PARKS -- Glacier National Park’s Centennial year has become its busiest.Even though November’s visitor count was down 14 percent compared to the same time last year, the 13,000 visitors last month were enough to push this year’s total visitation past the 1983 record year, according…
WILDLIFE -- Winter weather is tempting moose to wander into towns and neighborhoods to nibble tender landscaping plants. In most cases, Idaho Fish and Game Department officers recommend giving the moose a day or two to find its way back into the wild. "It found…
POACHING PATROL -- Washington Fish and Wildlife Department enforcement officers in the Spokane Region seem to be answering an increased number of serious poaching calls, Capt. Mike Whorton said today.Recent examples include...
FISHING -- The 2011 spring chinook salmon run into the Columbia river should be a good one, although not in the sensational range of the run that moved upstream this year.State and federal fisheries experts last week issued a preliminary forecast of 158,000 springers moving…
PROGRAMS -- The Spokane Mountaineers are featuring two programs tonight featuring some excellent outdoor photography.Tim Coleman of Conservation Northwest will discuss the Columbia Highlands Initiative and proposals for wilderness areas in the Okanogan and Colville National Forests.Jon Jantz of WILDLIGHT Photography, a Washington climber, traveler,…
WILDLIFE -- While the Rocky Mountain reigon's wildlife control agents are forced to focus on wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears, black bears and mountain lions are making a killing on livestock."Our wildlife control people spend so much time with wolves that they’re being taken away from…
WILDLIFE -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the wolverine should be to be added to the list of endangered and threatened species, the Associated Press reported this morning.But, the federal agency adds, adding the wolverine now is precluded by higher priorities — that…
WILDLIFE -- Here's one of the hazards Santa would have to endure if Christmas has been scheduled a month earlier.
WINTER SPORTS -- You have to love the spirit of the Panhandle Nordic Club and the volunteers who have helped develop the Fourth of July Pass ski and snowshoe trails.They help maintain the trails. They bake cookies to give to the I-90 snowplow drivers as…
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING -- The great skiing conditions of Saturday deteriorated today into a slushy slog at the Mount Spokane nordic ski trails.To add insult to injury, the power was lost to the Selkirk Lodge this morning. The trails couldn't be groomed Saturday night because of…
FISHING – A cold winter wind was blowing down the Snake River today, but the steelhead fishing was hot.With the able assistance of his 10-year-old son, Josh, shore angler Tim Wills landed this bright steelie around 1 p.m. near the Wawaiwai boat launch. The Wills…
BIRDING -- They come just a few at a time from their home in the arctic, but they stand out like NBA players on a grade-school tour bus when they arrive in Lincoln County each winter.Snowy owls are always welcome sights to Inland Northwest birdwatchers.…
OFF-ROADING -- The controversial issue of making it legal to ride ATVs and other non-highway-suitable vehicles on more public roads is back on the front burner in Stevens County.Amendments to OHV Ordinance 06-2009 is set for discussion at a special Dec. 20 County Commissioners hearing,…
WILDLIFE -- A month after a wildlife underpass opened under Idaho Highway 21 east of Boise, the animals seem to be getting the hang of it, according to the Idaho Statesman.Boise River Wildlife Management Area manager Ed Bottum says the animals almost immediately began using…
NUISANCE WILDLIFE -- I have a gift to offer the region's rural residents who are being besieged by wintering turkeys that are congregated in flocks and fouling barnyards.Just invite me to come out with my one remaining 2010 turkey tag and I can virtually elminate…
SPOKANE RIVER -- The City of Spokane Valley and the entire region apparently got short-changed in the $11 million Barker Road Bridge construction project. City officials turned their backs on citizens and agencies that tried to work from the beginning of the project to improve…
KAYAKING -- Associated Press in JOHANNESBURG reports a pair of Northwest kayakers watched in horror as a crocodile snatched their guide from his kayak while he led an expedition from the source of the White Nile into the heart of Congo. South African Hendrik Coetzee,…
HUNTING – While we don’t have good statistics on the number of big-game animals wounded and lost by hunters, no one would doubt that it’s significant. The number might even be staggering.So why do Washington and a few other states prohibit hunters from using trained…
HUNTING -- A 16 year-old honor roll student and cheerleader from Columbia Falls, Mont., faces expulson from high school after she told school officials after she arrived for classes that she'd forgotten to remove her hunting rifle from her car after a Thanksgiving weekend hunt.Even…
OFF-ROADING -- The supervisor of the Nez Perce National Forest has criticized the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, contending the state agency tried to rile up off-road vehicle riders over a proposed plan that could limit their access to the forest's trails.An e-mail exchange…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- In a telephone conference today, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission suspended Idaho’s 2008-2012 species management plan for wolves.The 2002 Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, approved by the Idaho Legislature and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, remains in effect as…
HUNTING -- Tony Mayer of Twin Falls, Idaho, -- founder of the anti-wolf website SaveElk.com -- is charged with illegally killing a bull elk with antlers so large the crime qualifies as a felony.A judge on Tuesday ruled that Mayer must come back to Blaine…
WINTER SPORTS -- The season's first big snow storms had barely blanketed the mountains before this year's first avalanche deaths were recorded in the West.Three people already have been killed.On Sunday, a Colorado backcountry skier died in a 15-foot avalanche in Clear Creek County between…
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- None of Washington's state government agency heads is making any friends by suggesting possible program cuts in order to comply with voter wishes to reduce government -- and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlfie Director Phil Anderson is no exception.After the elections,…
HUNTING -- Hunter's I've surveyed believe this kid has a bright future, and photo admirers with a good sportsman-style sense of humor.
