FISHING -- Snake River steelhead come in two varieties: the beautiful early A-run fish that might run about six pounds and the spectacular bigger B-run fish like one pictured above. Most of the B-run steelies are bound for Idaho's Clearwater River, and now's a darned…
WINTER SPORTS -- National forests are beginning to close some designated mountain roads to wheeled traffic to prepare for grooming snowmobile routes as well as some nordic skiing trails. Echo Ridge Ski Area will open this weekend on Forest Service routes above Lake Chelan with…
WINTERSPORTS -- 49 Degrees North ski area near Chewelah has just announced plans to open Sunday, Dec. 6, with limited terrain and discounted tickets. "We are out grooming right now, and we have a very good dense snowpack," the resort said in a media release…
RIVERS --Spokane River flows through Post Falls Dam will be reduced starting Monday, Dec. 7, to accommodate the Sullivan Road West Bridge replacement project, Avista says. The flows will be reduced to between 1,100 cfs and 1,500 cfs. The decreased flow will allow the contractor…
WINTER SPORTS -- Stevens Pass Mountain Resort opened today in a flurry of powder but still limited terrain for 2015-16 winter operations. Skiers and riders have access to Daisy chairlift, the Rope Tow with Rail Park and a Magic Carpet. The resort will continue to...
PARKS -- Riverside and Mount Spokane state parks are still working to clear blowdown trees from routes and public use areas following the Nov. 17 windstorm that hammered the region with gusts to 70 mph. The Riverside State Park Foundation announced Thursday that the annual…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Four canines, llikely wolves but unconfirmed, were spotted Dec. 2, 2015, crossing a seeded farm field near the Johnson cuttoff road near Pullman, according to photos circulating among Palouse landowners. Whitman County has had numerous reports of wolves, including a case in...
PREDATORS -- Yellowstone National Park biologists counted at least 104 wolves from 11 packs living in the park at the end of 2014. The figures released Wednesday were up slightly from the prior year, when 95 wolves from 10 packs were counted. Northwest states released...
PREDATORS -- While the number of livestock killed by wolves, coyotes and grizzly bears has declined in Montana, the state is paying a record amount this year to reimburse livestock growers' for losses. The Montana Livestock Loss Board was established by the state Legislature in…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Bald eagles continue to pour into the Wolf Lodge Bay area of Lake Coeur d'Alene for their annual November-January gathering to feast on spawning kokanee. "It was a rainy, cold count today but I was rewarded with good numbers," said Carrie Hugo,…
FISHING -- Avondale Lake is being stocked with rainbow trout this season to give North Idaho anglers a new winter fishery. Avondale Lake has been a popular panfish ice fishery close to the urban centers of Hayden and Coeur d’Alene. This year, the winter fishing…
FISHING -- Ice fishermen aren't the only people who could find themselves on thin ice this winter. Everyone who ventures out near ponds, streams or lakes should have a basic understanding of what to in case of breaking through ice into a sudden cold water...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Police officers get big bucks in Kenton County, Kentucky, as you can see from this video. The dash cam on the police officer's vehicle shows an amazing collision with a whitetail buck as he was driving the Decoursey Pike through Visalia. "We...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Was it a wolf or a dog? The question regarding the canine killed by a vehicle along U.S. 2 on Tuesday was answered in a definitive way today. The owners of the dog came to claim its carcass at the Spokane County...
FISHING -- Twenty pounders ruled in the 2015 Lake Pend Oreille Fall Fishing Derby that concluded Sunday. Top prize winners were Mike Halford of Bonners Ferry, who netted $2,000 for a 20.10-pound rainbow, and Scott Plue of Sandpoint, who won $1,000 for a 20.14-pound mackinaw.…
TRAILS -- Palouse Falls State Park visitors, especially hikers and photographers, aren't so free to roam as they were just a few months ago. Fences have been installed as a safety measure to close some unauthorized trails around the scenic Palouse River waterfall that plunges…
HUNTING -- I can't say for sure than a hunter cut the wire on the fence in the photo above. But I'll guarantee that hunters get the blame. Several calls have come into The Spokesman-Review's Outdoors Department this season to vent frustrations and make a…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- "That's no coyote, and it doesn't look like a dog," said Al Dolomont, recounting his thoughts after he'd driven past a road-killed animal today on U.S. Highway 2. His friend, Lynda Andrew, told him to turn around because she thought she saw...
WINTER WILDLIFE -- Who ever thought ice climbers would need bear spray? Who could have known that bears would be prowling around the meager snow pack and forcing food storage restrictions to stay in place into January? Following are two recent cases that leave us...
FISHING -- Hog Canyon and Fourth of July lakes -- two area winter fishing lakes -- opened Friday and anglers are finding some bright, feisty rainbows. Traditionally, the winter lakes have opened Dec. 1, but this year the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began...
FISHING -- While Washington fish managers are still evaluating the impacts of poor Columbia River sockeye spawning numbers this season, Idaho is upbeat. Despite the smallest return of Snake River adult sockeye salmon since 2007, Idaho Department of Fish and Game reports the Eagle Fish…
FISHING -- Sobering numbers from the drought-ravaged 2015 Columbia River sockeye salmon run have been released by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Of the 512,000 sockeye that returned to the mouth of the Columbia this summer, Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff report only...
NATURE -- Hazen Audel, a former Ferris High School biology teacher and more recently the host of NatGeo TV's Survive the Tribe, will present a program in Spokane this week entitled “Fascinating Stories of Natural History and the People that Live Along Side Them.” The…
RIVERS -- A new visitor center at Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River near Vantage will be open starting Tuesday. The Grant Public Utilities District says it has prepared new displays to highlight how the dam balances hydropower, fish passage, recreation and natural resource management....
PUBLIC LANDS -- Even though I'm a paddler, I can see good reasons to maintain restrictions on floating access to some of the fragile streams in Yellowstone National Park. This is an issue better managed conservatively by scientists and rangers in the park rather than…
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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