Calm after the storm; great day to be on snowshoes
WINTER SPORTS -- This is a great day to be in the mountains tracking something or somebody!
Outdoors blog archive for Jan. 1, 2014
TUESDAY, FEB. 25, 2014
Idaho sets meetings on rules for hunting, salmon fishing 1
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Sportsmen are getting a public comment workout this week in Idaho at meetings scheduled for public input on seasons for hunting and chinook salmon fishing. Hunters are encouraged to attend one of several open house meetings around the state to visit with…
Wildlife Commission to hear hunting season proposals, wolf report
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Proposed hunting season changes and the annual status report on wolf recovery in Washington will be presented to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission when it meets March 7-8 in Moses Lake. The most significant changes in hunting seasons include four new…
Owls are alive and well in the city
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- I've had quite a few comments regarding my recent column, Timing is of the essences for wildlife, including several comments about premier wildlife watching opportunities great horned owls provide right here in River City. For several years, from late December and for…
MONDAY, FEB. 24, 2014
Kootenay Pass avalanche fatality latest in spike of bad news 1
WINTER SPORTS -- Several blog posts last week as well as my Sunday Outdoors section report about recent storms, unstable snow conditions and a spike in avalanche fatalities were both prophetic and out of date. At least two more snow-goers died in Inland Northwest avalanches…
Backcountry skiers get away from it all 4
WINTER SPORTS -- Altough recent winter storms have made mountain slopes unsafe for winter travel in some areas, snow-goers who know how to pick stable terrain are having a ball. Read on for the report from Montana outdoor photographer Jaime Johnson, who filmed the short…
Beefy bivalves await razor clam diggers
SHELLFISHING -- Plenty of fat clams await diggers who turn out for the next razor clam dig, set to run Wednesday, Feb. 26, through March 3 on various Washington ocean beaches. The Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today the dig has been approved after…
Wildlife Commission chair interviewed by lawmakers
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Miranda Wecker of Naselle, who continues in her position as chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, had another confirmation hearing in Olympia with the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee. She answered questions highlighting some of her stands on commercial…
Sickly cougar incident at Stehekin prompts social media blitz
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The Wenatchee World story about a Stehekin homeowner who ended up having to shoot a sickly cougar acting aggressively on his porch has become the newspaper's most widely circulated story on social media. A Facebook post that was originally put up by…
Lessons from rafting the Grand Canyon: for groups
ADVENTURING -- My recent multi-week winter rafting-hiking adventure on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon (see story here) with a private group prompts me to share some observations to people planning similar group river trips. For example: BAG THE GROUP KITCHEN: If your trip…
Geologists lead hike through time in Palouse canyon 1
HIKING -- Geologists with the Ice Age Floods Institute are organizing a rigorous full-day hike to explore the geology of the Palouse Canyon from Lyons Ferry State Park upstream to Palouse Falls on March 15. Gene Kiver and Lloyd Stoess will lead the eight-mile hike…
Wolf baiting in Panhandle hunting proposals to be presented Thursday 11
HUNTING -- A proposal to allow hunters to use bait in luring wolves in the Idaho Panhandle is among numerous 2014 big-game season proposals geared to reviving elk populations statewide. The Idaho Fish and Game Department will hold an open house meeting to explain and…
SUNDAY, FEB. 23, 2014
Sea kayaker details journey on B.C. coast
PADDLING -- A free program on a British Columbia sea kayaking journey from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island will be presented at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, for the Spokane Canoe and Kayak Club at Mountain Gear's corporate office, 6021 E. Mansfield.…
FRIDAY, FEB. 21, 2014
$7,500 offered in Stevens County wolf poaching case 35
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- A reward of up to $7,500 is being offered for help solving the case of a gray wolf found on Feb. 9 shot to death in northern Stevens County. Wolves are protected in Washington by state endangered species laws. The Washington Department…
Has Boldt Decision eroded resolve to save wild salmon?
FISHING -- I'm not noticing much celebration of the 40th anniversary of the landmark court decision that awarded Indian tribes rights to half of the Pacific salmon returning to their traditional waters. It's still a political hot potato. Seattle Times columnist Ron Judd has written…
THURSDAY, FEB. 20, 2014
Video details killer avalanche near Ketchum
WINTER SPORTS -- The avalanche that killed a snowmobiler last weekend near Ketchum -- while a woman survived even though she'd been buried for 90 minutes -- is detailed in his video report from Sawtooth Avalanche Center. It's short, instructive and worth watching in this…
Epic snow conditions at area ski resorts
WINTER SPORTS -- Storms that have rendered the region's mountains sketchy for winter travel because of avalanche danger are leaving the controlled slopes of area ski resorts with stellar snow conditions. For example, here's the report just issued by 49 Degrees North, which will re-open…
Huge Canada avalanche prompts warnings
WINTER SPORTS -- Recent weather is creating hazards. Be careful out there. Massive avalanche in B.C. prompts warnings there and in Alberta The Canadian Avalanche Centre issued a high-hazard warning for British Columbia and Alberta after learning of a massive slide on Wednesday near Fernie,…
Another powder skier suffocates in tree well
WINTER SPORTS -- It happened last week at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana, and now another report from Wednesday of a Washington skier without a partner falling into a powder pit at the base of a tree and suffocating. CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, Wash. (AP) — The…
Would you be tough enough to sit on a nest this week?
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Today's outdoors column focuses on wildlife that don't let winter weather set back their biological clocks and instincts for procreation. Have you seen a great horned owl on a nest in February?
Boulder-White Clouds proposal to go to from Idaho to Obama
PUBLIC LANDS -- Blaine County commissioners in central Idaho near Ketchum plan to finalize a resolution supporting a central Idaho national monument by Tuesday. The Idaho Mountain Express reports that commissioners set that date so Commission Chair Larry Schoen can hand deliver the resolution backing…
Idaho's first elk preserve created in 1909 1
WILDLIFE -- About 107,000 elk roam in Idaho today, a stark contrast to a century ago when elk numbers were so low officials had to declare a moratorium on elk hunting in parts of the state. In 1909, concerned about the decline in elk, deer…
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 19, 2014
Bjornsens looked good in Spokane years before Olympics
WINTER SPORTS --They gave us a preview of their world-class talent during Langlauf on Mount Spokane. Erik Bjornsen -- and his sister Sadie -- of Washington's Methow Valley are skiing their hearts out in the nordic events at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. But…
Spokane woman appointed to state Salmon Board 1
FISHERIES -- Samantha Mace of Spokane has been appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the state Recreation and Conservation Office has announced. The board administers grants for projects that help return salmon from the brink of extinction. Mace has extensive…
13 trumpeter swans scoping open water at Turnbull Refuge 1
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- For 22 years through 2009, only one trumpeter swan reliably returned to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge each winter or spring -- whenever enough open water was exposed by ice thawing at the headquarters-area ponds. Now the legacy of Solo, the lone male…
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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