SPORT SHOWS – The Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show will fill the Spokane Fair and Expo Center Thursday through Sunday with more than 250 vendors of outdoor gear and services as well as area clubs and outfitters. The annual show once again is sponsored by…
INVASIVES – The Idaho Legislature has approved an emergency funding measure to expand the state’s boat inspection stations to check for invasive quagga and zebra mussels. The bill is headed to the governor’s desk for approval. According to the Associated Press, the nearly $1 million…
HIKING -- Feedback to my story about issues with off-leash dogs in Spokane-area parks and conservation areas is running the gamut. Former Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard says he started carrying a weapon while hiking with his dogs after a terrifying incident with three loose...
PARKS -- I have a gut feeling that this might be a busier than normal and perhaps not an ideal year to visit Canada's national parks. But I got the free pass anyway. It's a deal. Canada’s national parks, celebrating their 150th anniversary this year,...
HUNTING/FISHING -- Legislation that will raise Idaho’s hunting and fishing fees and dramatically increase funds available to pay wildlife crop damage claims passed the Idaho House on a 43-26 vote Tuesday. Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune reports that the bill is a compromise between…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- In nine years, wolves in Oregon have increased from zero to three consecutive years of seven or more breeding pairs, bringing the state into the next stage stage of recovery and eventual delisting from endangered species protections. A “breeding pair” is two…
WINTERSPORTS -- Here's an update on the great snowmobiling conditions and services I reported 3 weeks ago at Priest Lake, Idaho: Little has changed. Conditions are great. If anything, conditions are better. "We have close to 5 more feet of new snow in the mountains…
MOUNTAIN BIKING -- The Kalispell mountain biker killed by a grizzly bear outside of Glacier National Park last year was going at a high rate of speed and couldn't have avoided the surprise collision that triggered the mauling, investigators say in the official report released...
PUBLIC LANDS -- This news isn't surprising: The Salt Lake City Council wants the lucrative Outdoor Retailer show to reconsider its decision to leave Utah after two decades. The council passed a resolution Tuesday night calling on show and industry leaders to reconsider its decision...
PUBLIC LANDS -- Utah politicians continue to flaunt their greed in the face of Americans who support public lands. The latest action comes from the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee who's asked budget writers to allocate $50 million to account...
WINTERSPORTS -- A former Spokane man, now a ski instructor for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming, became a human kabab on March 1 as he impaled his face on a branch while trying to jump between two trees. "“I drool more than I used...
WATERSPORTS -- The National Park Service is offering Lake Roosevelt Vacations, Inc., a one-year contract extension for operating the Kettle Falls Marina area. If accepted, the company will continue to operate the Park Service-owned marina complex on the Columbia River reservoir through April 30, 2018.…
Wolves have made a resounding comeback in Idaho and Montana and they're essentially recovered in Oregon and Washington. It's time to quit spending so much money on needlessly counting, monitoring and managing them. The money would be better spent improving habitat for their prey....
FISHING -- Two free fly fishing seminars of interest are comping up at North 40 Outfitters Fly Shop, 170 E. Kathleen Ave. in Coeur d'Alene, presented by Wayne Jordan. Both programs run 6 p.m.-7 p.m. Fishing Skwalla Hatches, March 8. Northern Pike Fly Fishing, March...
PUBLIC LANDS -- More than 2,000 people braved a chilly drizzle and rallied at the Idaho Capitol on Saturday to demand that public lands be kept in the hands of the federal government. Boise hunter Kevin Braley told the Idaho Statesman he doesn’t think politicians...
WILDFLOWERS -- It's a dependable mood lifter when the winter snow recedes and the sun shines for a few days in Eastern Washington. A harbinger of spring, let's have three cheers for the amazing buttercup! I have at least 10 Facebook friends who've seen their...
FISHERIES – The $500 million spent annually on habitat restoration projects and improvements are helping salmon, steelhead and other wildlife in the Columbia River Basin, federal agencies responsible for operating 14 federal dams say. The Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S.…
PRIVATE LANDS -- Being a hunter, I cringed Sunday morning as I read The Spokesman-Review's front page story about Spokane’s deserted property explorers, who "look for the humanity in abandoned places." The story was good; the subject was alarming. These tech-savvy but socially clueless explorers...
HUNTING – April 13 is the deadline to apply for one of 25 family access permits for hunters with disabilities to access otherwise gated areas on Inland Empire Paper Company lands. Permits will be distributed in a lottery drawing. Applications are available through the Inland…
HUNTING -- The Bullwinkle elk killing case has been dropped, but the slime remains on Washington's auction and raffle elk tag programs that are dominated by high rollers. Trophy hunter Tod Reichert, 77, of Saikum, Washington, no longer is charged with using his special Washington...
FISHING -- A fishing bonanza is swimming the shores of Lake Rufus Woods, where the Colville Tribe's hatchery workers released 12,900 triploid rainbow trout on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Rufus Woods is the Columbia River reservoir between Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams. The fish averaged…
WINTERSPORTS -- "When winter holds on for a while and one has to ski a 30k Loppett on Sunday, one gets out to "train" in the dark and snow!" says Sue Niezgoda, explaining why she and a friend were at Mount Spokane State Park last...
TRAILS -- Picking up from some unofficial tree hacking in 2015, someone has begun unauthorized cutting of ponderosa pine trees on the city-owned South Hill Bluff below High Drive. Planned tree thinning has been done on the bluff to reduce fire danger. But as you...
HUNTING-FISHING -- Today, on his first day on duty, Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (pronounced ZINK-ee) issued two secretarial orders. One withdraws a controversial order signed by an Obama administration official to phase out use of lead bullets and lead fishing tackle on...
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.