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Recent Outdoors stories
OUTLAST
100 years for Bison Range
40 million
Number of bison roaming in massive herds between Mexico and central Canada in the late 1700s.
The outdoors is a giant nursery this time of year.Hunters know "the rut," or peak of breeding activity for elk is in mid September and then around Thanksgiving for white-tailed deer. This is when love-sick bulls and bucks temporarily lose some of their characteristic wariness in order to get the job done.
The Mount Spokane State Park cross-country ski trails were graced Sunday by an event that falls somewhere between hot nordic competition and a yard sale.
Eagle chicks in Web spotlight
Wildlife – Internet surfers around the world are flocking to the Hancock Wildlife Foundation Web site to watch live video of a pair of bald eagles ready to hatch eggs in a nest near Delta, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb.
Sportsmen were thankful Wednesday that after four days Vice President Dick Cheney finally was persuaded to take responsibility for accidentally shooting his hunting partner. But before checking out the damage from shots directed at the veep, let's focus on brighter lights in the sportsman's world.
Just in case you haven't been outside since Saturday's brief splash of spring, here's your mid-April reality check.
Five months after a contentious public meeting in Davenport, state and local governments are still trying to get answers from Rep. Cathy McMorris and Sen. Maria Cantwell.
Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be wildlife biologists – unless your boy's named Sue and your girl's dubbed Bubba. If they don't have a skin thick as a bison hump, they'll never last in the profession of managing game.
Times have changed irrevocably for anglers at the Little Pend Oreille chain of lakes east of Colville. Traditionally a hot spot for cutthroat trout fishing, the connected lakes – Gillette, Heritage, Leo, Sherry and Thomas – have been plagued with illegal introductions of perch, bass, sunfish and other species, said Curt Vail, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife district fish biologist.
Anglers and boaters are watching with interest as the sun bears down and the water rises at Lake Roosevelt. The lake level was drawn down as low as 1,230 feet above sea level this spring to accommodate water expected to pour in from the biggest mountain runoff in several years.
A Spokane fly fisherman caught a once-in-a-lifetime North Idaho experience in Tepee Creek Monday, and we're not talking about cutthroat trout. The angler asked to remain anonymous because … ahem … he doesn't want his boss to know he was out fishing.
What entices so many fishermen to foul great fishing streams? The question is hitting me harder as I venture out this year to sample the spring runs and hatches, and I'm not talking about the occasional litter of white plastic worm containers.
Last week, the WDFW opened spring chinook fishing in the upper Bonneville Pool upriver to McNary Dam. With 100,000 upriver spring chinook salmon expected to return to the Columbia River this year, fishery managers for Washington and Oregon have also reopened recreational salmon fishing below Bonneville Dam effective Wednesday.
Many excellent trout fishing waters open Saturday in this region. Chris Donley, WDFW central district fish biologist, expects the top producing waters to include Badger, Williams and West Medical lakes in southwest Spokane County and Fishtrap Lake on the Lincoln-Spokane county line.
A sudden fishing season for spring chinook salmon opens on a portion of the Snake River in Washington today, thanks to a late surge of fish up the Columbia River system.
Winter lakes Fourth of July, Hog Canyon, Williams and Hatch will close at the end of March. Anglers are taking quite a few trout from open water on all but Hatch.
The Clearwater has been running high, but the ice is gone from Orofino on down, and it should be turning on when the rain stops, said Larry Barrett at IDFG.
Local tributaries of the Snake River are in excellent condition for steelhead fishing, reported WDFW fish biologist Joe Bumgarner of Dayton. Anglers are averaging just 2 1/2 hours per steelhead on the Tucannon River, just more than three hours per fish on the Walla Walla and about five hours per fish on the Touchet River.
Steelhead season closes April 30 on most regional waters, but goes until May 15 on the Little Salmon River. North and the South Fork Clearwater anglers are averaging a fish every 6 hours.
Salmon and steelheadAdult spring chinook counts at Bonneville Dam are the lowest on record. Through Sunday, 205 fish had been counted.
Last weekend's fishing season opener on Colville Indian Reservation was a little short on open water at some of the best fishing lakes.
At first glance, George Orr appears to be pulling off a cheap campaign trick by going fishing today at 10:30 a.m. at Bear Lake County Park with a group of special education kids.
For Friday, May 12, 2006.
With large numbers of late-arriving salmon moving up the Columbia River, fishery managers for Washington and Oregon have agreed to reopen the recreational spring chinook fishery in the upper Bonneville Pool to McNary Dam starting Saturday.
On rivers throughout the West, Mike Egbers of Mount Vernon and former Mount Vernon High School classmate Eric Hamburg of Shasta Lake, Calif., have been making waves on the U.S. Northwest Circuit of whitewater jetboat racing.
Montana and Idaho are ready to go with gray wolf management plans that include limited hunting now that the predators are being removed from the federal endangered species list.
Swooping nylon and linked poles, zippered doors, screened windows and stakes in the dirt holding it down – the humble formula for a tent has long prevailed as an ultimate outdoor habitat for humans in need of a temporary home.
Like all trophy-hunting sportsmen, smallmouth bass anglers want to keep the big ones.Fishery managers are trying to convince them to keep the smaller ones.
Salmon are giving Washington and Idaho anglers reason for high hopes this season.Spring chinook appear to be headed to the Columbia system in fantastic numbers – the third-biggest run since 1977.
Anglers can catch a lesson on skills needed to be successful at Inland Northwest fisheries during the Annual Great Western Sportfishing Show Friday through next Sunday at the Spokane Convention Center.
Tucked in among the hundreds of pages in the federal bill bailing out financial institutions are a few dedicated to people who commute to work on two wheels.
AUGUSTA, Maine — A backhoe took a bite out of the Edwards Dam 10 years ago, releasing the waters of the Kennebec River that had been held back for more than a century and a half.
Monday is the last chance to sign up for the Spokane Mountaineers Mountain Biking Clinic, scheduled for June 13-14 at Riverside State Park.
Despite setbacks caused by vehicle collisions, the endangered Selkirk Mountains caribou herd is at least holding an even population.
Here's a bright idea for hikers, bikers, berry pickers and other people heading into the woods for outdoor recreation now that the first of the hunting seasons has opened in Washington:
A big prize is waiting for families who explore camping and hiking with the kids this summer.The tents, sleeping bags and trip to Glacier National Park, complete with fuel voucher, is only the minor prize.
PORTLAND – Don Elder of Gresham didn't expect to catch anything on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend when he waded through the crowd at Oxbow Regional Park and into Oregon's Sandy River to practice his fly-casting technique.
A jacket with embedded electronics, self-tinting goggles and customizable ski boots are among the products you'll discover in this second installment on gear trends in skiing and snowboarding for the '08/'09 season.
Your home's picture window is a front-row seat for The Great Backyard Bird Count, which starts Friday and runs through Monday.
When talking about bedding in the great outdoors, the words "ultralight" and "cot" rarely come in the same sentence. But that's exactly what LuxuryLite, a small company in Lake Jackson, Texas, proposes with its UltraLite Cot, a 72-inch bed that weighs less than 3 pounds.
POMEROY, Wash. – The Umatilla National Forest has closed some main roads in the Blue Mountains to all-terrain vehicle traffic for safety reasons.
As Inland Northwest ski areas convert to mountain biking and summer operations, May is still prime time to think snow – and net deals on next year's season passes.
Anglers are getting plenty of encouragement for planning summer salmon fishing trips to the Washington coast.
Yes, that's my butt in the photo. And yes, that's a fishing lure hooked to both the back of my shirt and the seat of my pants. And yes, that's a walleye dangling there from the lure.
Forest fire lookouts have had their ups and downs in the past century, but the trend throughout the country has been down.
Volunteering to translocate sage grouse is no vacation."I'd forgotten what a hangover felt like, but now I remember," said Richard Rivers, one of six Spokane chapter members of the Hunting and Fishing Conservation Coalition who drove to southeast Oregon last weekend.
It stuffs down to a size smaller than a baseball. Its manufacturer, Sea to Summit Inc. of Perth, Australia, suggests using it as a keychain.
Fifteen gray wolves from five different packs were killed in Montana for preying on livestock between May 17 and May 21, making it one of the deadliest five-day stretches in 2010 for Canis lupus.
1 Schweitzer: From Sandpoint, drive 1.3 miles north on U.S. 95, turn left onto Schweitzer Cut-Off Road (across from Burger King). Turn right onto North Boyer Road; turn left at the Schweitzer sign and drive 9 miles up to the resort.
Here are four trends and a handful of corresponding new products — from high-tech skis to a snowboarding boot with a built-in heater — that are making the scene on ski and snowboard slopes this season.
Minnesota is not often noted for its hills. But a new bike race in the state, the Ragnarök 105, makes the most of Minnesota's southern bluff country, climbing and rolling for an estimated 8,000 feet of elevation gain over its namesake 105-mile length.
It won't be in stores until this summer, but at $199, the Nano Puff Hoody from Patagonia is worth putting on your gear radar right now.
Washington wildlife officials estimate about 50 percent of the deer population in two central Washington counties has been lost since 2004, and while all the causes aren't known, at least one is believed to be lice.
Washington will open spring chinook salmon fishing this year, but the Snake River near Clarkston is not likely to be in the mix
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission is planning to write letters to its counterparts in Oregon and Washington to complain about the way those states manage spring chinook fisheries in the lower Columbia River.
Flip up the kickstand, swing a leg over the frame, check your handlebar-mounted computer display, and go. The OHM XU700, an electric-assist bicycle, is rolling, and you're in for a unique ride.
Three regional conservation groups will begin series of guided group hikes next weekend to introduce the public to choice roadless areas that are candidates for wilderness designation.
