WINTERSPORTS -- Snow is accumulating in the region, prompting Silver Mountain Resort at Kellogg, Idaho, to announce that it will open for snow tubing and scenic gondola rides on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Gondola hours will be 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Snow tubing sessions...
WINTERSPORTS -- A popular snowmobile warming hut in the Coeur d'Alene River area reportedly has burned down for the second time in four years. Although there's been no official report yet by the Idaho Pandhandle National Forests, Kootenai County snowmobilers are buzzing with the news...
INVASIVE SPECIES -- An aquatic invasive species may have moved into the Missouri River, according to preliminary testing in Montana. The Daily Inter Lake reports that additional lab work is needed to confirm the detection, but preliminary results from a water sample taken south of…
TRAPPING -- Trapping wolves is tricky business, especially when a black bear is captured by the steel jaws of a leg-hold trap. Bears are required to be released. Here's a bit of the drama involved with tranquilizing and releasing a big bruin, as told by...
FISHING -- Four area trout fishing lakes open Friday for a winter season that runs through March. Prospects are good at Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes west of Spokane. But anglers can expect varied success at the two lakes that open in Stevens…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Snowshoe hares have camouflage that adapts to the seasons, from brownish gray half of the year to white for the winter months. This works out great -- except for those awkward periods when the season changes don't cooperate. This hare photographed by...
FISHING -- Good fishing for rainbow trout will greet anglers at two winter fishing lakes poise to open Friday, according to fisheries biologists who sampled the lakes west of Spokane this week. Hog Canyon and Fourth of July lakes, which traditionally had opened on Dec....
HUNTING -- The trial involving the December 2015 shooting of a trophy bull elk known in the Ellensburg area as 'Bullwinkle' has been postponed again. Kittitas County District Court Judge Jim Hurson decided at a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 3 to join the trials of...
WILDLIFE – A Wyoming hunter has killed a buck mule deer in the Shoshone National Forest that tested positive for a fatal neurological disorder. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports this is the third hunting area near Yellowstone National Park in which chronic wasting...
HUNTING -- Two Idaho Panhandle land deals totaling 11,000 for the benefit of fish, wildlife and public access have been approved by by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The purchase of 1,012 acres of private land near Black Lake, if completed, would add to...
FISHING -- After three days of fishing, the lead the board as changed quite a bit in the 2016 Lake Pend Oreille Fall Fishing Derby, especially in the rainbow trout division. The top fish in the competition so far is a 19-pound, 35-inch long rainbow...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The annual congregation of bald eagles at Lake Coeur d'Alene has begun as the big birds home in on the feast of spawning kokanee in the northeast area of the North Idaho lake. Carrie Hugo, U.S. Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist,…
OUTDOOR TRAVEL -- With avalanche risk growing over the weekend, the North Cascades Highway portion of State Route 20 west of Mazama, Washington, was closed today for the winter season. The highway over Washington Pass and into North Cascades National Park had been temporarily closed…
ENVIRONMENT -- Patagonia shops and the outdoor clothing company's website will be open for business on Black Friday with a pledge announced today to donate all sales to environmental causes. This is an interesting twist on various marketing efforts to court consumer buzz on what's...
HUNTING -- A resident elk hunter was mauled Sunday morning by a female grizzly after surprising the sow and her two cubs on the Rocky Mountain Front of northwestern Montana. The man was with a group hunting private land on the south fork of Willow…
PARKS – Skywatchers are planning ahead to see the total solar eclipse next summer. Oregon reports that ALL of the state park system's available campsites in the main eclipse pathway have been booked for the night of the celestial event. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department...
FISHERIES -- Sam Mace from Save Our Wild Salmon will speak on discussions about removing four dams on the lower Snake River and the implications for salmon, communities, orcas and tribes during an open "bring-your-lunch" program at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 23, at The Community…
PUBLIC LANDS -- If you're inclined to back well-paid federal land takeover activists such as Ken Ivory be prepared for eventual changes in the landscape of public lands. Is this a sign of the times?
FISHING -- After two days of fishing, a 17-pound rainbow and a 19-pound mackinaw lead the board in the 2016 Lake Pend Oreille Fall Fishing Derby. But there's a lot of fishing still to be done. The annual event sponsored by the Lake Pend Oreille…
INVASIVE SPECIES -- Nobody wants to be regulated, or required to stop at a boat inspection station. But the risks and consequences of bringing invasive species into Northwest waterways are extreme. If you've been out of state with your boat, get it inspected and make...
OUTDOOR FILMS -- The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour lineup of films starting tonight in Spokane was decided this afternoon. Of the 28 festival films authorized so far for the 2016-2017 tour, 21 will be screen in Spokane during the three-day run at the...
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- An ongoing dispute over Idaho Legislature tinkering with hunting-related issues has prompted 14 former Idaho Fish and Game commissioners to send a letter today to Idaho legislative leaders asking that Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, be replaced as chairman of the Senate Resources…
ENDANGERED SPECIES – Wildlife officials have moved one step closer to removing the Yellowstone grizzly population from the Endangered Species Act by approving a future conservation strategy. The Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee voted to approve the conservation strategy, sending it…
POACHING -- A sportmen's group and a conservation group are offering $4,000 in rewards for information that helps convict the perpetrators of a shooting slaughter that killed at least five cow elk and perhaps wounded more near Ellensburg on Nov. 6. Here's a...
RIVERS -- More than 200 people turned out in Spokane at the Davenport Hotel on Monday for an open house on Columbia-Snake River dam operations, as reported here by S-R reporter Becky Kramer. Federal agencies are gathering public comments as they prepare a new environmental…
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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