PUBLIC LANDS -- Friday, Aug. 25, is the last business day before the cost of the federal America the Beautiful Senior Pass will increase from a lifetime fee of $10 to $80. The pass is available to citizens age 62 and older and gets them…
HIKING -- Sherman Peak south of Sherman Pass in northeastern Washington wasn't in the path of totality for Monday's solar eclipse, but the view was totally awesome for Bobby Whittaker. A 6-mile round-trip trek took the Kettle Valley man to 7,000 feet and the top…
PUBLIC LANDS – After a four-month review ordered by the Trump administration and millions of public comments, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he’s recommending that none of 27 national monuments designated in remote and often pristine landscapes and ocean be eliminated. But there would be...
MOSCOW, Idaho — Aug. 15, 2017 — The College of Natural Resources Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences is seeking film submissions for its first annual Fish & Wildlife Film Festival. The event is being held as part of 75th anniversary celebration of the department....
NATURE -- The Yellowstone sand verbena is known to grow in only one place in the world, protected by a grand national park and a handful of botanists who guard the location with a leak-proof secrecy the White House could only dream to achieve. Here's…
MOUNTAINEERING -- Climbers Jess Roskelley of Spokane and Clint Helander of Alaska will detail their spring 2017 first ascent of the complete south ridge of Alaska's Mount Huntington in a multimedia program on Saturday at the Panida Theater in Sandpoint. John Roskelley, Jess's father and...
RIVERS -- The Spokane Riverkeeper's annual fundraiser, formerly 'Dirty Martinis for Clean Water,' is revised this year to get the WORD out about river stewardhip. On Oct.13, the new "Spoken River" event will incorporate art into an evening of river-focused works by local authors Maya…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The fate of about 14 revered federal public land monuments could be revealed this week as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke concludes his review of 27 national monuments that were declared by presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton. Zinke already has announced that he...
FISHING -- Heat-related restrictions on fishing for Silver Bow Creek, the upper Clark Fork and the lower Bitterroot Rivers have been lifted, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced today. The restrictions were imposed last month when criteria were met on each water body -- water…
FISHING -- A week after wild fish activists announced a protest against net-pen fish farming in Puget Sound, the solar eclipse on Monday apparently contributed to whipping up tides that unleashed thousands of 10-pound Atlantic salmon into Bellingham Bay. Tribes, sportsmen and scientists have long...
WILDLIFE -- Grainy images of a young female fisher with her kit captured by a remote camera this summer provide the first evidence that this rare forest carnivore is reproducing in the South Cascades, where state, federal and non-profit organizations are working to reintroduce them....
FISHING -- If you haven't caught on to the new fishing experience at Deer Creek Reservoir near Headquarters, Idaho, check out this story by Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune: State records for tiger trout have been falling at a dizzying pace at Deer Creek...
WILDERNESS -- Trails in the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness straddling the Montana-Idaho border are getting a boost this season from volunteers who are being supported by a $6,000 grant from a new national fund. Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness recently received $6,000 from the National...
WILDLIFE -- I'm hearing various reports from observant eclipse watchers who noticed changes in critter behavior during the event Monday morning. "Ducks in the nearby pond stopped dabbling, swallows began feeding again, then in the blink of an eye a strange other-worldly dim white light...
Slackliner Alex Mason of the San Francisco Bay area, walked through totality today with nothing but a ribbon between him and the rocks far below in the brief eclipse of darkness in Wyoming. According to the Red Bull Content Pool, Mason rigged a line through...
PUBLIC LANDS -- An Alabama native who's worked on or for national forests since he was 18 has been named Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the new chief is Tony Tooke, who's currently the Regional Forester...
FISHING –Not that he’s complaining, but Dick Thiel of Spokane was a little surprised to photograph a kokanee caught in Rock Lake on Aug. 13. The lake has bass, rainbows, brown trout and even surplus steelhead stocked a few years ago. But nature did a...
PUBLIC LANDS -- A tip from the public could help Washington Fish and Wildlife police make a case in the endless battle against people who trash boat launches and other public lands. A suspect connected with littering at the Liberty Lake boat launch is pictured...
FISHING -- Despite a tribal gillnetting effort and a sportfishing bounty, non-native northern pike continue their downstream invasion of the Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt. Northern pike have been confirmed this season as far downstream as Hunters, according to a July 12 report to the…
FISHERIES -- Coinciding with Monday's solar eclipse, Columbia River Indian-caught salmon will be available for sale along the lower river as Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes pull in nets during the first significant commercial opening of the fall season. The chinook will…
WILDERNESS -- An expert in tailings dame engineering will discuss issues related to the Rock Creek Mine proposed along the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in a free public program hosted by the Rock Creek Alliance at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 at Sandpoint Community Hall, 204...
FOREST FIRES -- The wicked-fast run of the Sundance and Trapper Peak fires and the loss of two firefighters will be commemorated in 50th anniversary observations starting next week at several North Idaho communities. Boundary County, Priest Lake and Bonner County Museums are scheduling events...
FISHING -- The region's steelhead anglers are going to have to take it on the chin this season. An extremely small number of steelhead returning to Idaho so far -- see chart above -- has prompted Idaho Fish and Game officials to reduce the bag…
FISHING -- The bad news for steelheaders keeps getting, as they say, worser and worser. "An unprecedented low summer steelhead run on the Columbia River took a dramatic turn downward Monday when biologists from Oregon and Washington said the front part of the two-phase run…
SKY WATCHING -- An educational twist to viewing the Aug. 1 solar eclipse is being organized for two sites in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area as well as the Kettle Falls library. This solar eclipse, which last occurred in 1918, will cross North America...
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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