WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The main attraction is already arriving for the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival, which is set for March 18-20 with a series of programs, field trips and banquets based out of Othello, Washington. Birder Becky Lyle of Ritzville visted the Scooteney Reservoir area…
OUTDOOR OPTIONS -- March is a challenging month for recreational decisions. Go high for snow or go to the Eastern Washington scablands for wildflowers. You can't go wrong. Just go.
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- In a move that could pave way for limited hunting, grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region are being recommended for delisting from Endangered Species Act protections. Federal wildlife officials say this marks a major milestone in the recovery effort for Yellowstone-area grizzly...
PUBLIC LANDS -- Comments on the latest Idaho lawmaking effort to take control of federal lands were mostly against the measure this week, but committee members approved it anyway -- because they have an agenda. S-R Boise reporter Betsy Russell followed up on a Lewiston…
NATURE -- An important fundraiser is set for Saturday to boost the wildly popular youth outdoor education program at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. As I pointed out in my Sunday story, about 160 schools from around the region take advantage of the free science and…
FISHING -- As detailed in my column last week, the Washington Fish and Wildlife commission is scheduled on Friday to consider a petition that would raise the daily catch limit for hatchery marked rainbow trout to 10. The catch would be that wild redband trout...
FISHING – Starting Thursday, March 3, anglers can fish for bass, walleye and channel catfish without daily catch or size limits from the mouth of the Columbia River 545 miles upstream to Chief Joseph Dam. The emergency rule approved by the Washington Department of Fish…
FISHING – Another good return of hatchery chinook salmon to the Columbia River is forecast this year, but expected low returns of coho could put a damper on salmon fisheries in the river, along the coast and in Puget Sound. Forecasts for chinook, coho, sockeye...
FISHING -- Rumors have been flying online this week that the state is planning to use gillnets to catch northern pike in Lake Spokane. The rumors are false, officials say. Avista is in the planning stages with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and…
FISHING – A six-week series of free localized fishing seminars begins this week at Mark's Marine in Hayden. All of the seminars are set for Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., at 14355 N. Government Way. The series will kick off Thursday, March 3, with an overview…
WILDERNESS -- Hecla Mining Company has scheduled three town hall meetings to discuss its proposed mine that would drill for silver and copper deposits under the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness in Northwest Montana. The meetings to update communities on the Rock Creek Mine project will be...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- People seem to love the wild turkeys that are multiplying in some neighborhoods around Spokane, or they hate them. Often these people of polarized views live on the same block. My Sunday Outdoors story outlined the challenges, as well as why the…
FISHING -- A bill to authorized a Washington steelhead license plate to raise money for steelhead management programs appears to be stalled in a committee. Anglers may want to step up and chime in with support. Legislative research indicated the plate could appeal to enough…
WINTERSPORTS -- Every group has its share of dipsticks who cast a bad light. In this case it's one snow machiner who snubs a sign and common sense to ride up a snowdrift and over the recently restored roof of an historic structure at Mount Spokane...
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Oregon wildlife officials say the state's wolf population increased at least 36 percent through 2015 to a minimum of 110 wolves. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife released its annual 2015 Wolf Report on Monday after completing late-winter surveys to establish…
FISHING -- Lake Cascade has produced another Idaho state-record yellow perch, this one weighing 2 pounds, 15.36 ounces to top the previous of 2 pounds, 11.68 ounces also caught in the reservoir north of Boise. The lunker perch --15 5/8 inches long with a girth...
PUBLIC LANDS -- Apparently feeling alone in their brazen bid to take control of federal public land, Utah legislators are courting any greedy Idaho lawmakers who will listen up. Utah lawmakers told Idaho lawmakers at an informational meeting Monday that Idaho is among the states...
RIVERS -- Spokane River advocates have petitioned the Washington Department of Ecology to increase its minimum summertime flows for the benefit of river recreation and fisheries. “We are asking Washington state to ‘go with the flow,’ amend its inadequate flow rule, and protect the people’s…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Wildlife biologists have been in the air in northeastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle recently trying to keep track of of the last remaining caribou in the lower 48 states. The woodland caribou are the country's most imperiled wildlife species. The band...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Creating a bird-friendly backyard attracts a good crowd to your neighborhood.
POACHING -- A Dayton man has been banned from Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake and lost his hunting privileges for three years for hunting violations and illegally collecting bighorn sheep horns. The Missoulian reports that Michael Filipek pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing bighorn sheep…
THREATENED SPECIES -- Greater sage-grouse and western gray squirrels will remain on the state’s threatened species list and snowy plovers and northern spotted owls on the state’s endangered species list, according to a vote by the the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. The commission took...
FLORA -- The scablands may look brown from a distance at the end of February, but the buttercups that bloom with the first winter hint of sunshine and warmer temps shout "Spring" to walkers who get out and explore. Delightful buttercup images from the past…
WILDLIFE -– Blaine County is outlawing landscaping plants that are poisonous to wild and domestic animals. Starting March 2, it will be illegal to buy, sell or own exotic yew plants, which earlier this winter were blamed for the death of more than 20 elk,...
THREATENED SPECIES – Environmental groups are in court to force the Obama administration to impose more restrictions on oil and gas drilling, grazing and other activities blamed for the decline of greater sage grouse across the American West. A sweeping sage grouse conservation effort that...
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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