Young hunters age 15 and younger are getting the first shot at wild turkeys this weekend.Washington's youth turkey season opened Saturday and closes today. The general gobbler season opens April 15 and runs through May 31. Licensed hunters are limited to shooting only a turkey with a visible "beard" protruding from its breast.
Steelhead fishing is winding down in most parts of Idaho, but around Stanley, it's just getting started.
The recently announced removal of the gray wolf from federal "endangered" status included wolves found in the eastern two-thirds of Washington. However, Washington still lists the wolf as endangered.
MISSOULA – The federal government has hauled away 2.2 million cubic yards of toxic sediment and removed a reservoir as part of a Superfund site cleanup in southwestern Montana's fishing country, only to encounter a hitch — the changes may impede a threatened species of trout.
While most big-game hunters are prowling their permit applications, a hardy few are in the field.
The generosity of local anglers who share their sport goes beyond little kids – to the teenagers the little ones soon become.
Most Snake River system spring chinook anglers are waiting for better conditions before wetting a line.
About 15 yeas ago, Dennis Harper became an advocate of fertilizing Dworshak Reservoir waters to grow more fish. Then the Orofino chiropractor put his money where his mouth was.
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — You have seen them at state and national parks. They are usually dressed in olive green, with a gold tag giving their name, title and employer. They often wear wide-brimmed Smokey Bear hats.
The first two sockeye salmon of the season completed the marathon journey from the Pacific Ocean, up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Little Redfish Lake in Idaho's Stanley Basin on July 23. More to come.
Artificial burrows might help turn the tide on declining burrowing owl numbers in WashingtonVolunteers are helping state and federal biologists encourage more of the owls to nest by expanding a network of artificial burrows that have been successful in encouraging owls to nest in Oregon.
The first fish arrived Wednesday for a spring chinook season that opened Saturday on portions of the Yakima River. A good run of salmon progressing up the Columbia system should provide a treat to Yakima anglers this month.
Oregon's Legislature has followed Idaho's lead by requiring non-motorized craft longer than 10 feet to have a sticker that will help fund invasive species protections.
A new law allowing loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges will take effect in 2010, the Obama administration says.
New ski lifts, a mountaintop lodge and mountain biking routes are being proposed for Stevens Pass ski area of U.S. 2.
Washington Fish and Wildlife Department staffers have a big issue on their hands with moose – tons of them – making themselves home among city and suburban neighborhoods.
Only 650,000 kokanee eggs were collected for rearing at Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery this season, a disappointing, but not insurmountable number, said Jim Fredericks, Idaho Fish and Game Department Panhandle Region fisheries manager.
Get more bang for your buck by multitasking at the Spokane National Boat Show, which opens Friday and runs through Feb. 8 at Spokane Interstate Fair and Expo Center.
Three Karelian bear dogs are being employed by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department this year to help deal with bear problems, primarily in eastern King County.
Flicks and banquets are coming up to boost outdoor programs dear to our hearts. Among them:Centennial Trail Adventure Auction and banquet to support trail projects, Friday, Dance Street Ballroom in the West Central neighborhood. Limited to 180 tickets.
Internet surfers around the world are flocking to the Hancock Wildlife Foundation Web site to watch live video of a pair of bald eagles ready to hatch eggs in a nest near Delta, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb.
Ticks are becoming active in areas around Spokane. Check yourself and your pet after being out.Ticks usually probe around a potential host for a few hours before choosing a tender spot to sink their mouth parts into your skin for a long, leisurely meal.
The Stevens County Commission will hear public comments this week on a proposal to open more county roads to off-highway vehicles.
A heli-ski operator is calling on British Columbia to enact controls over backcountry snowmobilers, saying the large number of deaths this season has hurt the province's reputation as a safe outdoor recreation destination.
U.S. Forest Service officials say they plan to re-examine local and nationwide avalanche control procedures following avalanche deaths at Western ski resorts.
Yellowstone isn't flush with money from federal economic stimulus funds, but at least the Madison campground sewer system can be updated for the first time in some 50 years.
FISHING – Michelle Larsen-Williams of Pingree, Idaho, broke a 61-year-old state record on July 29 when she landed a 20-pound rainbow trout on the Snake River just above American Falls Reservoir.
HUNTING – Charges against two Grant County men are prompting wildlife officials to warn hunters to study the difference between a black bear, which is legal to hunt, and a grizzly, which is federally protected.
FISHERIES – An Orofino man has filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game over a program that adds nutrients to Dworshak Reservoir.
PUBLIC LANDS – A flood of federal economic recovery funds is headed to Inland Northwest recreation sites this season, and campers should check ahead to see if their favorite areas might have restrictions.
WILDLIFE –Rules for addressing wildlife damage to private property are on the agenda Friday at the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Olympia.
BOATING – North Idaho boat inspection stations will open Thursday to help protect waters of Pend Oreille and Priest watersheds from aquatic invasive species.
WILDLIFE – Federal officials have told the Idaho Fish and Game Department officials that their plan to halve the number of pelicans nesting in southern and eastern Idaho by 2013 to boost fisheries is an "eradication program" that needs more work.
WEEDS – Richard Reich and Doug Merchant had a piece of paradise in their neighboring lots along the Clark Fork River's Noxon Reservoir, until a weed hitched a ride, probably on someone's unwashed boat.
FISHING – Anglers who catch the big one won't go unrecognized in Washington.
HUNTING – For the first time, big-game hunting is scheduled to occur on Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge this fall.
CONSERVATION – Wildlife conservation projects in 17 Washington counties have been selected to receive grants totaling $186,270 from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation this year.
FISHING – Northeastern Oregon's Wallowa Lake is producing state-record kokanee of saltwater proportions.
WILDLIFE – A female grizzly bear that attacked a lone hiker near West Yellowstone recently was probably protecting her cub and a chunk of meat she had buried near the trail, Montana wildlife officials said.
STATE PARKS —The road to the summit of Mount Spokane opened for vehicle traffic this weekend.
NATIONAL PARKS – The Inside North Fork Road has been opened to vehicle traffic for the first time since a storm caused extensive damage in November 2006.
WILDLIFE – Working from a citizen's tip, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officers have cited Charles I. Fraley, 22, of Ione for killing a protected common loon at Yocum Lake last month, according to Tom Metzger, Pend Oreille County prosecuting attorney.
FISHING – A banner season is expected for Washington salmon anglers, and the fish are already cruising the state's saltwaters.
Get high on 50 hikes
What: "Fifty Hikes of Eastern Washington's Highest Mountains," free slide show by local author James P. Johnson.
Anglers hooked on charity
A generous array of prizes has been donated to an upcoming fund-raiser to finance fishing adventures for youths with life-threatening illnesses.
Sea-kayak classes
Spokane Canoe and Kayak Club will offer its last three-hour clinic for recreational kayaking on Tuesday at Boulder Beach. Cost: free with club membership ($25).
Economy impacts rifles, boats
OUTDOOR INDUSTRY – A U.S. rifle company announced it is closing shop this week and a major boating company is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
What: Spokane Bridge Walk.When: June 6, starting between 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Snowshoeing: Saturday evening, 49 Degrees North.Nordic skiing and Italian dinner, Saturday evening at Mount Spokane.
Photographer Keith Lazelle will discuss his exhibit, "Fast Moving Water: The Hoh River Story," at 7 p.m. Monday at Spokane Community College.
Photo seminar
Professional photographer Don Gale is the featured instructor at the Photographic Society of America spring seminar, May 15-16, at Spokane Community College. Cost: $75.
Walleye tourneys
The 2010 Washington State Walleye Circuit includes five tournaments with cash prizes, entry fees $260-$285 per team, coordinated by Walleyes Unlimited NorthWest:
Paddler tells of ups, downs
See a free preview of "Campfire Stories," a new film about successes and failures in the quest to kayak classic lines on the region's streams, Monday, 7 p.m., at the Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland, sponsored by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club.
Build a rod
What: Custom fishing rod building class, 16 hours.
FISHING
Springer savvy
What: Four one-hour seminars on spring chinook salmon fishing.
Trail birding
The Audubon Society's Coeur d'Alene Chapter has updated a checklist of 189 bird species found at low elevations in North Idaho and along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.
FISHING
Coming events
Fly Fishing: Extravaganza, sponsored by Spokane Fly Fishers, featuring state fisheries biologists, area guides and information on local waters available through presentations, displays, 5 p.m.-9 p.m., St. Francis School, 1104 W. Heroy.
FLY FISHING
Youth break
What: Spring break fly-fishing seminars.
What: Spokane Bridges WalkWhen: June 5
Spokane Parks and Rec is offering at least five ways to get on the water this month, including sailing lessons, a jet-boat tour of Hells Canyon, Spokane River raft trips for families (and one for adults who like to sample wine), serious whitewater on the Wenatchee, and a family kayak trip to the San Juan Islands.
Targeting tiger muskies
What: Silver Lake Tiger Musky Tournament.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will meet in Idaho Falls on Monday to set harvest quotas for Idaho's first wolf hunts. The first seasons are scheduled to start in September. However, legal challenges are pending.
What: "A River Lost, A River Found: historic images of the free-flowing lower Snake River," free exhibit by Save Our Wild Salmon.
What: Annual Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge Community Work Party.When: 9 a.m.-noon,
What: Big-game trophy field care seminar.When: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., May 9 or May 10.
NORDIC SKIING
Coming events
This may be the best summer to get into the flow of the Spokane River. Clubs, groups, businesses and agencies are joining as stewards of the river's health as well as keeping it safe and available for river rats and newbies alike.
Perched at 6,870 feet on the divide between Idaho's Clearwater and St. Joe rivers, the Mallard Peak lookout has rarely been unoccupied since it was last staffed by Forest Service fire monitors in 1957.
