FREE FLIGHT -- Meet the men and women who are re-writing the definition of "hang time" in a collection of films coming to Spokane to celebrate man's lofty dreams to soar with the eagles. The Free Flight Film Festival will screen on Feb. 15 with...
WINTERSPORTS -- Get a taste for backcountry skiing in a free program sponsored by the Spokane Mountaineers at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at Mountain Gear Headquarters, 6021 E Mansfield in Spokane Valley. Club members will present "Backcountry skiing in and beyond the Inland…
HUNTING -- Despite reservations about disturbing big game on winter ranges, Montana is taking a bold step from protocol in an effort to balance elk numbers with landowner tolerance. Montana wildlife board OKs shoulder season elk hunts After a popular pilot project that killed more…
OUTDOOR RELATIONSHIPS -- Some 35 years ago, I got a wild hair to propose marriage to my sweetie, the best decision of my life. As a bonus, the adventure of a week-long backpacking trip through Grand Canyon National Park sealed the deal and made our...
HIKING -- The trail to the top of Scotchman Peak near Clark Fork, Idaho, has been reopened after being closed four months ago because of aggressive mountain goats. It will be up to hikers to keep the trail open by following proper wildlife ettiquette. Here's...
PUBLIC LANDS -- While the U.S. Forest Service has given the go ahead for mining that would drill under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality says today that more testing and assurances are required to prevent impacts to the pristine lakes…
HUNTING -- Only a small proportion of hunters gets the chance to harvest a record-book animal. But all of us get the urge to know where our personal-best deer, elk and other critters rank in the big picture. And sometimes people are surprised. Big-game trophy…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Utah takes yet another baby step toward giving the finger to federal land management. Utah legislator drafts bill to prepare for state management of federal lands Rep. Mike Noel's "Utah Public Land Management Act," HB276, would put in place the infrastructure needed…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gobblers pecking at their ankles can keep mail carriers from doing their jobs. This U.S. Postal Service carrier in Falmouth, Mass., reportedly is fowled daily on his route by a male gang of hormone-charged gobblers.…
HUNTING -- The 2016 Hunting Film Tour is coming to the region this month with 7 p.m. showings: Feb. 19 in Coeur d'Alene at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. Feb. 20 in Sandpoint at the Panida Theatre. Feb. 22 in Spokane at the Magic Lantern.…
BIRDING -- A $5,000 citation has been issued to a tribal member for the January killing a northern hawk owl that had been attracting scores of birders to a corner of the Colville Indian Reservation. “I am pleased that our office was able to conclude…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Some Idaho lawmakers are bent on joining Utah in devoting more time and money to taking control over federal public lands through the front door or back door. Idaho bill gives counties ability to declare federal, state lands a 'nuisance'Using legislation in...
FISHING -- Yesterday at this time, with ice still on puddles in the shade of the sage, a hatch of midges and mayflies briefly occurred on Rocky Ford Creek north of Moses Lake. Most of the anglers I saw were rigged up with nymph or...
FISHING -- Despite drought conditions in 2015, fall chinook returning to the Snake River set a record for spawning beds for the third straight year, according to new data released by the Nez Perce Tribe The data shows a record 9,345 redds, or gravel nests,…
PREDATORS -- Although Idaho continues to exceed all gray wolf recovery goals, some environmental groups still drum up national outrage when wolves are killed for management plans aimed at maintaining stable big-game populations. It's a strange dynamic. A viable elk herd is a good thing…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The 2001 documentary Winged Migration, drew public attention to birds in a new way by attaching cameras to big birds in flight and filming them as if we were soaring right alongside the flock. The Messenger does for songbirds what Winged Migration...
CLUBS – Outdoors-related free programs of note this week include: Birding the Pribilofs – program by Kris Buchler on exploring a remote nesting seabird and Asian vagrant birding hot spot in the Bering Sea, for Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society, 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Lutheran…
WINTERSPORTS -- Long before the kickoff of the football game people have been talking about, the Women’s Souper Bowl X at Mount Spokane was a whopping success today. The sky was blue, nordic skiing and snowshoeing trails groomed and the mountain was sparkling in windless…
INVASIVES -- Even though I've already written about dogs being used for a variety of useful purposes, such as for search and rescue, for hunting and even for sniffing out wolf poop for research and management, it's clear we're far from tapping all the possible...
CAMPING -- The Forest Service has started seeking applicants for summer-season campground hosts -- a great gig for people looking for a free spot to park their RV -- especially if they like people. Here's the first notice I've seen for this region. The Nez…
HUNTING -- Shifting tides in public opinion have prompted the Idaho Fish and Game Commission to postpone a decision on putting up more big-game tags for auction to raise money for wildlife management. Idaho Fish and Game commissioners on today tabled a proposal to offer...
WATER SOURCES -- Snow is piling up in the mountains, and last year's big early thaw that ravaged the snowpack for water needed by fish, boaters and other uses isn't in the forecast -- so far. See the second photo to remember how grimly low…
WILDLIFE HABITAT -- An agreement between an elk conservation group, the state and a land developer has permanently protected and opened access to 297 acres of riparian habitat in southwest Washington at the foot of Mount St. Helens. The property includes the northern shoreline of...
PUBLIC LANDS -- Well, the message in the photo above is one way to look at wilderness. But I suspect this billboard may not tell the whole story.
OUTCATCH – Our future would be brighter if a 401(k) had stock, bond or fund options as sound as the annual Beginners Fly Fishing School presented by the Spokane Fly Fishers. There is perhaps no surer investment in meeting lifelong needs for happiness and recreational…
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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