Michael Wright

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Sports >  Outdoors

Lookout improvement: Forest Service making progress on popular Little Guard Lookout

UPDATED: Sat., Aug. 23, 2025

PRICHARD, Idaho – The roof on the Little Guard Lookout leaked. The windows wouldn’t open. The outriggers, which hold up the heavy wooden shutters all summer, were splintering.

Sports >  Outdoors

‘Field to Feast,’ a film project with Spokane roots that takes chefs into the woods, launches first episode

Fri., Aug. 15, 2025

Chefs know what to do with meat once it arrives in the kitchen. They don’t always know how to get it there.

Sports >  Outdoors

Central casting: Local guide takes people fishing in Spokane’s Riverfront Park

UPDATED: Fri., Aug. 15, 2025

It was about 5:30 p.m. on a Friday in Riverfront Park. A food truck served diners on the orange bridge over the Spokane River. People cruised by on bikes and scooters. The cowboy boots and denim crowd had started filling up the Spokane Pavilion for a country concert.

Sports >  Outdoors

Governor orders Fish and Wildlife Commission investigation; group calls for removal of WDFW director

UPDATED: Fri., Aug. 15, 2025

An investigation has been ordered into Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission and now environmentalists want the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s director gone.

Sports >  Outdoors

Anderson, Lehmkuhl secure leadership roles on Fish and Wildlife Commission

UPDATED: Fri., Aug. 15, 2025

A new leadership regime is in place for the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Sports >  Outdoors

Fall chinook salmon season to open on Snake River

UPDATED: Fri., Aug. 15, 2025

Fall chinook salmon fishing is set to open on parts of the Snake River later this month and to expand in September.

Sports >  Outdoors

Surplus multi-season elk, deer tags available next week

Thu., Aug. 14, 2025

Hunters will have a shot at additional multiseason elk and deer tags starting next week.

Sports >  Outdoors

WA wildlife commission to name new leaders next week

UPDATED: Sat., Aug. 9, 2025

Washington’s top wildlife panel will choose new leadership when it meets next week.

Sports >  Outdoors

Judge orders feds to reconsider Endangered Species Act protections for wolves

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 6, 2025

A federal judge in Montana has ordered wildlife officials to reconsider Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the West.

Sports >  Outdoors

Off-road vehicle trail in North Idaho sparking controversy

UPDATED: Sat., Aug. 2, 2025

A fight has been brewing in North Idaho over a stretch of road pockmarked with pits, boulders and other obstacles that off-roaders love and conservationists loathe.

Sports >  Outdoors

Idaho Fish and Game plans to kill brook trout in Panhandle stream

Thu., July 31, 2025

A combination of tools old and relatively new will be used to rid a creek in North Idaho of the colorful but invasive brook trout.

Sports >  Outdoors

Wolf from Togo Pack killed in response to cattle attacks

UPDATED: Wed., July 30, 2025

Washington wildlife officials have killed a wolf from a pack blamed for cattle deaths in Ferry County.

Sports >  Outdoors

Michael Wright: How long is 5,000 miles?

UPDATED: Thu., July 24, 2025

When I was in high school, I changed my own oil. Five quarts of conventional 5W-30, every 3,000 miles. Knowing where the oil and air filter were on the Ford Ranger made me feel handy, and oil disposal wasn’t a problem – put it in a bucket, leave it in the shop, wait for my father to deal with it.

Sports >  Outdoors

Logging operations shutter popular road in North Idaho

UPDATED: Thu., July 24, 2025

Federal officials are temporarily closing more than 30 miles of road in North Idaho to make room for dozens of logging trucks to roll through each day.

Sports >  Outdoors

Green Bay Campground on Lake Pend Oreille to start taking reservations Friday

UPDATED: Wed., July 23, 2025

A campground on Lake Pend Oreille that had been closed all summer because it lacked a host is set to open.

Sports >  Outdoors

Sockeye season closes on Hanford Reach, Upper Columbia

UPDATED: Wed., July 23, 2025

It’s curtains for the sockeye salmon season on the Hanford Reach and the Upper Columbia River.

Sports >  Outdoors

Kellogg man convicted of poaching trophy bull moose

UPDATED: Wed., July 23, 2025

A Kellogg man has been convicted of illegally killing a bull moose in North Idaho last fall and leaving it to waste. 

Sports >  Outdoors

Idaho wolf population decreases slightly

UPDATED: Tue., July 22, 2025

Idaho’s latest wolf estimate suggests the population decreased slightly last year.

Sports >  Outdoors

Summer chinook harvest to be allowed on portion of upper Columbia

Thu., July 17, 2025

Anglers will get a chance to take home chinook salmon from a portion of the the Upper Columbia River this summer.

Sports >  Outdoors

Hiring freeze spells end of long-term weather data collection at Priest River Experimental Forest

UPDATED: Fri., July 11, 2025

When 5 p.m. arrives at the Priest River Experimental Forest, it’s time to check the weather.

Sports >  Outdoors

Field Reports: Coeur d’Alene man convicted of poaching trophy bull elk

Thu., July 10, 2025

A Coeur d’Alene man was convicted of illegally killing a trophy bull elk last fall by shooting it with a rifle during archery season.

Sports >  Outdoors

Bureau of Land Management planning timber sale near Mullan

UPDATED: Wed., July 9, 2025

Federal officials are taking bids for a timber sale on the edge of Mullan, Idaho.

Sports >  Outdoors

Little lynx: Colville Tribes confirm Canada lynx kittens in the Kettle Range

UPDATED: Mon., July 7, 2025

The den was in a boulder field high up in the Kettle Range, in a rugged spot no one would visit without a reason.

Sports >  Outdoors

Hunting, fishing license costs increase on Tuesday

UPDATED: Fri., June 27, 2025

Fees for Washington hunting and fishing licenses are about to take a leap.

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife navigates budget cuts

UPDATED: Fri., June 27, 2025

Layoffs, a hatchery closure and reduced salmon and steelhead monitoring are all part of the new reality for Washington’s fish and wildlife agency as it navigates deep budget cuts ordered by state lawmakers.