"If this is what it means to be an old fart, sign me up," a 40-something skier said. He'd been advised he was too young to join a boisterous group that had taken over the lodge lunchroom's top floor during happy hour. But he left with a smile and something to look forward to – when he's at least 55.
No stranger to cold and darkness, Annie Pokorny has a headlamp ready as she powers through another winter sunset. The after-school workout is paced by bursts of steam from her lungs when she streaks past her father and pierces the dusky hush of Mount Spokane with a rhythmic swish-swish of her skating skis across the groomed snow.
At a fraction of their salaries and with no stock options or bonuses, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge manager near Cheney has done what many high-powered CEOs have failed to do.
September is becoming the month of the bicycle in the Inland Northwest. A cycling event of some sort for a wide range of abilities is scheduled every week through the month and into October.
If screaming reels are music to your ears, you might be moved to dance when The Fly-Fishing Film Tour lands in Spokane Thursday at the Bing Crosby Theater.
I used to be able to dismiss birdwatching as better left to birds. But my life and my wife have changed. The transformation for her was as easy as joining the Spokane Audubon Society and taking one of the club's bird-watching classes. It hasn't been that simple for me.
Drift boat anchors are destined to be the new heavy metals in the upper Clark Fork River. "Undoing 150 years of mining, smelting and agricultural abuse will not be fast or cheap, but we've made a big leap in the right direction," Daniel Kiely of Missoula said as he worked the drift boat's oars.
Re-entry from the top of the world can be an ordeal in itself. Kay LeClaire could barely drive her car when she arrived in Spokane on June 2 from an expedition to Mount Everest. "Even 20 mph seems very, very fast," she said after two months at a pace that often required three breaths for every step.
Considering what sage grouse have suffered in the past 200 years, the most recent ordeal was a joyride.
Sometimes the rain is pelting down, a brisk wind is blowing, the surf is pounding, it's so chilly your fingers hurt and your lantern barely casts a dim light on this tumultuous edge of sea and sand.
Developed by a Spokane Valley machinist, the devise is a bow without arrows and a blowgun that requires no huffing and puffing, yet it shoots just fine.
Comparisons will be made today between this season and the winter of 1968-69 as shotgunners gather to begin The Spokesman-Review Trapshoot. The shoot has been a winter tradition since 1916, when club scores were sent in to the newspaper from around the region by telegraph. The only break was during the three years around World War II, when ammunition wasn't readily available.
No attendants were in Glacier National Park's St. Mary Lake entrance booth to take money last Sunday. Visitors to the 1-million-acre park were on a self-serve honor system.
A boat isn't the only toy useful for enjoying Lake Pend Oreille. A pair of hiking shoes will keep a lake visitor busy for days.
Paddling atop a 60-foot waterfall seated in the equivalent of a glorified milk jug, Chris Korbulic's mind calmly analyzes the speed, trajectory and technique that make kayaking over mega-waterfalls more about precision than insanity.
A surefire fun way to introduce a youngster to the outdoors is spending a night under the stars at an Idaho state park. Or how about spending the night under a roof and peeking out at the stars from a swing on a cabin porch.
At first I thought I'd disturbed a nest of red ants. Instead they were ladybird beetles – often called ladybugs – swarming on my boots.
Inland Northwest kids brought trout dinner home to hundreds of tables last week. They owe the experience and a good helping of omega-3 fatty acids to a dedicated group of volunteers, and parents wise enough to take advantage of them.
Dworshak Reservoir is the best thing that never quite lived up to its promise to Clearwater County, Idaho.
Somewhere in a land not so far away, an abandoned railroad could become the best rail trail in Washington.
Parenting 3-year-old twin boys hasn't tamed Teri Tucker's endurance-sports lifestyle. A versatile baby buggy has given the Spokane mom freedom to keep her fitness edge with her kids in tow.
A successful Montana fly-fishing shop owner is proving that building environmental stewardship for fish and rivers into his business model is more than just the right thing to do.
Northern pike are populating the Pend Oreille River with the enthusiasm of immigrants lured to a paradise of free land, free love, no taxes and all the food they can consume. Even researchers were amazed by the numbers of the toothy predators they caught last month in a study on the region's newest boomtown fishery.
Manito Golf & Country Club has a special agent on staff to keep its greens and fairways goose dropping-free.
Several families with farms south of Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge are upset with a long-term state plan to preserve a corridor of wildlife habitat stretching from Chapman Lake south around Bonnie Lake to Rock Lake.
"I was so focused on the fishing that I didn't fully realize just how beautiful it was until I got back and looked at pictures," said Bre Campbell, who spent her 25th birthday last fall floating the A-Section of Utah's Green River.
Wild steelhead are making the last push in their months-long journey that culminates with spawning in mountain creeks. But for those that began life in Idaho's upper Selway River, the return home includes one last daunting challenge – Selway Falls.
Looking back at the Spokane River, speaking to no one in particular, Tim Wildman of the United Kingdom summarized two hours of whitewater rafting in one word.
Set back by a cool start to spring, the best trout fishing of the season has finally begun to hatch in the region's desert lakes.
Droves of tourists head to Taos, N.M., every summer, ready to take in the area's art galleries, pioneer history and American Indian influence. This is the place that inspired artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams.
Grazing will not occur on the Asotin Wildlife Area this season in the wake of a Thurston County Superior Court judge upholding a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department's pilot grazing project.
Spokane climbers John and Jess Roskelley shared some quality time in a room with an incredible view last weekend during their visit to Alberta's Columbia Icefields.
Lance Egan of Lehi, Utah, caught and released 42 fish over the two days of competition in Central Oregon last week to win the regional USA Team trails competition for the National Fly Fishing Championships.
Five states are working at dramatically different paces to deal with the reintroduction of gray wolves.
A behemoth male elk dubbed the "Spider bull," taken by a hunter on Monroe Mountain in central Utah last fall, carried the largest antler rack ever recorded by the Boone and Crockett (B&C) Club. The elk was officially recognized on Jan. 2 as the new world record for a nontypical American elk.
The Dishman Hillls Natural Area is proof that group efforts starting from humble beginnings can have a lasting outdoor legacy for generations to come.
Argentina, Alaska and other far-flung destinations can capture a trout angler's imagination, but the Inland Northwest offers a world-class fly-fishing dream trip for the price of just two tanks of gas.
Washington waterfowl have been keeping an unusually high profile in the news this month.Among the top recent stories:
Last year's outrageously good fishing has toned down to simply good fishing for porky rainbows in the Columbia River waters of Lake Rufus Woods.
BIGFORK, Mont. – The brothers Benson were out fishing in Big Arm Bay with their father in the 1960s when Leo steered the little wooden craft around an island, and was met by a stiff wind and a big rogue wave.
Big-game hunting seasons are closed, but overzealous people scavenging for shed antlers may be harassing elk to death, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists say.
Birds, bears, buttercups and ticks – our region's perennial signs of spring are out and about, along with a lot of people recovering from cabin fever.
The federal government recently agreed to put gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region back on the endangered species list — at least temporarily.
Students enrolled at Gonzaga University often sprout some of their roots on campus, but Lange Solberg, a third generation commercial fisherman, is sowing a homegrown international controversy.
Devon Romney, 40, is neither an avid archer nor an ardent paintball gamer.But the Spokane Valley machinist's ingenuity is giving enthusiasts from both sports a new archery tool to try.
A North Idaho angler has tied up the top spot in a national competition for new fishing knots.The Fish-N-Fool knot, devised by Rick Lawrence of Spirit Lake, was declared the season winner last week during the Knot Wars feature of the North American Fishing Club's Versus Country cable television program.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – His name was just a numeral, yet he had legions of human admirers and few rivals among his own species.
Trails and the recreation they deliver will be in the spotlight as the Inland Northwest celebrates National Trails Day for much of the week.
Laurie Fleming was wearing her new personalized hard hat with pride last Saturday on the Iller Creek Trail.
Washington's wild areas are becoming more diverse and interesting as several furbearing species – wolverine, fisher and sea otter – slowly recover some of their former range.
Todd Reis of Tacoma was almost giddy that his daughter was enrolling at Eastern Washington University.
Persisting snowpack weakness combined with wind-loaded snow on steep terrain last month contributed to the first avalanche fatality in Northeastern Oregon's Wallowa Mountains since 1982.
The term "falling in love" is especially appropriate for breeding bald eagles.Although most pairs in this region are nesting by now, their passions were revved up during late winter or early spring with a gripping plunge into their relationship.
The Inland Northwest is no stranger to classic destinations for mountain-biking routes. Rossland, British Columbia, snuggled in the Kootenay Mountains just three hours north of Spokane, ranks high on North American mountain-biking destination lists. The Kootenay-Columbia Trails Society maintains 32 trails totaling 100 miles.
How bad has the economy been?Northwest fishing icon Buzz Ramsey has been out of work since January, but he leverages his fishing allowance by using "poor man's ramps," as he terms locations without fees, to launch his boat.
Deep snow isn't the only curse dogging wildlife in the region this week."Loose dogs are taking a toll on deer," Wanda Clifford, Inland Northwest Wildlife Council executive director, said Tuesday.
Learning to live with wildlife starts with two basic lessons:•Give them space.•Don't feed them or habituate them to human contact.
Experts from across the U.S. attending the burrowing owl symposium last month in Umatilla, Ore., may have outnumbered the species' dwindling population in the Mid-Columbia.
Even the uniformed sensed something was going on last weekend as they drove Highway 12 from Lewiston to Orofino along the Clearwater River.
A Spokane woman is honored to be following the reintroduction of sage grouse in Lincoln County.Kim Thorburn of Spokane has been named the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department's Volunteer of the Year for her work on sage and sharp-tailed grouse recovery in Lincoln County.
Hunting seasons for some of the smallest and most difficult targets will open Tuesday in the Inland Northwest.
