FLY FISHING – Learn basics of fly fishing for steelhead Saturday, (Nov. 5) 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., at Silver Bow Fly Shop. 13210 E. Indiana Ave. $30. A beginner fly tying class on how to tie six effective basic patterns, runs Nov. 14-15, 6-9 p.m. $75.…
WETLANDS CONSERVATION -- Joseph Hautman of Plymouth, Minn., won the 2011 Federal Duck Stamp Contest on Saturday with his acrylic painting of a single wood duck. Hautman has previously won the contest three times, in 1991, 2001 and 2007. His art will be made into…
FREE-FLOWING RIVERS – The demise of Condit Dam on Washington’s White Salmon River is available for all to see online in photos and video. The demolition crew used explosives to blow out the bottom of the dam on Wednesday (Oct. 26) to let water gush…
FISHING -- Salmon fishing in Idaho will be over for the year when the fall chinook harvest season on the Snake and Clearwater rivers ends Monday (Oct. 31). The season opened Sept. 1 on the Snake River between Lewiston and Hells Canyon Dam and, this…
PADDLING – The new stateline bridge over the Spokane River, which is expected to open to traffic on Tuesday, features a railing with illustrations of an evergreen tree, symbolizing Washington, and a kayaker. Give credit to state and county engineers for listening to paddlers concerns…
HUNTING -- I'm on the road, returning from the annual cast and blast trip to Montana -- perfectly timed to avoid the Spokane Public Radio pledge drive. The pickup is loaded with a whitetail, a pronghorn, pheasants, Huns, sharpies, and a dog-tired dog. Fishing waders…
FISHING -- Pigs. That's the best way to describe the North Fork of the Clearwater rainbow trout that have tuned in to the feast of kokanee that come over and down through Dworshak Dam. Read on for the story by Eric Barker of the Lewiston…
CONSERVATION -- The myth that "conservation lands" are locked up and useless to the public is debunked in dollars and sense by a new economic study that documents how conservation, recreation and preservation lands support 9.4 million jobs and generate $1 trillion a year to…
PUBLIC LANDS -- For the third consecutive year, visitors will enjoy free admission to national parks on 17 days in 2012, the Department of Interior has announced. Some of those freebies include three-day holiday weekends and even a week-long celebration of National Parks Week. National…
CYCLING -- An Oregon man is using the latest LED technology to develop a turn signal glove to give bicyclists, and those behind them, a safer and more visible way to turn, especially in low-light situations. Jack O'Neal, an Afghanistan war veteranmechanical engineering at Portland…
FISHING– The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department is taking comment statewide on proposed changes to sportfishing regulations. A public meeting has been scheduled Thursday (Oct. 27), from 6 p.m.-8 p.m., in the agency’s Spokane Region Office, 2315 N. Discovery Pl. in Spokane Valley. Current proposals…
WILDLIFE RESEARCH -- The Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness are asking people to vote online before Oct. 28 to help them garner nearly $30,000 in grants from Zoo Boise that would be applied to wolverine research in North Idaho. Visit the Zoo Boise projects…
CANOEING/KAYAKING – Long-distance paddler Jim Payne will give a presentation on his trip down Georgia’s Chattahoochee River to the Gulf of Mexico on Monday Oct. 24, 7 p.m., at the Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland. The free program is sponsored by the Spokane Canoe…
HUNTING -- It's the eve of Montana's rifle deer hunting season. I'm traveling back to my home state, game for action but keeping my expectations in check. I've noticed some whitetail buck scrapes in key places in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, but all I've…
FORAGING– Mushroom foraging conditions have been near perfect with the recent rainfall followed by cooler temperatures and sunny days, according to the Seattle Times "Shroomers are flocking to forests in search of Japanese matsutake (Armillaria ponderosa), known for their unique smell and excellent table fare,"…
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- An annual elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and a volunteer-based "elk reduction" project in western North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park got underway this month amid public criticism, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The issue is developing across…
SALMON FISHING -- The fishing season for chinook and coho salmon will be extended in the lower Hanford Reach of the Columbia through Oct. 31, the Washignton Fish and Wildlife Department has announced. The extension affects the sport salmon fishery in the Columbia River between…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- The first agenda item for Friday morning's Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission telephone conference call is to consider new locations for the last of four public meetings on the state's proposed wolf management plan. The commission held the first meeting on the…
FISHING -- If you're a steelheading fly-fisher and you haven't seen the BC fishing flick Metalhead, now's the time. Even if you have seen it, the Spokane Falls Chapter of Trout Unlimited suggests joining them and having some fun and watching the film as they…
NATIONAL FORESTS -- A proposal that would allow ski areas to potentially expand activities to biking, zip lines and rope courses — legislation that likely would create jobs in mountain towns — passed the U.S. Senate late Tuesday and is likely to be signed quickly…
TRAILS -- Mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians are gathering in November for another blitz to build an epic trail east of Republic, Wash., -- and they can use more help. "Last October, over a dozen volunteers from Conservation Northwest, Spokane Mountaineers, Washington Trails Association and…
WILDLIFE -- Montana wildlife photographer Jaime Johnson captured the power of a brown bear fishing for salmon during a recent visit to Alaska. One fish escapes, but look closely underwater to see the big one that didn't get away from the bruin.
FISHING -- Idaho Fish and Game officials just posted this notice to holders of three-day salmon-steelhead permits fishing in waters and at times when steelhead and chinook salmon both are present and can be caught and kept: Differentiate harvest of the two species on your…
HUNTING -- Former Spokanite Adam Lynn returns from the West Side every fall to hunt with friends on the opening weekend of Washington's modern rifle deer hunting season. He routinely shows up everyone in his group with his uncanny instinct for where the game will…
SKIING -- Washington Fish and Wildlife Deparment biologists recently hiked through the sites on Mount Spokane where the State Parks Commission approved new ski runs for the expansion of the Mt. Spokake Ski and Snowboard Park. The WDFW formally opposed the expansion of the new…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
