WILDLIFE -- Usually it's not earth-shaking stuff when school kids approach a legislative body with a campaign to name an official state something-or-other. But Monday's House State Affairs Committee hearing in Boise on a 14-year-old girl's request to name the Idaho giant salamander as the...
TRAPS -- A new educational video – Avoiding Wildlife Traps While Walking your Dog -- is available on Idaho Fish and Game’s website. The 9-minute video shows the variety of traps and snares dog owners may encounter while hiking or walking their pets and how...
Friday, January 23 - Sunday, January 25, is the annual Methow Valley Nordic Festival in Winthrop, Washington: a three-day weekend dedicated to celebrating Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, fat biking and winter trail running. The ski and snow conditions have been incredible this year in the Methow...
PUBLIC LANDS -- There's more room for conservation and for roaming in a famous, wilderness-fed tributary to the Clark Fork River. BLM buys 4,312 acres of land in Montana's Blackfoot Valley for $3.5M The 1,280 acres along Chamberlin Creek and 3,032 acres of Morrison Mountain…
WINTERSPORTS -- Most doctors and lawyers can save their time and skip this notice, which is aimed at the truly rich people who love jet-set traveling, heli-skiing, gear, first-class food, accommodations and pampering. Canadian Mountain Holidays, the world’s largest heli-ski operator, is celebrating its 50th anniversary...
HUNTING -- Eastern Washington's upland bird hunting seasons for partridge and quail ended at 5:15 p.m. today. That means my English setter is going to be a little less than fulfilled every day from now until the mountain grouse seasons open on Sept. 1. Even…
ENDANGERED SPECIES — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is starting a review of federally protected Canada lynx at a time when the largest population of the cats in the Lower 48 appears to be poised for a decline, according to the Associated Press. The…
WILDLIFE -- Montana wildlife officials say an apparent pneumonia outbreak has killed about 30 bighorn sheep from two herds in the Gardiner area near the border of Yellowstone National Park.
WINTERSPORTS -- Only a few spots left. Get on it, ladies. REI Spokane has set a FREE Women's Snowshoe Basics class for Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. Register here to save your seat.
FISHING -- An Idaho angler fishing the North Fork of the Clearwater River caught the big one he had to let get away. On Jan. 8, Larry Warren landed a rainbow trout downstream from Dworshak Dam that would easily be a new state record, but…
FISHING -- You catch em, you keep em according to a new rule going into effect Monday, Jan. 19, for hatchery-marked steelhead in the Tucannon River. There's also a change in whitefish rules. Here's the notice from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Action:…
Up to 24 wolves in British Columbia just north of Idaho will be shot by helicopter gunners this winter in an effort to save 18 remaining South Selkirk mountain caribou from the brink of extinction. The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources formally announced...
FISHING -- An Idaho girl has landed a national fishing distinction. Tia Wiese, 12, of Eagle, caught a yellow perch weighing 2 pounds 11.68 ounces on March 1 at Lake Cascade. Shortly afterward, the fish was confirmed as the Idaho state record for the species....
WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT -- Rugged Justice, a new six-episode Animal Planet network series on the work of Washington Fish and Wildlife police officers, will debut on TV on Sunday, Jan. 18, at 8 p.m. Filmed last fall, the show follows wildlife officers as they patrol “unforgiving mountain...
WILDLIFE -- The state may acquire a 94-acre parcel in the Palouse grasslands to help assure mule deer, pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse and other wildlife have a corridor connecting with other protected habitats in Whitman County. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking public…
WINTERSPORTS -- The Western Nordic Round, featuring races on cross-country skis plus snowshoeing events, is set for Jan. 24 at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, sponsored by the Sandpoint Nordic Club. Events will start at 9 a.m. The snowshoeing events of 5k and 10k are for…
A North Idaho man who said he shot a wolf that appeared to be crouched down as if to attack his three dogs on the southern end of Rathdrum Mountain has been cited for possessing an untagged wolf. The Coeur d’Alene Press reports in a…
PARKS -- The Friends of Mt. Spokane State Park Board of Directors is looking for new members. The panel of up to 15 members serves as a link between the park manager and park visitors, says Cris Currie, board president. “It provides management recommendations to…
HUNTING -- Here in the West, hunters still scratch their heads to associate elk with anyplace west of the Rockies. But times have changed -- Kentucky is stepping up to help jump-start an elk herd in Wisconsin. Since Kentucky’s elk herd began with seven elk...
PREDATORS -- A North Idaho man hiking with his dogs recently on Rathdrum Mountain shot and killed a gray wolf as it crouched at close range. See the story
FISHING -- New sportfishing rules have been adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission for the mainstem Columbia River, its tributaries and lakes within the basin. Meeting last weekend in Tumwater the commission approved 31 rules that cover fishing seasons, daily catch limits and…
FLY FISHING – Montana fly fishing expert Kelly Galloup will present a free program on fishing streamer patterns, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, St. Francis School, 1104 W. Heroy, sponsored by the Spokane Fly Fishers. Galloup, owner of the Slide Inn and fly shop on...
RIVERS -- A conservation group has bought a second large ranch along the John Day River in Central Oregon that could eventually provide public access to a remote, scenic part of the state, according to the Associated Press. The Western Rivers Conservancy bought the Murtha…
WILDLIFE -- Helicopters soon will be flying over the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe river drainages to help wildlife biologists get started on a major multi-year elk research project. Idaho Fish and Game Department researchers will be working with a private helicopter contractor starting around…
HUNTING -- Idaho’s bighorn sheep auction tag sold for $100,000 to an online bidder at the national Wild Sheep Foundation Sheep Show in Reno Saturday night -- the fifth-highest winning bid since the program started in 1988. This permit is valid for use in all...
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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