WINTER SPORTS -- Mount Baker Ski Area took a beating over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend as rain pounded the ski area during a weekend that's critical in a resort's bottom line. How did the ski area respond to the hardy skiers who showed…
WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS -- Runners are gaining ground on wildlife photographers as the most likely people to be mauled by a grizzly bear in the Northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s grizzly bear recovery coordinator says long-distance trail runners are approaching photographers as the…
BEACHCOMBING -- Washington beaches will see the highest tides of the year this weekend, peaking at 7:28 a.m. Sunday. Unfortunately, the peak comes a bit late for the razor clamming season that runs today and Saturday. The National Weather Service says the tide will measure…
WINTER S PORTS -- The avalanche advisory issued by the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center this morning warns of "considerable" danger on many areas of the Inland Northwest. Avalanche conditions for the Idaho Panhandle National Forest are rated as Considerable on wind loaded aspects above 5000…
OLYLMPIA -- Legislation was introduced Thursday for the first across-the-board increase in Washington hunting and fishing license fees in 14 years, according to a report by Allen Thomas of the Vancouver Columbian. House Bill 1387 would result in an increase in revenue from hunting licenses…
WATER SPORTS -- The waves are rising to the occasion of an almost-annual event in Hawaii. Surfers are catching massive waves this week on Oahu's North Shore. Organizers of the big wave surfing contest known as "The Eddie" say Waimea Bay's waves aren't consistently large…
FISHING -- Take it from the record number of bald eagles that gathered to feast on spawning salmon this winter: The kokanee have made a comeback at Lake Coeur d'Alene. The turn-around has been dramatic, Idaho Fish and Game fisheries biologists say in a just-released…
FORESTS -- Inland Northwest landowners with woodlots are being warned to watch for signs of a tree-damaging caterpillar outbreak that's already affected at least 570 acres in eastern Spokane County and 8,500 acrees in North Idaho. Defoliation from the Douglas-fir tussock moth was found in…
WILDLIFE PARTS -- If you bagged an early buck with velvet antlers, you might want to grind them up rather than hang them on the wall. A New Zealand company is doing just that to make a "mouthwash" that NFL players are using to gussy…
WINTER SPORTS -- The next free avalanche workshop in Sandpoint for all snowgoers is set for Feb. 9. The topic to be tackled by the team from the Forest Service technicians at the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center: "What we can learn from 10 years of…
RIVERS -- The huge runoff from recent thaw has prompted Avista Utilities to open all of its spill gats at Post Falls Dam, the utility announced moments ago. In response to rising Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe River flows and Coeur d’Alene Lake levels, the…
WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT -- Washington Fish and Wildlife Deparment agents in the Spokane Region spent an unusually large amount of time last week responding to complaints about free-roaming dogs harassing deer. At least five incidents showed up on the department's weekly report on enforcement officer activity.…
WILDLIFE -- Neither state nor tribal officials returned telephone queries today regarding the Saturday-Sunday translocation of Nevada pronghorns to the Yakama Indian Reservation. As I reported in my Monday blog, pronghorns were extirpated from this region in the 1800s. I called two Washington Fish and…
LEGISLATING WILDLIFE – Washington lawmakers heard a mixed bag of testimony at a hearing today on continuing the pilot program that allows the use of hounds for hunting cougars. HB 1124 seeks to extend the program in a portion of Klickitat County as well as…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Bald eagles are dispersing from their annual gathering to feast on kokanee at Lake Coeur d'Alene, but they're not gone by any means. Carrie Hugo, U.S. Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist, just returned from her weekly survey of the the lake's…
UPLAND BIRD HUNTING -- Rain was splattering on the windshield and the wind was blowing so hard up the Snake River canyon on Monday morning it rocked the pickup after I shut down the engine. That wasn't a good sign for two guys and a…
WILDLIFE -- Oregon's count of gray wolves is up to at least 21 in two packs after two previously unverified pups were documented recenty by air and on video. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say aerial surveys documented 16 wolves in the…
FISHING -- Felt-soled wading shoes — long used to give stream anglers traction on slippery river bottoms — could be off store shelves in Oregon next year and banned statewide in 2013, a casualty in the war against invasive aquatic species, according to the Mail…
WILDLIFE -- Pronghorns are back in Washington. After years of negotiations and miles of red tape, a herd of about 100 pronghorns (also known as antelope) from Nevada were released into Central Washington over the weekend, according to a just-filed Northwest Sportsman online report. The…
PADDLING -- Spokane paddler and guidebook author Dan Hansen couldn't find a scouting report for a stretch of Hangman Creek at high water, so he set out by foot on Sunday to find out for himself. Hansen hiked the 10-mile stretch from the Qualchan Historical…
WILDLIFE -- Idaho Fish and Game Department researchers used bait and a motion-activated remote camera to photograph the fisher shown above. Seeing these critters in the Inland Northwest is very rare without taking such lengthy measures. These large, quick members of the weasel family are…
CLIMATE CHANGE-- Last year was a climatological wonder, with figures indicating that 2010 was not only the wettest since record keeping began in 1860, but the year also tied with 2005 for the hottest, according to a story in The New York Times.
WILDLIFE -- While some ground-dwelling creatures snoose away the winter, others are up for everything from hunting to major construction projects. Badgers, the middle linebackers of the weasel family, aren't timid about winter when bare ground is available. Badgers normally eat ground squirrels, gophers and…
WINTER SPORTS -- Anyone winter snow traveler who sees avalanche activity in North Idaho or the adjoining areas of Washington and Montana can boost the safety of other snowgoers by reporting their observations to the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center in Sandpoint. "We would appreciate hearing…
SURVIVAL -- It's been a rough week on the Outdoors beat, but I'm still holding my head high. How about you? Remember, the snow slopes are unstable as we head into the weekend. The ice is weakening on the lakes and the rivers are surging…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.