mountains was ignited by a target shooter illegally using an explosive target at a state wildlife management…
MOUNTAINEERING -- The volcanic eruption may be a few centuries away, or maybe it could be in your lifetime. Who knows when Washington's Glacier Peak will spit fire again? The summit is pegged at elevation 10,541 feet. Climbing the peak won't have as much status…
SHOOTING -- Starting Friday, Oct. 3, the Farragut Shooting Range will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:3 0 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. The reduction in hours are necessary because of the reduction in daylight hours. The range will close for the season…
FISHING -- Waters are cooling and aquatic insects are hatching -- mahoganies, blue-wing olives, baetis, and the occasional October caddis. You know what that means? Hit a cloudy day and you can have big results with autumn-hungry trout, like I did Saturday on the Clark…
PUBLIC LANDS -- I was a bit surprised at some comments I received this week after posting news that U.S. Forest Service officials were forging rules requiring "the media" to obtain $1,500 permits in order to make photographs in designated national forest wilderness areas. A…
UPDATED with link to "wolves and ranching can coexist" commentary. ENDANGERED SPECIES -- The West Side of Washington appears to be in a tizzy over the state's management of gray wolves in Eastern Washington. State wildlife officials killed one wolf in August during a month…
MOUNTAINEERING -- A man in his 30s recently told me that few young adults, even climbers, know anything about Spokane Mountaineer Chris Kopczynski. That's stunning considering that the local contractor is a Seven Summits veteran and joined John Roskelley to be the first American team…
FISHING -- The 2014 fall chinook run to the Columbia River is coming up short of expectations -- but it's still at least the second best return since Bonneville Dam was built and fish counting started in 1938. Here are the highlights of Columbia forecasts…
PUBLIC LANDS -- This may be the most bizarre public lands news I've read in a long time. The U.S. Forest Service has adopted rules scheduled to go into effect in November requiring news media to have a $1,500 permit before shooting photos or video…
HIKING -- Backpackers who've walked the walk are giving programs of enduring value this weekend during the 21st annual gathering of the American Long-Distance Hiking Association-West at Stampede Pass, Wash. Openings are still available for the Saturday programs by hikers who've accomplished incredible "feets" and…
OUTDOOR PURSUITS -- The weekend rescue of a climber trapped by a shifting boulder below Chimney Rock gives us cause to pause, take a deep breath, evaluate and be thankful for a the services we enjoy every time we venture into the outdoors, even if…
WILDLIFE -- A few weeks ago I posted news that the Huckleberry Pack wolf shot by a federal Wildlife Services agent was the pack's alpha female. I supplied the term. In revealing the necropsy results, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department reported the wolf as…
UPDATE: Wyoming governor responds to ruling. ENDANGERED SPECIES — Federal protections for gray wolves in Wyoming were reinstated today after a judge invalidated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2012 statewide Endangered Species Act delisting of the species, according to Earthjustice. The ruling from the…
FISHING -- Coho are the latest of the Pacific salmon species prompting records on the Columbia River this year. From August 1 through September 21, there have been an estimated 119,885 angler trips and 22,483 Chinook, 6,842 steelhead, and 4,919 coho kept, according to Joe…
PUBLIC LANDS -- A picture is worth a thousand words, and also $4,000 dollars to law-breaking climbers in Utah. Their moment of glory doing illegal route modifications in a national park was expensive in the long run. Photo used in Patagonia catalog leads to fines…
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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