RESERVOIRS -- A drawdown of Lake Spokane will begin on Saturday, Oct. 1, in connection with construction for upgrading the spillway on Long Lake Dam to reduce dissolved oxygen that can harm downstream fish. The Spokane River reservoir will be gradually lowered about 3 feet,…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Biologists and wildlife officials have released 18 black-footed ferrets on the Crow Reservation in Montana. The Billings Gazette reports that a convoy of vehicles brought the endangered ferrets into the heart of Crow Country, where they were released near a prairie dog…
NATURE -- Mountain ash is lighting up the mountains for the delight of hikers and hunters this week as the shrub's leaves transform to the color of fire. After huckleberries have faded from the diet of bears in fall, the orange berries of mountain ash help...
ACCESS -- Many hunters, snowmobilers, hikers, campers and anglers have looked at free or reasonable access to vast forests held by private timber companies as a privilege they've always had and will always have. Think again. Idaho Statesman columnist Rocky Barker reports how Texas billionaires...
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Despite preventative measures and monitoring by a model range rider project, cattle on a grazing allotment northeast of Colville have been attacked by wolves. As one wildlife biologist said on my Facebook page, "Bummer. They were doing so well (staying out of...
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Two Washington wolf packs have made documented kills on livestock in northeastern Washington recently. The attacks have been attributed to the Smackout Pack on the Stevens-Pend Oreille county border area as well as the remaining wolves in the Profanity Peak Pack of...
TRAILS -- The Route of the Hiawatha rail trail over the Montana-Idaho border closed for 2016 on Sunday setting a season visitation record of 43,849 riders. The 15-mile trail on an abandoned Milwaukee Road railway has garnered worldwide attention for features seven trestles and nine...
ACCESS – An 18-year-old quadriplegic will get a new lease on his love for the outdoors with a special all-terrain wheelchair on tracks purchased by the Spokane-based Northwest Sportsman’s Club. Boone Bartlome of Kuna, Idaho, will be presented on Saturday with a battery-powered vehicle from...
FISHING -- The organic substance used for decades to kill non-sport fish so trout fisheries can be established is being condemned by a Central Washington group that's asking Gov. Jay Inslee to ban its use statewide. Rotenone is derived from the roots of tropical plants…
TRAILS -- For the second year, volunteers from various groups will be putting their muscle into building a new eight-mile loop trail at the Fishtrap Lake Recreation Area on Saturday. Others are invited to join in the National Public Lands Day project organized by the…
HUNTING – Two hunters were hospitalized after encountering grizzly bears in separate incidents over the weekend in southwestern Montana, state wildlife officials say. A bowhunter looking for elk was mauled by a bear on Sunday in the Tom Miner Basin north of Gardiner, Montana Fish,...
WILDLIFE -- Skin "warts" on deer are alarming to see, but they don't affect the table quality of the meat, experts say. "Idaho Fish and Game receives calls each year about deer with abnormal skin growths," said Kara Campbell, department regional wildlife biologist. Most of...
HABITAT -- Starting today, rock, willows and equipment will be barged to the the Clark Fork Delta where the mouth of the river meets Lake Pend Oreille to continue a multiyear, multimillion dollar project to keep vital wildlife habitat from eroding away. Barges and equipment...
FISHING -- A white sturgeon measuring 117 inches long has been confirmed as the Idaho state catch-and-release record. The fish was caught in the Snake River on Aug. 16. Four anglers are listed in making the catch: Kirk, Lawaine and Seamus Fairchild and Homer Brown.…
TRAILS -- An iconic pathway around Oregon’s tallest mountain has fully reopened to the public. Work on the Timberline Trail, a 41-mile circuit of Mount Hood, was completed last week, the Statesman Journal reports. One section of the trail was re-routed and reconnected after being…
WATERSPORTS -- Boating traffic will be restricted blow Priest Rapids Dam on upcoming designated days just as the popular fall chinook salmon fishing season is peaking in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. The River will be closed to boat traffic above the Vernita...
NATURE -- A praying mantis is a tough dude among bugs. It's born to fight, not to flee -- even a bone-crunching dog. Yesterday, when Vickie Sienknechtheard her golden retriever, Desi, growling and barking in her Spokane Valley home's dining room, she was expecting a…
HUNTING -- Field dressing a deer or elk is a no-brainer when you can easily get the entire carcass to a vehicle. Just zip, gut and drive home or to a meat processor. But when all the meat has to be packed out from the...
WILDLIFE HABITAT -- Unlike August, when a smoke plume often signals a wildfire, September into November is the season for intentionally set prescribed burns. These low-intensity controlled fires on national forests, BLM areas and state wildlife lands stimulate growth of wildlife habitat and reduce forest...
OUTDOOR BLISS -- I had the pleasure to celebrate my 34th wedding anniversary last weekend hiking with my wife, Meredith Heick, into the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. We saw elk hunters, grouse, wolf scat and were nearly run over by five spooked mule deer....
WILDLIFE -- Most savvy campers have heard about the Yosemite black bears that had become adept at opening windows and even trunks like pop-top lids to get to food left inside parked vehicles. Montana bears are becoming similarly sophisticated burglars. At a camping resort near…
HERITAGE -- Special Archaeology Days events for kids and adults are being organized Oct. 5-6 at the new Wanapum Heritage Center near Priest Rapids Dam at 29082 Highway 243, Mattawa, Wash. Displays and activities include hide processing, tule mat weaving, traditional hemp-string formation, beadwork, weaving,…
CONSERVATION -- The Owyhee River Journals author Bonnie Olin will present a free program on the remote, wild and magnificent canyonlands of southern Oregon at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, at Mountain Gear Corporate Headquarters, 6021 E. Mansfield Ave. in Spokane Valley. The program...
HUNTING – Hunters can zero-in their rifles before the general hunting seasons at the annual Sight-In Days at the Spokane Rifle Club. Club facilities along the Spokane River downstream from the Bowl and Pitcher will be open to nonmembers starting Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday,…
RESERVOIRS -- A drawdown of Lake Spokane will begin on Oct. 1 in connection with construction for upgrading the spillway on Long Lake Dam to reduce dissolved oxygen that can harm downstream fish. The Spokane River reservoir will be gradually lowered about three feet, likely…
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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