A $20,000 grant is giving new life to trail- building projects in Riverside State Park.Frustrated with the deterioration in portions of the park's 60-mile trail system, Suzanne Rivers, a north Spokane hiker and member of the Riverside State Park Foundation, sought financial help.
Wild turkeys are the comeback champions in the Inland Northwest.While two tough winters and springs previous to this year hammered the region's popular hunting species – including deer, elk, pheasants and quail – the middle linebackers of the game bird world took the weather's best shot and rallied.
Washington's beleaguered prairie grouse populations recently got a boost of 89 birds from Idaho and Oregon.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation teamed with The Nature Conservancy and several state and federal agencies recently to secure 2,675-acres in the first phase of a three-year project to protect wildlife habitat and public access in the Cascade Mountains near the Naches River in Washington.
A full schedule of area events is evolving this month to help people connect with critters and their habitats. Among the highlights:
Fly-tying standout John Newbury of Chewelah had some dark days on his way to the national spotlight.
OUTDO
VIPs rally for Scotchmans
Not just anyone is attending the annual "State of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness" event Tuesday at the new Ponderay (Idaho) Events Center (behind Sandpoint Furniture off the east entrance of Bonner Mall complex).
OUTLIVE
Idaho producing bumper crop
About 1,300 vehicles collided with wildlife in Idaho, resulting in 200 serious injuries to drivers and passengers in 2007. In the past 10 years, 27 people have died in collisions with critters.
OUTPADDLE
Sea kayakers tell Alaska tale
Three Western Washington adventures are coming to Spokane to present a slide and video program detailing their 500-mile sea-kayak tour around the Kenai Peninsula.
OUTCLIMB
Locals scaling Mount Everest
Two senior Spokane climbers were progressing this week in their attempts to climb Mount Everest, elevation 29,035 feet.
OUTCAST
Fishing is cure for March madness
With water temperatures rising and trout getting more active, it's time to wean from TV hoops and anything else that lures an angler indoors.
OUTCLIMB
Everest distinction one for the aged
Spokane climber Dawes Eddy, who's trekking his way toward Mount Everest, has an interesting twist in his goal to possibly become the oldest American to climb the world's highest peak.
OUTFISH
Angler catches largest of tiny fish
Here's a fish tale that could use a little exaggeration.
OUTFIELD
Ladybugs swarm Mount Spokane
Tom Kimbrell of Spokane was rewarded with surprise discoveries for skiing over the lingering snow to the top of Mount Spokane last Sunday afternoon.
OUTRAGEOUS
Sky-high skiers fly at Schweitzer
What: Yoke's Outrageous Air Show aerial ski-jumping exhibition, plus fireworks, music.
OUTROAR
Snowmobile Expo at Yellowstone
The West Yellowstone World Snowmobile Expo, March 13-15, has grown over 19 years to become the largest snowmobile event in the West, with manufacturers unveiling their 2010 lines while freestyle sledders flip through the sky in exhibitions.
OUTCAST
Angler explains what bugs trout
What: "Understanding Emergers," free program on fly fishing with aquatic insect patterns.
OUTPEOPLE
Vet has soft spot for wildlife
Shortly after opening his Otis Orchards veterinary clinic for domestic pets and livestock, Dr. Jerry Ponti exposed his wild side.
OUTSTANDING – About 280 volunteers turned out April 24 to build trails at Iller Creek Conservation Area and spruce up, or should we say "pine up," the nearby Dishman Hills Natural Area.
OUTDO –The Inland Northwest Wildlife Council will be distributing hen pheasant chicks to people who have facilities to raise 25 or more birds for 8-10 weeks before releasing them into the wild.
OUTLOOK – Fishing 2010, The Spokesman-Review's annual update on fishing prospects, rules and opportunities throughout the Inland Northwest, will be inserted in the Thursday paper.
OUTFISH – We have the scoop on the best fishing waters in Idaho, as well as in Washington, where dozens of the Spokane region's trout lakes will open to fishing on Saturday.
OUTSTANDING – Tuesday will mark 100 years since Montana's peak-studded wonderland, Glacier National Park, was officially secured in the national park system.
OUTSMART – Instant, customized updates on river flows and other water conditions are available daily or hourly by text message or e-mail through a new service offered by the U.S. Geological Survey.
OUTCLASS – The Spokane River Centennial Trail was designated a "national recreation trail" this week.
OUTFISH – Mick Palanuk of Grand Coulee offered this recipe for success after reading S-R columnist Jim Kershner's recent story of frustration in a quest to harvest a trout.
Beginner's luck: clinics teach skills
OUTDO – Experts in three popular Inland Northwest outdoor activities have scheduled special clinics to introduce newcomers to life-long sports. Check them out:
Experts make case for getting out
OUTGOING – Backpacker magazine's traveling "Get Out More" team will be in Spokane this week with a free hour-long seminar of trail-tested tips and the latest advice on outdoor gear.
Even 'play dams' are bad for fish
OUTLAW – Rock dams built by kids and campers to create swimming areas in streams can be a death trap to migrating fish.
Flight itinerary a hummer-dinger
OUTDISTANCE – A 3-inch, male black-chinned hummingbird recently was recaptured and released near Hamilton, Mont., about 1,000 miles from where it had been banded nine years ago as a chick along Arizona's San Pedro River.
Floating a laugh with boat names
OUTFIELD – Here's a list of the funniest names boat owners have registered for their vessels in 2009, as compiled by editors of Boat U.S. magazine.
Limits begin on Mt. Spokane road
Starting this week, the main road into Mount Spokane State Park will be closed to public access Mondays-Thursdays until mid-October.
Lewiston tops for sportsmen
OUTLIVE – Lewiston, Idaho, pop. 31,794, ranks No. 1 among 200 towns in Outdoor Life magazine's 2009 list of best places for sportsmen to live.
Wolves may be in family way
OUTFIELD – A game camera monitored by Washington state wildlife biologists recently caught an image of what appears to be a lactating female wolf in the middle of Pend Oreille County.
Rainier, etc., offer free ride
OUTBREAK – There's no charge to drive into national parks on July 18-19 and Aug. 15-16 under a new entrance-fee-free weekend program to help families become reacquainted with some of the best natural scenery in the world.
By the Ages
Oldest man: Min Bahadur Sherchan, 76, of Nepal, in 2008.
Gone fishing: Man in hot water
OUTCAST – While William Peterson spent a recent week fishing and camping near Bend, Ore., up to eight law enforcement officers in three Willamette Valley counties were out looking for him, according to The Oregonian.
Roosevelt campers seek high ground
OUTSMART – Savvy campers will pitch their camps high on the shores of Lake Roosevelt over the Fourth of July holiday.
Biologist watch for lousy deer
OUTBREAK – A mule deer found dead this spring near Riggins was infested with Bovicola tibialis, an exotic louse not previously reported in Idaho.
State fisheries biologists say a huge Columbia River spring chinook run should deliver healthy returns of 18,500 salmon to the Wind, Little White Salmon and Klickitat rivers of the Columbia Gorge in 2009.
With thousands of tundra swans flooding through the region on their spring migration, a birdwatching spotlight still shines on a single endangered trumpeter swan that's become an icon at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.
Waterfowl are riding the coattails of the federal land consolidation program in Eastern Washington.
British Columbia has around 30 commercially operated backcountry skiing and hiking facilities that range from rustic cabins to swank lodges.
A few new cabin options join the list of lookouts and other accommodations available in the region's national forests this season, and reservations can be made up to six months in advance. Also, hikers and river runners who would like to visit some of the Northwest's top wilderness areas and rivers this spring and summer had better be making applications for coveted permit drawings this winter.
There is a soft place in my heart for REI tents. As a developing backpacker in the early '90s, I bought an REI tent on sale for about $150 and kept it for years, staking the two-person shelter out on dozens of trips around the country.
The trend toward restrictions on lead bullets for hunting gained velocity recently:•The Department of Interior in March announcement a plan to ban lead ammunition and fishing gear throughout the National Park System by 2011. (Hunting is allowed in some national parks, preserves and monuments to manage wildlife populations.)
The boat, RV and sportsmen's show season is under way, giving outdoor enthusiasts a chance to see the latest products from manufacturers and learn sporting techniques at seminars.
Snow is on the ground. Lights are twinkling in neighborhood trees. Time to find gifts for the outdoors lovers on your holiday list.
The namesake for Spokane County's 628-acre James T. Slavin Conservation Area died at the age of 86 on March 3, but he's left a living legacy for nature.
Longtime Missouri River fishing guide Pete Cardinal says the rainbow and brown trout in the river near Craig, Mont., were as healthy as he's ever seen. And a report by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks backs him up.
A potion of the federal Farm Bill that's as important to wildlife and sportsmen as it is to farmers is in the spotlight this week.
ANACORTES, Wash. – When the owner of Dash One Charters of Anacortes decided to host a salmon derby, it wasn't going to be of the minnow variety.
The Skareb 50 backpack from The North Face is touted as the "ultimate pack for fast-packing." As it sounds, "fast-packing" is a term for backpacking fast with lighter loads and often covering distances of 15 or more miles in a day.
"You should have been here last week!""I think the hatch will start in about a week, depending on the weather."
Gray wolves killed livestock in Montana at the rate of an animal per day in 2009, stirring a backlash against the predators in rural areas and depleting a program that compensates ranchers for their losses.
A harbinger of spring salmon fishing is coming to town next weekend."The last time I gave a seminar on fishing for spring chinook was 2001, the year of the last phenomenal run," said Northwest salmon and steelheading icon Buzz Ramsey of Klickitat, Wash. "The room was packed and people were lined up out the door and down the hall trying to hear. So I know Spokane is interested in spring chinook."
