URBAN WILDLIFE -- Feeding deer could soon be against the law in Bellingham, as the animals are invading a local neighborhood at an out-of-control rate. KOMO-TV reports dozens of deer and a growing number of several others are frequently being spotted around the South Hill…
PARKS -- A fund has been launched toward eventually restoring Sperry Chalet, which burned Aug. 31 in the Sprague Fire that's raised havoc in Glacier National Park. The roof and woodwork inside and out of the main building have burned away, but the walls of...
WINTERSPORTS -- Skiers and snowshowers shouldn't get too excited, but Eastern Washington hunters at least ought to be thrilled to see moisture in the form of snow at Sherman Pass this morning. At elevation 5,575 feet, Sherman Pass is the highest pass in Washington that's...
WILDFIRES -- A sigh of relief came from fire fighters through the cool damp air on Monday. The rain enabled agencies responsible for managing lands and providing wildland fire protection in the Coeur d’Alene Dispatch area to lift fire restrictions for the Idaho Panhandle. The...
CONSERVATION -- Bob Hautman, an artist from Delano, Minn., has won the 2017 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest with an acrylic painting of mallards. It's Hartman's third win in the competitive annual contest for art that graces the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp.…
CONSERVATION -- The Inland Northwest Land Conservancy is celebrating its 26th year of preserving the region's water quality and the open values of working farms and forests with a fundraising banquet on Friday, Sept. 22. So far, the regional land trust has helped landowners preserve…
FISHING -- With the help of a last-minute 6-pounder and a full-speed run to beat the clock back to the weigh-in station, 29-year-old Bradon Palaniuk of Hayden, Idaho, has become the 2017 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year. The tense action came Saturday at the…
PUBLIC LANDS – Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending that four large national monuments in the West be reduced in size, potentially opening up hundreds of thousand or even millions of acres of land revered for natural beauty and historical significance to mining, logging and...
ENVIRONMENT -- A month after a train derailment spilled up to 30 car loads of coal down the bank of the Clark Fork River, the coal is still there settling down into the water, and it's smoldering. Photos snapped by residents of the Heron, Montana, area on...
FISHING -- Local fly fishing hero Len Zickler introduced me to his grandson, David, along the Spokane River when I did the interview for my outdoors column about the Spokane angler's leadership role with Fly Fishers International. The kid, 8, clarified Zickler's commitment to the…
WILDFIRES -- Faced with a red-flag wind warning, the road from Mazama to Harts Pass and a popular trailhead for the Pasayten Wilderness was closed today -- on the eve of Washington's high-mountain buck deer hunting season -- because of the Diamond Creek Fire. Apparently…
WILDFIRES -- Faced with a red-flag wind warning, the road from Mazama to Harts Pass and a popular trailhead for the Pasayten Wilderness was closed today -- on the eve of Washington's high-mountain buck deer hunting season -- because of the Diamond Creek Fire. Apparently…
WILDLIFE – A grizzly bear that had been raiding backcountry campsites and chasing campers in Yellowstone National Park since last year has been captured and killed, the Associated Press reports. The National Park Service says biologists killed the immature, male grizzly on Sept. 8 after…
PUBLIC LANDS – A public land hunter in Idaho recently collected a $500 reward from Backcountry Hunters & Anglers after reporting illegal use of an off-road vehicle in the Third Fork drainage on the Emmett Ranger District of the Boise National Forest. As a result…
TRAILS -- Some South Hill bluff trails will be temporarily closed off and on during the next two months as Avista uses vehicles and occasionally a helicopter to replace 2.7 miles of transmission line through the area. Work has started this week and will likely...
HUNTING -- The National Park Service plans to thin a herd of bison in the Grand Canyon through roundups and by seeking volunteers who are physically fit and proficient with a gun to kill the animals that increasingly are damaging park resources, the Associated Press…
WILDLIFE HABITAT -- While wildfires can be devastating in some cases, a lightning strike in the Snow Peak Wildlife Management area of Unit 9 on the Idaho Panhandle fits the prescription for rejuvenating big-game habitat. "The Buck Fire had burned over 1,200 acres in the...
FISHING -- Growing fishing pressure and congestion on Western Montana's Bitterroot River has prompted the state to propose limits on outfitters in the river's upper reaches. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is seeking comment on proposed administrative rules and an associated draft environmental assessment for…
HUNTING -- To minimize the impacts of large dog training operations on nesting upland gamebirds and waterfowl, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing new requirements for gun dog handlers. Meetings on the proposal will be held in October in all regions of the state.…
HIKING -- A grizzly bear attacked a woman in southwest Montana on Saturday but was driven off by bear spray, the Associated Press reports. It was the second grizzly attack in the region in a week. Andrea Jones of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks…
WILDILFE -- Efforts by wildlife managers and sportsmen to restore elk in southwestern Washington have been successful enough to raise concerns of landowners who say enough is enough. The Washington Farm Bureau proposes capping the number of elk in two northwest Washington valleys, where farmers…
DAMS -- A $16 million project to remove century-old Mill Pond Dam and restore Sullivan Creek downstream from Sullivan Lake is slowly getting underway this month. Seattle City Light has been preparing for the removal of the small dam in Pend Oreille County for years.…
FISHING -- Worries that spring flooding would ruin this season's fishing at stocked trout lakes in the Spokane region never panned out, at least not at Williams Lake. Trout-catching has been "amazing" this year, reports Dusty at Klink's Resort. In a report to Randy Osborne,…
WILDLIFE -- The state protective status of yellow-billed cuckoos, loggerhead sea turtles, fishers and five whale species was set by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission Friday and Saturday in Port Angeles. Yellow-billed cuckoo was listed as an endangered species in Washington. In 2014, the…
FISHING -- Columbia River anglers fishing for fall chinook in the Hanford Reach upstream from the Tri Cities have had lots of elbow room and low rates of success so far this season. But numbers from last week indicate the tide is changing. "Fishing continues...
