BIRDWATCHING -- While the new commander at Fairchild Air Force Base is looking into options for bringing back the big Air Show, area birdwatchers are finding their own aerial displays of high-speed flying. You simply have to know where to look. Check out this Tuesday…
FISHING -- Fishing for steelhead plus the bonus of fishing for expanded daily limits of fall chinook salmon will open Sept. 1 on the Washington portion of the Snake River, officials announced today. Predicting a strong return of upriver bright chinook salmon, Washington Fish and…
CYCLING -- The Lilac City Twilight Criterium will debut on Sept. 8 to take over a few downtown streets with exciting tight-group racing -- and six tight corners -- from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. The event, which tests riders skills at high-speed cornering in…
PREDATORS -- More than 1,200 Montanans have indicated they want to participate in the state's first wolf trapping season, which will open later this year. The trapping season was approved just last month by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission. The prospective participants have signed…
NATURE -- Spokane author and naturalist Jack Nisbet will present a program, "David Douglas in the Shrub Steppe,” 7:30 p.m., Aug. 21 at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge headquarters south of Cheney. Seating is limited. Sign-up in advance with Louise Oleary of the Friends of Turnbull,…
FISHING -- Despite the heat wave, anglers checked on the Clearwater River were catching steelhead at reasonably productive rates last weekend. The water temperature was 52 degrees. Idaho Fish and Game creel checks found the following rates: Mouth to Memorial Bridge -- 13 hours per…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Contacts for 24 conservation organizations say they sent a letter to President Barack Obama today asking for continued Endangered Species Act protection for wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Although federal protection on gray wolves in most of Eastern Washington was lifted at…
TRAILS -- The Spokane River Centennial Trail -- celebrating its 20th anniversary -- is listed on Sunset Magazine's list of 20 Best Bike Paths in the West. That's no suprise to people who live here, and ongoing improvements are steadily making the riverside trail even…
HUNTING -- An ambitious elk study in the East Fork of the Bitterroot River has documented an increase in elk calf survival. Wolves have not been a significant factor this year, although mountain lions have taken a toll on the elk. Craig Jourdonnais of Montana…
HUNTING– A Sportsman’s Symposium focusing on hunting and fishing issues is set for 7 p.m. Thursday Aug. 16, at the North Central High School Auditorium, sponsored by the Inland Empire Chapter of Safari Club International. Guest speakers include Nelson Freeman, SCI’s government affairs director in…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Several roads in the Coeur d'Alene region will be closed during construction starting Tuesday, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests announced this afternoon. Beauty Creek Campground Road 438 from the junction with Highway 97 to the junction with Forest Road 453. The first…
FISHING -- North Idaho fish managers queried anglers on proposed fishing rules for the Panhandle Region last month before formalizing and forwarding the proposals to Boise. Now the statewide fishing rule proposals have been posted online and Idaho Fish and Game is giving anglers another…
PUBLIC LANDS —The outdoor recreation industry is flexing its economic muscle—some $640 billion spent annually by Americans on gear, travel and services—to push for wilderness protection in Utah, threatening to pull a lucrative biannual trade show if the state doesn't change course on environmental issues.…
SKY WATCHING -- Other than a bit of lingering haze from the region's wildfires, the weekend provided picture perfect conditions for watching the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. I'm impressed at how many of my Facebook friends were out camping in wild places…
BIRD WATCHING -- Bill Bender of Spokane treated his Facebook friends this summer to a 22-day photo documentary of the hatching and fledging of two hummingbird chicks. They were hatched in a nest built on a wind chime on the deck of his South Side…
FORESTS – The Colville National Forest is seeking comments on a revised proposal to regulate dispersed camping and designate and expand roads and trails open to motorized recreation. Comments are due by the end of August on the South End Project scoping notice and plans…
FISHING -- Steelhead anglers continue the record-setting success at catching the returning sea-run fish in the Columbia river below Bonneville Dam. The fishery developed big time last year as unusually high, cool flows turned anglers on to turned-on fish. Here's the report for July 2012…
CAMPING – The drinking water supply has been tested and OKed at Pioneer Park Campground near Newport, Colville National Forest officials said today. The water system had been shut down for a week after reports of possible contamination.
BOATING -- The level of Lake Roosevelt was 1284.60 at 8 a.m. today and levels will continue to gradually drop over the next week, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam. Predicted elevations by the end of next week are in…
PADDLING – Kayakers have largely bailed on a special event just for them. Whitewater kayak events through the exhilarating but short Chelan River Gorge will become a once yearly rather than four-times yearly event as interest among expert boaters has declined, Chelan County PUD commissioners…
PREDATORS -- Washington has killed it's first wolf in more than 70 years in response to threats to livestock. Get used to it, as I pointed out in today's Outdoors column. Wolf watchers in Washington, where the first wolf was been killed under a wolf…
WATERFOWLING -- North Dakota is opening what looks to be a bountiful hunting season on Canada Geese in mid-August to deal with the flyway's overly successful goose boom. For the first time, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department is recommending a daily bag limit…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The wonderful Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes rail trail between Plummer and Mullan has always been a wild experience, offering visitors the chance to see birds, coyotes, bears, deer, moose and other critters on a fairly regular basis. But a friend called…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Washington Fish and Wildlife officers who killed a wolf implicated in livestock attacks on Tuesday have retreated from the northeastern Washington woods near Laurier today without killing a second wolf as planned. Bruce Botka, the agency's public relations director, said the Wedge…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Washington Fish and Wildlife officials this morning said an enforcement officer from out of the region continues to hunt for a second wolf to kill from the Wedge Pack after he shot a female wolf Tuesday. The wolves are thought to be…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