Touted as high-performance and eco-friendly, Pacific Outdoor Equipment's new line of bike bags includes front and back fender panniers, under-the-seat cases, trunk bags, and other items that clip onto a bike's frame and rack system.
A bill in the Washington Legislature makes me gag, and I didn't even know Pam Almli. Had I known or been related to the Snohomish County woman — who was shot and killed while hiking in August by 14-year-old hunter who mistook her for a bear – this proposed legislation would make my blood boil.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A researcher at Simon Fraser University at Burnaby, British Columbia, is trying to profile the thrill seekers who duck under resort ropes and head out into the wild country.
From bike seats to pull-behinds, cycling accessories made for children can grant Mom and Dad time to exercise with kids in tow. Indeed, cycling with kids is among the easiest ways to stay active as a parent. This roundup covers four new products for cyclists looking to take along a kid for the ride.
Jake Cook, 18, of Kennewick , out-fished six junior division champs from around the country last weekend to win the 2009 Junior Bassmaster World Championship at Florida's Lake Yale East.
Karen Lasch and her family recently pulled over their car near a glacier-fed creek in Mount Rainier National Park, piling out for a glimpse of the snowcapped peak in the distance.
Self-guided access (Pend Oreille County map or DeLorme Atlas recommended): Drive north on Highway 2 through Newport to Oldtown.
SALT LAKE CITY — Jerry Rinder did not like the way the Outdoor Retailer Winter Show of 2009 ended. Woolrich's vice president of sales and marketing remembers saying goodbye to long-time retailers and wondering if he would see them again.
While not on the magnitude of the net-pen escapes from last year, the Colville Tribe is keeping the trout spigot open at Lake Rufus Woods.
The American Museum of Fly Fishing last week abruptly postponed a March 5 fund-raising dinner at the New York Angler's Club to honor former Vice President Dick Cheney.
A public program on the status of Lake Pend Oreille fisheries recovery efforts and the latest research data will be presented by Idaho Fish and Game Department officials and biologists on Saturday, 8 a.m.-11 a.m., at the Sandpoint Community Center.
Local anglers are giving fishing seminars at the Spokane National Boat Show, which is on through next Sunday at Spokane Interstate Fair and Expo Center.
Salmon managers in the Columbia River Basin say only about half the number of spring chinook originally predicted will return past Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River this year.
A May 2 auction to sell antlers elk shed this winter on the Oak Creek Wildlife Area in Yakima County raised $15,032, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest officials have established a non-motorized wedge on the south side of Mount St. Helens, bordered by the Monitor Ridge and Worm Flows climbing routes.
The Snyder Guard Station — includng a ranger house, cookhouse, cabins, RV sites and corral — on the Moyie River in the north tip of the Idaho Panhandle will once again be available for rent this summer.
Spokane Parks and Recreation Department has a long list of excellent guided group bicycle tours from spring through fall at a modest cost and sometimes complete with van support and bicycle rentals.
Learn to sail with auxiliary power in light to moderate winds with It's Tiller Time Sailing School, sponsored by Spokane Parks and Recreation. Groups will meet April 10 and 17, noon to 6 p.m. at Hayden Lake. Cost $275.
WILDLIFE –State wildlife officials are making plans to kill some bighorn sheep in the Yakima River Canyon later this month to curb the spread of pneumonia.
WILDLIFE – Six environmental groups have joined a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service to stop scientists from landing helicopters in a roadless area to collar wolves.
NATIONAL FORESTS – The U.S. Forest Service has proposed reducing discounts it has offered to seniors and disabled visitors at campgrounds and other facilities that are managed by private vendors, who operate about half of the national forest campgrounds.
THREATENED SPECIES – October is always a lousy month to be a grizzly bear, and this October was worse than usual.
HUNTING – A teen hunter who killed a mountain hiker he mistook for a bear has been sentenced to 30 days in juvenile detention and 120 hours of community service.
PUBLIC LANDS – Fall work projects that may affect recreationists this month:•Coeur d'Alene River District traffic is being detoured around a popular route to Teepee Creek until Sept. 30 while crews replace a culvert on Short Creek to improve fish passage.
CLIMBING – An unusually early-summer snowmelt created hazards on the Muir Snowfield at Mount Rainier starting in August.
STATE PARKS – Winter is making the transition to spring at Mount Spokane State Park.
Seen in books as a childstories unreal and fanaticizingtakes dreams to the highest level
He looked down at the obstacle. The massive jump stared up at him from a hundred yards away. He stood, motionless. Thinking of a plan, a way out, an exit.
Lurking in the shade, they grip onto branches of the great maple with their tiny brown talons, staring down upon passersby and sending a hungry vibe.
WILDLIFE – Steve Pozzanghera, currently the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department's deputy assistant director for wildlife programs, has been named the agency's manager for the state's 10 easternmost counties.
TRAILS –A proposed 30-mile rail trail that would extend east in Montana from the popular Route of the Hiawatha bike-pedestrian trail is being favored for multiple use.
WILDLIFE – Pneumonia is causing a significant bighorn sheep die-off that's under way in southwest Montana.
RAFTING – Applications to get coveted permits for floating the Selway, Snake, Middle Fork of the Salmon, or wild main Salmon rivers next season must be submitted online between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31.
NATIONAL FORESTS – National Forests along the Blue Mountains – Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman – will begin their management plan update process this month with open-house meetings and a two-month comment period.
Pedal through the ages
What: Ice Age Floods geological bike tour
John Andrews' 35-year career as a state wildlife biologist has spanned a considerable range of changes in Washington. Among them:
Perks of being a member of the Spokane Fly Fishers include the winter fly-tying classes, which include knowledgeable discussions of how and where to fish the patterns in this area.
The Idaho Panhandle National Forest Avalanche Center will conduct a free avalanche workshop for all snowgoers on Wednesday evening at the old Federal Building in Sandpoint.
Avalanche advisory a click away
A new avalanche safety Web site for the Cascades and Olympics, including the highway passes, has been launched by the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center and Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
What: Basic canoe/kayak paddling safety clinic.When: Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Where: Boothes Park, Lake Coeur d'Alene.
Bike, paddle to eating pleasure
Work up an appetite and finish it off on one of the many Spokane Parks and Recreation biking and kayaking tours that feature a gastronomical treat.
Act now on biking events
Although the events might be months away, winter registration usually fills fast for the following:
Action on lead
Significant actions in the trend toward reducing lead in the environment, with emphasis on U.S. restrictions affecting sportsmen:
Boaters and anglers will have a seat among scientists, tribal representatives and agencies at the Spokane River Forum Conference Thursday and Friday at the Centerplace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Place, in Spokane Valley.
What: Free slide show of 2008 Canadian Rockies group bike tour.Who: Presented by Spokane Bicycle Club members.
What: Free slide program on the best "easy" walking trails across Washington.
What: Free seminar on trolling with downriggers, planer boards and auto pilots.
What: Free Swix Tune & Wax session for cross-country performance skis.
Another 12 fishers recently were released in Olympic National Park as part of a three-year effort to reintroduce the weasel-like animal to Washington state.
1. Select a site out of the wind, away from snow-loaded tree limbs, that suits your purpose, whether it's to provide warmth for a shelter, for signaling or for both.
Photos of a pre-1975 free-running Snake River will be featured in a program by Save Our Wild Salmon advocating dam removal on the 140-mile stretch between Lewiston and the Columbia, Wednesday, 7 p.m., at Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St.
Wolf talk
What: "They're Back! Wolves in Pend Oreille County," program on gray wolf biology and management.
Area geologists are sharing their expertise by mixing hikes with earth history this week:•Hiking Muir's High Sierra, free slide show on John Muir Trail and Sierra High Route in California by Andy Buddington, Wednesday, 11:30 a.m., at Spokane Community College Sasquatch Room.
Two ways to enjoy an adult group moonlight trek on Mount Spokane next weekend, sponsored by Spokane Parks with discounts for REI members:
What: Slide show on Cabinet Mountains Wilderness hikes and adventures, free.
FLY FISHING
Tie one on
Scratch the itch in your casting arm:
Winter fishing gods played a cruel joke on Glen Kivett last Sunday at Sprague Lake.The Spokane angler caught a bright, hefty 19-inch rainbow trout almost immediately after dropping a jig through a hole in the ice around 10 a.m.
Basically, the era started in 1987 with 156 acres purchased at the Lakeview Ranch near Pacific Lake north of Odessa.
The pedaling season is shifting into high as organizers gear up for mass bicycle tours throughout the Northwest.
Wetlands were drained with the good-riddance stature of dirty bath water around the Inland Northwest in the last century. Now some of them are being restored, in bits and pieces, with little fanfare, much as they disappeared.
Camped on a sand dune, our paddling group was rousted by a haunting chorus of coyotes just outside the tent. I was thrilled to be lured out under the sprawl of stars, but not surprised. Song dogs have serenaded me on every canoe trip I've made over three decades along a unique waterway in the Central Washington desert. On this March evening, they were merely the closing act for the day's earful of paddle strokes, the racheting calls of sandhill cranes and the trill of red-winged blackbirds.
Our hopes were quickly confirmed as we beached our canoes on an island soon after launching on the Missouri River near Fort Benton. We'd removed our lifejackets, readied the dogs and were just loading shells into our shotguns when the first rooster pheasant of the day flushed within range from the shoreline willows.
The pedaling season is shifting into high as organizers gear up for mass bicycle tours throughout the Northwest.
After years of floating loans as a banker, Jim Wheeler launched a business 15 years ago to float anglers.
While some wilderness proposals championed by Idaho congressmen have moved to the front burner in Congress this month, the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness northeast of Lake Pend Oreille is still in the show-and-tell stage.
House hunting is entering its seasonal boom in the Inland Northwest, and savvy birding enthusiasts are working to improve the market.
