PARKS -- Glacier National Park's historic Sperry Chalet was lost to the Sprage Fire today at about 6 p.m., park officials report. The main chalet building burned despite the efforts of a "highly skilled group of firefighters" staged at the remote chalet for the past...
BICYCLING -- Today is the last chance to preregister for the 10th annual SpokeFest -- Spokane's big Sept. 10 bicycle touring event -- and be elligible for the last of the weekly prize drawings. For 10 weeks, SpokeFest organizers have been giving away one item…
TRAILS -- The popular Mineral Ridge Trail overlooking Lake Coeur d'Alene's Wolf Lodge Bay and recreation area will be closed to all use on Wednesday, Sept. 6 as crews seal coat the parking area, U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials say....
NATURE -- When a Reader Outdoor Photo Gallery image posted this week raised a question of species identification, I solicited the expertise of "private eyes" in the regional birding community. The sweet photo above was snapped Sunday at Arbor Crest Winery by Courtney Litwin, but...
PADDLING -- Canoeing, kayaking and camping through Z Canyon on the Pend Oreille River downstream from Metaline Falls has been tough to pull off since July 10 when Seattle City Light closed the Boundary Dam forebay campground and boat launch for a major reconstruction project.…
RIVERS – Wild fish and conservation groups calling for removal of Snake River Dams are organizing the third annual Free the Snake Flotilla on Sept. 8-9 based out of Chief Timothy State Park at Clarkston, Washington. Sam Mace of Save our Wild Salmon said she...
WINTERSPORTS -- Snowmobiler who want to ride in Yellowstone National Park next winter without a guide can enter a lottery starting Friday for a limited number of permits. The park requires all non-commercially guided snowmobile groups that enter the park to have a permit. Sledders...
HUNTING -- The 2017 mourning dove hunting seasons open in Idaho and Eastern Washington on Friday, but hunters can warm up on a similar bird with the blessings of wildlife biologists. The Eurasian collared-dove is a fast-spreading exotic species that's unprotected in Washington and Idaho...
PUBLIC LANDS -- The Emerald Creek Garnet Area on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests near Clarkia won't be open for the Labor Day holiday weekend. The gem-gathering site will close for the season today, five days ahead of the scheduled Sept. 4 closure date, forest...
FISHING -- Anglers who catch chinook salmon on the upper Columbia River with a hole punched in the tail fin must release them, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The fish, which include wild and hatchery fall chinook, have been sedated with…
WILDLIFE -- For the first time in Washington, wildlife managers have found in deer a viral infection known as Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reports. Officials confirmed AHD, which can be deadly to deer, in a herd east of Goldendale…
WILDFIRES – A 50th anniversary public commemoration of the Sundance fire, which killed two firefighters in North Idaho, is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2, at a U.S. Forest Service bridge 13 miles up the Pack River Road from US 95 north of…
HUNTING -- Relief is in sight for archers and dove hunters who have been trying to sign up on Washington's online "hunt by reservation" system, which has been down for weeks. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say the Hunt by Reservation system will…
STEWARDSHIP -- Come alone, with your family or with a group and join hundreds of people for the fun and satisfaction of sprucing up the river that runs through our city and our lives. "The Annual Spokane River Clean-Up is a great chance give back...
FISHING -- Extremely low returns of steelhead this season have prompted Washington to restrict steelhead fishing to catch-and-release on the main Snake River this season. In some Snake tributaries, such as the Grande Ronde, the emergency rules will allow a daily limit of one adipose...
FISHING -- Washington allows more net-pen salmon farming than any other state. The huge failure of a net pen with more than 300,000 Atlantic salmon in waters esteemed for Pacific salmon is causing the state to rethink the status of fish farms. Here's an update...
WILDLIFE -- An insidious pest is killing about 70 percent of moose calves across Maine and New Hampshire, The Boston Globe reports, and their deadly work is being aided by warming temperatures and shorter winters that allow the parasites to survive longer, scientists believe. "They...
PUBLIC LANDS – The U.S. Forest Service has issued a draft decision consenting to exploratory drilling in the Green River valley, just outside the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. A 45-day objection periods started on Tuesday. Permits would allow a Canadian mining company, Ascot…
HIKING -- My dog, Ranger, and I followed Idaho Panhandle National Forest Trail 563 on Saturday with a group led by the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness up to the abandoned lookout site of East Fork Peak. The route up the East Fork of...
OUTLAWS -- The battle against aerial harassment of wildlife continues as Grand Teton National Park rangers investigate the illegal use of a drone that buzzed a grizzly bear and her two cubs in the northwest Wyoming park on Wednesday. Park spokeswoman Denise Germann tells the…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Lethal action is being taken on another wolf pack associated with livestock attacks in northeastern Washington, the state Fish and Wildlife Department announced this afternoon. Wolves in the Sherman Pack have repeatedly preyed on livestock in Ferry County during the past two...
PREDATORS -- Use of bait for hunting wolves has been rejected by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission in a 7-0 vote today. The controversial practice, which isn't allowed in any other states, has been debated through much of the summer. See a report on…
TRAILS -- Trail 55 to Snow Peak in the St. Joe Ranger District has been reopened today as the Idaho Panhandle National Forests reduce the closure area for the Buck Fire. Portions of Forest Service Roads 201 and Trail 100 (from its intersection with Trail...
CONSERVATION -- Cecil Andrus, Idaho’s longest-serving governor, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Democrat, hunter, angler and champion of wilderness and the Idaho outdoors, died late Thursday after a battle with cancer, the night before his 86th birthday. “This is one of those times when...
WATERSPORTS -- Boundary County has added a measure of safety for people who forget to bring their life jackets to a popular Kootenai River watersports area. Idaho's 101st life jacket loaner station recently was installed with the help of the Sheriff's Department at the Kootenai…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.