WINTERSPORTS -- Season pass holders at 49 Degrees North aren't being left out in the warm-er than normal weather that's forced the northeastern Washington resort to shut down lifts until more snow falls. While waiting for winter to return to the mountain, several other resorts...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Bald eagles are mating and getting their families started. This video clip from a Hanover, Penn., web cam aimed at an eagle nest shows an eagle pair making a quick change of guard as they incubate eggs in cold February weather. Good...
PUBLIC LANDS -- The Clearwater Collaborative, a working group of various interests, from recreation and conservation to the timber industry, has issued a report listing its accomplishments in working out management issues for the Clearwater-Nez Perce National Forests. Even though some will say they come...
RIVERS -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today completed maintenance dredging in the barging channel and two port berthing areas in the Snake and Clearwater rivers where accumulated sediment had interfered with navigation. "Dredging was performed to meet a current immediate need to re-establish…
Six bass and walleye seminars are scheduled on Saturday, Feb. 28, during the February Fishing Frenzy at Spokane Valley Marine, 7915 E. Sprague Ave. The presentations will be made by local anglers as well as Bassmaster pro John Murray. The one-day event involves prize giveaways…
FISHING -- Somebody's trashing our fisheries. Something to think about next time you're tempted to buy bottled water or vote on a plastic bag law. B.C. angler snags steelhead, finds guts filled with plastic A British Columbia man who caught a steelhead last week on...
WILDLIFE -- Here's more support for highway crossings for wildlife that are showing up in projects around Washington and Idaho: Research finds grizzly bears prefer overpasses in park in Alberta Bow Valley-based scientist Tony Clevenger has released his findings of 17 years of study on…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Oregon has released its draft 2014 Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Annual Report and it's available online. The report, required by the federal government for states dealing with gray wolf recovery, includes the 2014 update for Oregon’s Wolf Population. Nine wolf packs…
GEOLOGY -- There's no better way to soak up the science and history of how the Inland Northwest landscape was shaped than to join in some of the events scheduled this season by area geologists and experts in the Ice Age Floods. The Cheney-Spokane Chapter...
FISHING -- Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will interview anglers starting in March 2 on the Missouri River between Holter Dam and the town of Cascade to get a better idea of angler usage and their opinions about the popular trout fishing river. The creel…
FISHING -- Salmon recovery efforts in Washington appear to be making a difference – more salmon are returning home in some areas, although significant work remains – according to a new report released by the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office. “Washington State has been investing in...
WILDLIFE -- There's good news and bad news this morning for big-game hunters and wildlife lovers from the 2015 Idaho Legislature: Thank God -- The Senate Agriculture Committee voted today to reject a controversial rule change easing restrictions on importation of farmed elk into the...
TRAILS -- Take note, Idaho, Montana and Washington: When state legislators aren't wasting their time trying to take over federal lands, they have time to research positive advances for recreation and tourism, such as this: New Mexico legislators launch effort to build 500-mile statewide trail...
SHOOTING -- The 50th annual Muzzleloading Arms and Pioneer Craft Show sponsored by the Cascade Mountain Men is set for March 7-8 at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Wash. The event is billed as a pre-1840's Walmart with some 300 tables filled with all…
HUNTING -- A bidder from Canada has set a world record high of $390,000 for the right to hunt one mule deer buck at a Utah state park in November. "Antelope Island’s big mule deer bucks continue to produce big bucks of the green kind"…
CONSERVATION – The Inland Empire Chapter of Safari Club International will hold its 33rd annual benefit dinner and auction on March 7 at the Mirabeau Park Hotel in Spokane Valley. The banquet includes door prizes and a variety of raffles and auctions with chances to...
HIKING -- The photo with the Sunday Outdoors story of a beaming baby on his mother's back is worth a thousand words about an online social group that gets new parents out of the house and on the trail. MaryBeth Bryant, who organized the mushrooming…
THREATENED SPECIES -- The effort continues to avoid the restrictions that would go along with having an endangered native bird on western prairies. The Idaho Department of Lands has put forward a draft plan to protect sage grouse habitat on state endowment land as part...
WILDLIFE -- Despite adamant opposition and warnings by the Idaho Fish and Game Department director, the Idaho Legislature is continuing to pursue a controversial proposal that would ease restrictions on importing and transferring farm-raised elk that could expose wild deer, elk and moose to a...
PUBLIC LANDS -- Apparently we have an axe-swinging landscape terrorist on the loose who's getting some sort of warped pleasure from vandalizing live trees along the popular public trails on the South Hill bluff. Another ponderosa pine was crudely hacked down in the...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Recent unseasonably warm weather has invited birds into the region, including tundra swans that are finding open water from eastern Washington into the Silver Valley of North Idaho. Their migration farther north isn't likely to kick into high gear for awhile, but...
FISHING -- Steelheading was opened today on another section of the Wenatchee River, but the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department says a section of the Methow River will close to steelheading on March 1. Following are details on these and other Upper Columbia region rivers…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- House and Senate committees in the 2015 Washington Legislature considered bills Wednesday to deal with the issue of livestock-killing wolves in eastern Washington, according to a report by Jacob Rummel of Washington State University's Murrow News Service The bills are aimed at…
BOATING -- Low water levels will prevent the boat lauch at Coffeepot Lake from being opened to anglers when the lake's fishing season opens March 1. U.S. Bureau of Land management officials say the unusually low water levels would lead to boat trailers getting stuck...
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Did I overstate the potential danger posed by loveable-looking moose in today's Outdoors column? I think not, despite what a few readers said in email comments. I have video proof you can view at the end of this post. First, check out...
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.