The spring migration of tundra swans through the Inland Northwest is imminent, and tourism officials in Pend Oreille County planning a tour to share the spectacle of the swans' annual flight to northern breeding grounds.
It's no accident that backcountry skiers are coming home alive after pillaging the powder in the highest and most remote reaches of British Columbia's rugged mountains. Nor was it a coincidence that eight skiers were far from a particularly huge naturally triggered avalanche in a Purcell Mountains basin northwest of Kimberley last week, even though they had whooped it up in the same alpine openness on the second day of their weeklong trip.
At first glance last weekend, the group of four backpackers appeared to be making a huge sacrifice.
Anglers aren't the only people stalking fish in Lake Roosevelt. Researchers have several projects under way in the 130-mile-long reservoir using radio telemetry to plot movements of kokanee, walleye and sturgeon.
'That's a great bird dog: He hunts real close."Those two phrases run together in the gun dog world as commonly as closed minds and cranked up E-collars.
A parent-driven youth nordic program that's been teaching kids the lifelong enjoyment of cross-country skiing is gearing up for its 28th year at Mount Spokane. Registration is open for youths ages 5-15 in the Nordic Kids winter sessions that will start Jan. 9 and run almost every Saturday through February.
Mountain bikes replace skis on car racks at Lookout Pass Ski area on summer days as a popular rail trail continues to set visitation records.
The Methow River Valley's premier cross-country trail system has the diversity to attract skiers ranging from shufflers to members of the U.S. National Team. Take your pick of routes on the meadow flats, up the timbered hills, over the river bridges, past hot tubs or away from it all.
Loud rock music and a dizzying pace seem to be the antithesis of swinging a streamer through a steelhead run or drifting dries through a rise on a mountain trout stream. But the mix seems to be the antidote for what ails many anglers in the middle of winter.
A Svea 123 white-gas camp stove had been Bob Madsen's trusty companion through decades of traveling to backpacking destinations by land and air. The relationship changed dramatically a few years ago when the Spokane man was notified by Federal Aviation Administration lawyers that he was being fined $80,000 for packing his camp stove in his airline luggage.
Anglers have a sinking feeling about rising concerns over lead poisoning.Hunters are recoiling, too.
Getting to know the great outdoors around the Inland Northwest has never been easier.A summer series of free or inexpensive guided hikes and river trips is kicking off this week organized by groups with a cause.
He apologized for having a wild-game potluck retirement party Nov. 21 while some hunting and fishing seasons were still under way.
Never mind that he's 70. Jim Kujala is wired like a predator to head out at 10 p.m. or 3 a.m. or whenever his prey is at hand. Rivaling Noah in the number of wild critters he's handled, the Spokane Valley man's talent has been a blessing for two Inland Northwest towns plagued by destructive infestations of dangerously tame deer. In his retirement, Kujala has been live-trapping and relocating deer without using costly tranquilizers.
Get out of harm's way. Shelter yourself from the elements. Build a fire. Signal your location. These basic elements of backcountry survival are easier said than done.
A story by Christine Koneazny, a senior at St. Michael's Academy, has been judged the best of 191 entries to win The Spokesman-Review's 2009 Outdoor Writing Contest for high school students.
Bighorn sheep, among the most prized big-game animals in the West, are being killed by the hundreds this winter in Western Montana in a desperate effort to contain a disease outbreak.
Peter Harrison is one of those people who does things in a big way: His first steelhead appears to be a world record.
Unfulfilled by the unofficial national holiday for body-bruising men and million-dollar commercials, a growing group of women is breaking away from big-screen TVs and into the great outdoors of Mount Spokane on Super Bowl Sunday.
Thirty years after its explosive eruption, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is a world-class destination for visitors interested in nature, geology outdoors recreation and things that go Boom!
Eastern Washington birding enthusiasts are flying high this week with the release of a colorful new birding trail map for the state's far-eastern region.
Terry Gray spends several late-summer evenings each week fixated on a chimney in downtown Moscow, Idaho.
The popularity of a St. Joe National Forest rental cabin on one of Idaho's world-class trout streams has prompted officials to switch to a lottery system for reservations this summer.
MALTA, Mont. — When the new West is won, will there be cowboys? In light of what her neighbors are up to, Double O Ranch owner Vicki Olson isn't so sure.
Spokane fly tier Carolyn Sells is teaming up with Lewiston fur-and-feather guru LeRoy Hyatt for another season of instructional programs on public television starting Saturday.
Birdwatchers are flocking together in the next few weeks in about 2,000 localities across North America and beyond for the 110th Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Streams are magnets for spring hiking.From the maze of trails in Riverside State Park along the Spokane River to a wilderness experience along the Wenaha River near Troy, Ore., Inland Northwest hikers often can find worthy early-season routes by going with the flow.
Wolf Lodge Bay is alive with bald eagles that have migrated to the northeast corner of Lake Coeur d'Alene to feed on spawned-out and dying kokanee.
Hikers are in the same boat with gardeners this spring. We've all had to be patient a little longer than normal for the bloom to begin, but the wait is over.
Moose, elk and deer males are feeling a little light-headed these days.The bucks and bulls are shedding their antlers to make room for new and maybe larger racks by next fall to help gauge their breeding prowess.
It's time for high schoolers to begin thinking about fame, fortune and the great outdoorsThe Spokesman-Review once again is joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America in sponsoring a contest for youth outdoor writing.
Neither wind nor blowing snow last weekend could stay 55 skiing "mail carriers" from their appointed rounds – from snow line on the west slope of the Oregon Cascades to snow line on the east – along the route followed by pioneer mailman John Templeton Craig.
Deer control in residential areas is controversial virtually anywhere it's considered, and the Ferry County seat of Republic is no exception.
Spring chinook salmon are poised for a repeat of 2001, the recent high-water mark for salmon fishing in Idaho.
January and February might seem to put a chill on love in the great outdoors, but winter clearly arouses interest among some critters.
In Lake Roosevelt last week, there was no clear line between research and kokanee fishing."We had to use hook and line to catch the mature fish we would need for implanting transmitters," said Holly McLellan, a researcher from Eastern Washington University. "You can't really use nets for kokanee because they're out in the middle of the lake, besides they wouldn't survive being caught in nets."
The 1953 archive photo of a white skunk published with a Critter Watch column on March 14 hit home with local reader Priscilla Brash Martin.
LINCOLN, Mont. — The mount of a huge grizzly bear on display at the Helena National Forest's Lincoln Ranger District office has become a tourist attraction and is changing how locals view bruins that roam the region.
Sportsmen will be doling out more dough to hunt and fish starting next week under recreational fee changes approved by the Washington Legislature to help maintain state fishing and hunting opportunities.
NASELLE, Wash. – Meet Miranda Wecker, environmental lawyer, spartina eradication expert, enthusiastic mountain biker and skier – and new chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The live bears, hungry trout and leaping retrievers moving into the Spokane Fair and Expo Center this week will be just a fraction of the attractions at the Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show.
Usually news reports mention them only in passing, something like this:"The injured hunter was found this morning by a search and rescue team after being reported missing last night ..."
It's a contest of confidence, durability, technique and presentation.We're not talking about "Dancing with the Stars," but rather the Spokane Fly Fishers' annual One-Fly fishing contest, which attracted 25 participants May 9 at Badger Lake.
In a natural area, killdeer lay their eggs in a slight depression of gravel, perhaps near a stream.
Eileen Clarke is a remarkable package: She can hunt, shoot, butcher, cook and write.The Montanan also is willing to share those skills so the rest of us pilgrims can get the most from the game we've harvested this season.
The rut is winding down, leaving motorists with one fewer reason for colliding with a deer, elk or moose on the highway.
OUTCRY
Details, details: Tiger musky record revoked
Steven Salazar, 19, of Harlowton, recently caught a 32.4-pound tiger musky that exceeded the Montana state record by 3.5 pounds.
OUTSTANDING
Moms gone wild
All mothers deserve a tip of the hat today, including remarkable wild moms such as:
OUTBOUND
Author details hikes in Cascades
Which Cascade Mountains trails are already snow-free?
OUTHOOK
Wintering anglers submit to vises
Fly fishers don't chill during the cold months. They invest time learning the sport and filling their fly boxes with patterns they'll use the rest of the year.
OUTCLASS
Lanting to focus on nature photos
Frans Lanting, photographer in residence for National Geographic and one of the world's finest nature photographers, is the headliner for this year's spring photography seminar sponsored by the Spokane Camera Club and Photographic Society of America.
OUTFITTERS
Local companies 'best on earth'
Two Coeur d'Alene-based adventure travel companies received top international rankings in National Geographic Adventure magazine's January feature on "The Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth."
OUTLAW
Minimum age sought for hunters
Fourteen would be the minimum age for a hunter in Washington without adult supervision under legislation introduced by Rep. Brian Blake of Aberdeen.
OUTCLASS
Hunter ed courses fill fast
New hunters who have their sights on spring turkey seasons had better hustle to complete the mandatory hunter education requirements for Washington and Idaho. Courses in some areas are filled into May.
OUTFIELD
Elk buffs nudge Pennsylvania bid
Pennsylvania's first special elk tag raised $28,500 for wildlife conservation recently during the National Wild Turkey Federation convention in Nashville.
Solo is back.The elegant trumpeter swan is likely the elder seasonal wildlife resident at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, and one of the oldest documented anywhere among his endangered species.
The closure of four tunnels has taken the steam out of bicycling the rail trail through Washington's Iron Horse State Park-John Wayne Pioneer Trail, a popular rail trail that runs over the North Cascades.
OUTPEDAL – Bicycle commuters can put skill and safety on their side by enrolling in one of the upcoming "Smart Cycling, Traffic Skills 101" courses, created by the League of American Bicyclists and taught by local experts.
