WILDLIFE -- I'm hearing various reports from observant eclipse watchers who noticed changes in critter behavior during the event Monday morning. "Ducks in the nearby pond stopped dabbling, swallows began feeding again, then in the blink of an eye a strange other-worldly dim white light...
Slackliner Alex Mason of the San Francisco Bay area, walked through totality today with nothing but a ribbon between him and the rocks far below in the brief eclipse of darkness in Wyoming. According to the Red Bull Content Pool, Mason rigged a line through...
PUBLIC LANDS -- An Alabama native who's worked on or for national forests since he was 18 has been named Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the new chief is Tony Tooke, who's currently the Regional Forester...
FISHING –Not that he’s complaining, but Dick Thiel of Spokane was a little surprised to photograph a kokanee caught in Rock Lake on Aug. 13. The lake has bass, rainbows, brown trout and even surplus steelhead stocked a few years ago. But nature did a...
PUBLIC LANDS -- A tip from the public could help Washington Fish and Wildlife police make a case in the endless battle against people who trash boat launches and other public lands. A suspect connected with littering at the Liberty Lake boat launch is pictured...
FISHING -- Despite a tribal gillnetting effort and a sportfishing bounty, non-native northern pike continue their downstream invasion of the Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt. Northern pike have been confirmed this season as far downstream as Hunters, according to a July 12 report to the…
FISHERIES -- Coinciding with Monday's solar eclipse, Columbia River Indian-caught salmon will be available for sale along the lower river as Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes pull in nets during the first significant commercial opening of the fall season. The chinook will…
WILDERNESS -- An expert in tailings dame engineering will discuss issues related to the Rock Creek Mine proposed along the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in a free public program hosted by the Rock Creek Alliance at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 at Sandpoint Community Hall, 204...
FOREST FIRES -- The wicked-fast run of the Sundance and Trapper Peak fires and the loss of two firefighters will be commemorated in 50th anniversary observations starting next week at several North Idaho communities. Boundary County, Priest Lake and Bonner County Museums are scheduling events...
FISHING -- The region's steelhead anglers are going to have to take it on the chin this season. An extremely small number of steelhead returning to Idaho so far -- see chart above -- has prompted Idaho Fish and Game officials to reduce the bag…
FISHING -- The bad news for steelheaders keeps getting, as they say, worser and worser. "An unprecedented low summer steelhead run on the Columbia River took a dramatic turn downward Monday when biologists from Oregon and Washington said the front part of the two-phase run…
SKY WATCHING -- An educational twist to viewing the Aug. 1 solar eclipse is being organized for two sites in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area as well as the Kettle Falls library. This solar eclipse, which last occurred in 1918, will cross North America...
HIKING -- A wildfire in the St. Joe River District is restricting public access to some popular hiking destinations including Snow Peak and the Mallard-Larkins Pioneer area. The Idaho Panhandle National Forests is temporarily closing portions of Forest Service Roads #201 and 363, Trails #13,...
SKY WATCHING -- It may not be in the path of totality, but Schweitzer Mountain Resort above is making a good offer for viewing the total eclipse up on the ridge above Sandpoint, Idaho, on Aug. 21. ."The resort will open the Great Escape Quad...
HUNTING -- A free clinic on the basics of hunting wild turkeys will be presented by a Washington Fish and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist on Sept. 13 limited to the first 20 people who sign up. Joey McCanna, a veteran hunter, will conduct the three-hour...
PARKS – Buses, quotas or traffic jams -- those may be the choices for seeing Yellowstone National Park in the future. Here's the story from the Associated Press: Sometime within the next four to six years, Yellowstone National Park is expected to reach its capacity…
FISHING – An Arizona angler fishing out of Westport has established the sport fish record for the largest blue shark caught in Washington waters, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed. Zachary Jackson, from Show Low, Arizona, caught the 27.63-pound blue shark on…
FISHING – Washington is opening the Snake River to harvest for fall chinook salmon starting Aug. 18-Oct. 31, the Fish and Wildlife Department has announced. Here are details from WDFW: Locations: The Snake River from the mouth (Burbank-to-Pasco railroad bridge at Snake River mile 1.25)…
FISHING -- Sensing a friendly ear in the White House, farming groups are bypassing the issue of whether Snake River dams should be breached in order to take a lethal stab at the jugular -- to hell with the salmon. A group that represents farmers…
HUNTING -- An attractive second shot at a multiple season deer or elk tag is coming up next week, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officials say. Sportsmen who applied for Washington multiple season hunting permits and were either drawn and did not purchase a permit…
HUNTING -- If your kid is itching to take a shot at hunting, it's time to scout out the opportunities. An impressive list of free hunting clinics organized by certified volunteers with the state Hunter Education Program starts this weekend and runs through September in…
SHOOTING -- Target shooting has been closed on ranges in the Asotin Creek and Wooten wildlife areas of southeastern Washington after fire broke out in extremely dry conditions on Wednesday, state Fish and Wildlife Department officials say. Bob Dice, Blue Mountains Wildlife Area Complex manager…
FISH and WILDLIFE -- The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will be soon be back to full strength with the pending addition of a new member and reappointment of another to fill a recent departure. Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman reports that Donald McIsaac, a...
ADVENTURE -- Allison Roskelley is expanding her range of joy and fulfillment through misery. After becoming one of three paddlers to ride stand-up paddleboards the 112-mile length of the Spokane River, Roskelley reflected on the self-improvement concept. For background, she was already a fitness buff...
FISHING -- California sea lions feeding below Willamette Falls could push the river's winter steelhead to the brink of extinction, Oregon officials said Monday. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife highlighted the threat in a population feasibility study, reports Oregonian/OregonLive. Without federal intervention, they...
