WILDLIFE WATCHING -- A rare sighting of a Ross’s gull has been reported on Palmer Lake in Okanogan County by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologist Jeff Heinlen. The Ross’s gull (Rhodostethia rosea), an East Siberian arctic species that normally winters at sea,…
NORDIC SKIING -- If you have plans to visit the 120 miles of Methow Valley ski trails this season, check out this great Groupon deal: Pay $25 for a three-day trails pass that normally costs $51.
HUNTER EDUCATION — Some of Washington's volunteer hunter education instructors have been grumbling about new procedural rules and a trend toward replacing instructor firearms in classroom settings with guns that have disabled firing pins. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department might seem a little overbearing…
WINTER SPORTS -- No need to be slip-sliding along all winter. Korkers, the Oregon boot company that made its name with interchangeable soles for fishermen's wading boots, has diversified into other footwear, including with snowboots that have different traction options, including studded soles for applications…
In the news: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation withdraws support for Idaho land swap -- Lewiston Morning Tribune The proposed land swap in Northern Idaho that would trade 18,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service lands in three forests in Idaho for 40,000 acres owned by Western…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The party's over for elk. Bull moose have given up on the girls. Deer are losing their urges and getting serious about consuming enough calories to endure the winter. Meanwhile, bighorn sheep are getting it on. December is the peak of the…
OUTDOOR SPORTS -- Many people will be hitting the sunny ski slopes this week, or maybe "coloring up" in a tanning booth, or planning for a winter getaway to a warm beach. Fine. Take your sunscreen and learn to cover up. Remember, your skin is…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Bald eagles are mobbing Lake Coeur d’Alene in record numbers this week. On Thursday, U.S. Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist Carrie Hugo returned from an eagle cruise boat tour and reported that eagles were "all over the place" compared to just…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Bonner County commissioners may challenge a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposal to designated 375,562 acres as critical habitat for endangered woodland caribou in the southern Selkirk Mountains. The issue is on the meeting agenda for Tuesday, when the commissioners may discuss…
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION -- Good things don't always come quick and easy. Hunters and other conservationists are reminded of that this week as a deal closed to seal four years of negotiations by a partnership of conservation groups and state agencies. The project blocks up and…
WILDLIFE -- Imagine the surprise of a cable TV technician who made a service call to a New Jersey man's home and found a 550-pound bear snoozing in the dirt-floor cellar. The bear had been living there for weeks and had brought in twigs and…
SALMON FISHING -- Preliminary forecasts for salmon returns, announced this week, give anglers three good reasons to look forward to 2012: Upriver spring chinook, expected to be the fourth largest since at least 1980. Summer chinook, could be the largest since at least 1980. Sockeye,…
WINTER SPORTS -- A national travel website is advising clients that Salt Lake County is the place to go for an affordable skiing or snowboarding vacation. A frugal traveler visit a Salt Lake-area resort for $239, according to a TripIndex Ski program launched this week…
PREDATORS -- Last week, Idaho Fish and Game officials announced they will be using aerial gunning from helicopters to help reduce the number of wolves along the Idaho -Montana border in an effort to give a hurting elk herd some breathing room to recover. The…
WILDLIFE -- The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department is getting ready to tee off on elk that have been tearing up the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge golf course, about 30 miles east of Seattle. Some people are upset by the "damage hunt," which will involve a…
MARINE MAMMALS -- A record six blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, have been documented cruising off the Washington coast -- only the third sighting of the huge species in Washington waters in 50 years. Read the Seattle Times story about the whale researcher…
FISHERIES -- This fall’s bull trout spawning was 78 percent of the 10-year average in streams feeding Montana’s Kootenai River below Libby Dam, and 70 percent of the 10-year average in streams feeding Lake Koocanusa north of the dam. A decline in redd counts in…
WATER SPORTS -- Any you thought jet skis were anoying.
FISHERIES -- Combined losses of juvenile salmon and steelhead to predation by Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River estuary were about 27 million smolts this year, according to a preliminary report by to federal and Oregon State University researchers. If that number…
NEW GEAR – The UVPaqlite is worth checking out in case you have an application for a portable light source that does NOT require batteries, bulbs, electricity or chemical activation. These glow-in-the-dark ‘lights in a bag’ charge even by cloudy daylight, will illuminate 3-6 person…
FISHING -- A friend, who loves fishing and the outdoors, was asked by the company what he wanted for a retirement gift, he thought long an hard about the choice for such a momentous occasion. His decision: An acrylic painting by Spokane artist (and zoologist)…
FISHING -- It's no secret that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is more than a little concerned about the burgeoning population of northern pike in the Pend Oreille River upstream from Box Canyon Dam. The main worry is the potential impact pike could…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Stamp your mail with a note of confidence in the Endangered Species Act by purchasing the recently introduced Save Vanishing Species semipostal stamp, available at post offices. Although there's no similar tool for dedicating a few cents to this good cause when…
WINTER SPORTS -- Kids ages 5-15 are the focus of the popular Nordic Kids cross-country skiing program at Mount Spokane, but parents who need a primer don’t have to sit around. Spokane Nordic Ski Education Foundation is taking registration for Saturday skiing lessons that start…
BIRDING -- Consider it a perfect gift to yourself or someone else who’ll enjoy daily reminders of the feathered friends found in the region. The Spokane Audubon Society's Birds of Eastern Washington 2012 calendar features local birds photographed by the group's members Cost: $12 if…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
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