I glare down at my walkie talkie. Not working. Again.I groan quietly, and move the compound bow in my hands as I shove the radio back into my pocket.
OUTWIT – Wildflowers, especially on public lands, will please a lot more people if they're left in the ground rather than plucked for selfish short-term indulgence.
OUTCAST – An annual spring fishing event for kids is set for May 1 at Clear Lake in Spokane County.
Moose raffle tag stocking stuffer
OUTHUNT – Now's the time to drop a hint – or drop a few dollars yourself – to boost your chances for winning one of Washington's once-in-a-lifetime moose hunting tags.
•Snow suits are fine for toddlers, who spend much of their time rolling in the snow, but older kids need layers they can shed to avoid overheating.
New gear trends on the slopes
OUTFITTERS – According to the Ski Industry Association, here are some of the latest trends in equipment showing up at resorts this winter:
Salmon warning served in Seattle
OUTCRY – Seattle diners who ordered salmon at more than a dozen restaurants last week got their meal with a message: a warning that the creature's future could be threatened by a giant gold and copper mine proposed for Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon runs.
Beasts a burden for fisheries
OUTLAW – While road hunters are an issue in modern days, anglers apparently have had their issues with mixing their sport with transportation.
With 35 years of canoe hunting experience under my boat, I have solid list of guidelines learned from my own trial and error and the mishaps of my buddies. Among them:
Force-fed osprey hurls hook
OUTSMART – The osprey was hurting after it had ingested a fisherman's hook feeding on fish. But workers at Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center in Merlin, Ore., came to the rescue, dislodging the hook from its stomach by temporarily "stuffing" the bird.
Japan angler bags world record bass
OUTCATCH – It's official! After nearly six months of waiting for record keepers to make their decision, a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught in Japan was declared on Friday to be a world record – tying the legendary record caught 77 years ago by George Perry in Georgia's Montgomery Lake.
Loons are particularly vulnerable to death from ingesting even a single lead sinker.Several states, including New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Virginia, plus 13 national wildlife refuges and Yellowstone Park, ban the use of lead sinkers in waters frequented by loons or swans.
Plan ahead for popular tours
Several of the region's popular premium bicycle tours are already booked with riders for 2010 and registration is closed or names are being put on waiting lists. Among them:
He said it
"Think what we could do if everybody helped a little."
Mark Stambaugh's wife peeks into the garage, smiles, and says, "Nothing captures a boy's attention like playing with fire." Then she closes the door and leaves her husband to answer my burning desire for his insight on homemade alcohol stoves for backpacking. "She's comfortable with all the flames," he said. "I've spent a lot of time out here testing designs."
Drawdowns begin at lakes
OUTFLOW – Avista Utilities and the Corps of Engineers are beginning fall drawdowns that change the look of the lakes and rivers downstream.
Nest box savvy
Important considerations: Dimensions, height of entrance above bottom of box, diameter of entrance hole, placement site and height. Also, ventilation, drainage, susceptibility to predators, ease of maintenance.
Volunteers untrashed the Spokane River
OUTCOME – The Friends of the Falls recently released these admirable numbers from the seventh annual Spokane River Cleanup on Sept. 26:
Purple mountains majesty prevails
OUTPICK – Honestly, it made us sad last week to see the bounty of huckleberries going unpicked along good hiking trails north of Lake Pend Oreille and around Sullivan and Priest lakes.
Angling site quite a Catch
OUTFISH – Fly fishers are tuning in to the hip Web-based technology and superb photography of an online angling publication that debuted in September.
Events galore for nordic skiers
OUTDO – Cross-country skiers are still finding snow on high trail systems as they prepare for nordic events, many of which are coming up in the next few weeks:
Sky-high skiers fly at Schweitzer
What: Yoke's Outrageous Air Show aerial ski-jumping exhibition, plus fireworks, music.
Tuesday's hot topic: Volcano's fiery past
OUTFLOW – Geologist Don Swanson will detail the Kilauea volcano's explosive force in Hawaii's human and geological history at a free slide program Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium.
Acquisition timeline
Following is a summary of the major land acquisitions from Spokane west through Lincoln County, using round numbers supplied by BLM realty specialists:
Target areas
Since 1987, BLM has acquired 140,250 acres of private land in 14 Washington counties. Here are the top eight counties for acquisitions and consolidation:
At least 1,706 gray wolves in 242 packs and 115 breeding pairs were roaming the Northern Rockies of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming at the end of 2009, according to reports compiled by the states and recently released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
An old joke suggests "The family that shoots together, stays together – because nobody's brave enough to turn and run away."
With its new high-top trail shoe, Inov-8 stakes a simple claim that the Roclite 288 GTX is "the lightest-weight waterproof boot on the market."
The biggest run of spring chinook salmon – almost a half million – since before construction of Bonneville Dam is forecast to enter the Columbia River in 2010.
Is the bounty of hatchery steelhead moving up the Snake River too much of a good thing? Fishermen certainly don't think so, and that's why resentment is simmering on the Washington and Idaho sides of the river regarding hints that fishery managers may reduce the number of steelhead released from hatcheries.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's March decision to remove the gray wolf from the endangered-species list in the Northern Rockies gave the green light to open the first wolf hunting seasons in more than 70 years in Montana and Idaho.
Record steelhead counts over Bonneville Dam in mid-August could bode well for Deschutes River anglers over the next few weeks, Oregon biologists say.
Wildlife agencies across the nation will reap some of the profits from record-setting gun sales that spiked from late 2008 and well into 2009 after Barack Obama's nomination and election as president.
Three Kennewick men caught fishing in closed waters have been charged in Franklin County District Court on several counts involving theft of salmon and steelhead from a state fish hatchery collection site on the Snake River.
The bicycle that carried Scott Stoll around the world doesn't look like anything special. There's tape on the frame and extra washers to hold racks in place. The leather saddle is faded and worn, a dented anatomical imprint testimony to the months and thousands of miles Stoll sat pedaling on a quest to travel the planet on two wheels.
It's likely to be a long journey, but the days of good pheasant hunting in Eastern Washington could return.
Ferry County residents will make a critical decision on Nov. 3 regarding use of a prized abandoned railway the county acquired this year:
My wife obviously has a tin ear. She neither appreciates – nor tolerates – the beautiful sounds of nature.
FISHING – A hatchery and fishery reform policy is on the agenda for the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting Friday and Saturday in Olympia.
ENDANGERED SPECIES – Public comments will be heard in Spokane on Tuesday on a recently released draft management plan with guidelines for removing gray wolves from Washington's state endangered species list.
OFF-ROADING –The Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance has teamed with the Northwest Motorcycle Association to file a lawsuit against the state of Washington to block the transfer of $9.5 million in offroad vehicle funds from the Non-highway and Off-road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) account to the State Parks and Recreation Department.
PREDATORS – The number of wolves in Yellowstone National Park declined about 23 percent in 2009, a change park biologists say is typical of natural fluctuations for wildlife species.
MARINE MAMMALS – Pacific Coast observers spotted more whales this winter than in any of the past five, and the massive mammals are still passing by.
BIG GAME – Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks captured about 40 bighorn sheep from Wildhorse Island on Flathead Lake recently for transplant to other areas in the state.
WILDERNESS – Two men from Woodstock, Ga., who were convicted of abusing their horses during an extended pack trip in western Montana have been sentenced to six months in jail.
ENDANGERED SPECIES– A record number of sockeye salmon returned from the Pacific Ocean to central Idaho this year, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said.
FISHERIES – American shad made a big splash in 2004 with a record run of 5.4 million fish counted moving over the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam and into the mid-Columbia.
STATE PARKS – The public can comment on plans for Heyburn State Park on Monday during an open house at the park visitor center from 3 p.m.-5 p.m. and 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
NATIONAL FORESTS –Wildlife managers recently released an 8- to 10-year-old female grizzly bear in hopes of bolstering the grizzly population in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of northwest Montana.
OUTFISH – An angling guru who's figured out what makes fish tick – and bite – throughout the Northwest is returning to cable TV in January to share his fishing prowess.
WILDERNESS – Backpackers hoping to draw a coveted permit for the Enchantment Lakes portion of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Leavenworth must apply Feb. 1-8 – three weeks earlier than in the past.
FISHING – Butte-area anglers have been making it known that they want to keep controversial rules that help prevent overcrowding on the Beaverhead River.
Salmon class
Get educated this weekend while you fish for chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d'Alene in a fishing class taught by Jeff Smith of Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop.
A program about research on wolves and wolverines around the North Cascades will be presented in Spokane on Wednesday by Scott Fitkin, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist. The free program will start at 7 p.m. at the Riverview Community Building, 2117 E. North Crescent Ave., sponsored by Spokane Audubon.
Bike maintenance clinic, Thursday, 7 p.m., at REI, 1125 N. Monroe.Fly tying clinic by LeRoy Hyatt, Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at Silver Bow Fly Shop, 13210 E. Indiana Ave. Info: 924-9998.
Whether you're looking for a Cascades hiking route or an outdoor group, check out this week's 7 p.m. programs at REI:
Paddling Idaho
A kayaking video, "Exploring Idaho," featuring first descents on what the filmmakers call "soon to be classic runs," will be shown by the Spokane Canoe and Kayak Club on Monday, 7 p.m., at Corbin Community Center, 827 W. Cleveland.
Timely clinics for steelheaders
Several fly fishing clinics especially appealing to steelheaders are scheduled by Silver Bow Fly Shop in Spokane Valley:
What: Slide show on skiing the Haute Route, hut-to-hut, in the Alps.When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Master hunters enrolling now
Applications for Washington's Master Hunter program will be accepted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife through Feb.15.
The National Park Service manages almost 2 million acres of land in Washington. The collection of sites includes three national parks, three national recreation areas, historic areas and the nation's only national historic reserve. Here is a look at each of the 13 units the service operates in the Evergreen State.
Scotchman's group leads hike
Ross Creek Cedars and Scotchman Peak will be the destinations next weekend for the last in a long summer-fall season of group hikes led by the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.
Cyclists rolling on Selkirk loop
What: First annual WaCanId Ride, a bicycle tour on the International Selkirk Loop; up to 340 miles or sorter segments.
Kayaker descends Palouse Falls
Tyler Bradt, 22, of Stevensville, Mont., set a world record by riding his kayak over Palouse Falls on April 21. He quickly disappeared in the plummeting, billowing stream of white but emerged in his boat holding a broken paddle with injuries limited to a sore wrist.
Boating class set
A free one-day boating education class will be held Sept. 19 at the the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation Office, 2885 Kathleen Ave., in Coeur d'Alene.
An in-depth clinic on trolling for rainbows and mackinaw at Lake Pend Oreille will be presented at the Post Falls Cabela's store on Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., by Tom Joyner of Hayden
Professional paddler Tyler Bradt raised a puzzling question on April 21 when he traveled to southeastern Washington and set a world record for the highest waterfall descent in a kayak: What is the height of Palouse Falls? A group of Whitman College students set out recently to separate fact from hearsay.
Snowshoes are not just for transportation anymore. Snowshoeing has become a sport of its own. It's easy to see why. Modern snowshoes are lightweight, comfortable and easy to walk in. Almost anyone can snowshoe, and the gear gives people the mobility to get outdoors in winter, enjoy the scenery and get some exercise.
While scrambling up a razorback moraine near the iconic granite towers of Torres del Paine National Park, a gust of wind broadsided me with the force of a charging bull. No need to get up off all fours, I thought as I continued on, clinging to boulders to keep from going over the edge. If the notorious winds of Patagonia didn't blow me over, the scenery surely would.
Dave Powers has a foot firmly planted at opposite ends of the hunting spectrum. He's an accomplished archery hunter who has taken several trophy animals after calling or stalking the animals to close range.
The Snake River's record run of steelhead has been parading upstream and delivering pleasure and profit from the mouth of the Columbia upstream 800 miles to the Salmon, Idaho, area— and beyond.
Steve Moss likes to get away from it all when he goes fly fishing. The Spokane angler's favorite destinations are beyond the distractions of traffic and crowds to shorelines where he's encountered wild turkeys, ospreys, bald eagles, great blue herons, waterfowl, marmots, beavers, deer, moose – and even a cougar.
One man's affection for classic Volkswagen vans is spinning into a unique camping experience people can rent.
It started 50 years ago with a group of hunters gathering in a room to ogle at its trophy big-game mounts.
Spokane eventually climbed out of one of the snowiest winters on record in 2009. But the going was rough. A high toll of wildlife losses and roadkill littering the railways and highways led to curtailed fall deer and elk seasons in northeastern Washington and North Idaho.
The last week of September is a peak moment for hikers with the legs to trek high into the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. While forest-fire season is waning in the high country, the landscape has burst into a blaze of fall colors. Huckleberry bushes are crimson, mountain ash berries are brilliant orange and the alpine larch are coming out of obscurity to steal the show.
Spokane is on the verge of having a spiffy, newly paved stretch of rail trail that eventually will run all the way to Cheney.
This is shaping up to be a hallmark year for steelheaders, with the return of sea-run trout at near-record levels. Through Tuesday, 127,413 steelhead were counted at Lower Granite Dam, 35 miles west of Clarkston on the Snake River. At Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, 572,152 steelhead were tallied.
Of all the steelhead fishing techniques, none is quite so simple as the cast-swing-step rhythm of fishing a fly.
After a somewhat dominating 14-year reign in the northwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park, one of the park's most-prolific and most-viewed gray wolf packs in the world may have perished. "The Druid pack is kaput," said Doug Smith, Yellowstone's wolf biologist. It happened stunningly fast.
The bird feeder in my neighbor's yard was a magnet. Dozens of sparrows at a time. I wished they'd eat only from his feeder, however, my backyard was the next course. One morning I stood at my back window and counted more than 60. I can take a few birds, but sun-blocking flocks? I needed to take action.
What happens when two guys from Seward, Alaska, take off for Seattle in kayaks?A lot of laughs, according to kayaker and filmmaker Josh Thomas. But not slapstick comedy so much as slices of life that become humorous in their complexity in the 52-minute documentary "Paddle to Seattle" by Josh Thomas and J.J. Kelley.
"It was her idea," Shawn Barrong said. "I wasn't planning to go elk hunting this year."The Sawtooth Mountains area that fired up his passion for bugling bull elk had lost its luster in recent years.
Finally, after years of trying, I have completed my Quest for the Holy Grayling.Catching the elusive arctic grayling has long been near the top of my life list of "Things to Do Before I Die."
Skiing through the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies and following the Haute Route through the Alps of Europe are both physically demanding and monumentally scenic.
The boat, RV and sportsmen's show season is under way, giving outdoor enthusiasts a chance to see the latest products from manufacturers and learn sporting techniques at seminars.
A draft management and conservation plan released recently for gray wolves in Washington presents a blueprint for ushering the predators through their gradual revival to eventual delisting from state endangered species protection.
The record run of steelhead that paraded up the Snake River delivered pleasure and profit from the mouth of the Columbia upstream 800 miles to the Salmon, Idaho, area.
The buildup to last Sunday's PBS premiere of "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" was the conservation community's equivalent of the build-up to the Super Bowl.
Aside from a coffee pot, good eating in hunting camp demands only one thing: a Dutch oven.I got my first taste of this art form at a New Mexico deer camp 25 years ago, when we returned to our rigs and one of the men took his cherished Dutch oven out of its burlap sack.
Perhaps the day has arrived for the hunting record books to catch up with Major League Baseball. The way trophies are listed needs to be revised. To be fair, the day of the asterisk has arrived.
Bill Demong's historic Winter Olympics gold medal stirred a buzz among recreational nordic skiing junkies throughout the country, especially in north-central Washington's Methow Valley.
The deer most people see during deer season are most likely lashed to vehicles, headed for butcher shops. The stories nonhunters hear are often those of successful hunters eager to recount the details of their hunt.
The full range of outdoor experiences – from delight to despair and rare wild creatures to the wild life of outdoor adventurers – is coming to Spokane next weekend with the Banff Mountain Film Festival's World Tour.
Although they hid among the green firs and pines all summer, yellowing needles are helping larch trees stand out in the crowd during autumn.
The first wildlife signs of spring aren't just sights for winter-sore eyes. They're comforting to the ears, too.
I've always advised my two daughters to take advantage of opportunities.Now I'm practicing what I preach, shadowing them occasionally as they open doors in their ever-more-independent lives.
Inland Northwest hikers don't have to travel any farther than North Idaho to make a cast for grayling.
Huck happiness ranges far
OUTPICK – The Inland Northwest doesn't have a lock on huckleberries.
Flurry of albinos show in Montana
OUTSTANDING – Two rare white sightings came from Montana this fall:
World-record bass caught in Japan
OUTCAST – The world-record largemouth bass that trophy anglers have been stalking for decades from Florida to California apparently has been caught – by a woman in Japan.
18 hours bags Kettle Crest Trail
Four hikers recently marched the entire 45-mile length of the Kettle Crest Trail and called it a day.
Anniversaries
150, "Origin of Species," Darwin's introduction to the theory of evolution.
Gone to the lake: winter's version
OUTGOING – Ice anglers weren't the only ones attracted by near-perfect ice conditions at many area lakes during two recent cold, snowless weather windows.
BASS drops women's contests
OUTCAST – The Women's Bassmaster Tour for professional tournament fishing has been dropped for 2010, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society announced last week.
This 'Souper' Bowl for women only
What: Fifth-annual Women's "Souper" Bowl, with cross-country skiing and snowshoeing activities, lessons, lunch.
Auctions offer impressive trips
OUTBID – Join sturgeon researchers, catch ground squirrels, stock mountain trout lakes, go with river guides on the Salmon River or fishing guides on a North Idaho stream.
Trust preserves another land jewel
OUTSTANDING – A conservation easement that will perpetually protect the natural beauty of 503 acres, including 1.5 miles along Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, has been secured by the Inland Northwest Land Trust.
Luck of the draw in Alpine Lakes
OUTLAST – For the first time in seven years, Donna Larsen did not draw a coveted permit to camp in the Enchantment Lakes area of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness during the first week of October.
Local birds grace calendar
The Spokane Audubon Society has a wealth of knowledge about birds that frequent this area, and the club also includes photographers with generous ability to capture their images.
Steelhead fishing is best when it's simple, says Orofino, Idaho-area fishing guide Kyle Jones.Like a growing number of anglers, Jones, who also works at Camp, Cabin and Home in Lewiston, has pared his fishing gear down to a few basic and cheap materials. All he needs is a hook with an egg loop, a bit of yarn and some scent.
A trail of pink and purple stains runs along the floor of the Water's Edge Tackle Shop in Clarkston. The handle on the front door is stained, as are the telephone and other frequently used items.
Spring forest burns boosts wildlife
OUTFIELD – Many national forests are announcing they will be conducting "controlled burns" in the next few weeks while forests are just dry enough to burn but damp enough to prevent "hot' burns and runaway fires.
Priest River family answers the call
OUTSTANDING – Bugles, barks, grunts and squeals must have been appropriate table talk at Misty Waggener's house in Priest River.
Nature lovers flock to bird festivals
OUTDO – Organized outings and access to experts are among the benefits of visiting festivals celebrating the arrival of migrating birds. Two notables in this region include:
Joe Mirasole and Jeff Holmes said they were in their element. The Spokane County sportsmen had shoved off in a drift boat into a roadless stretch of the Grande Ronde River for a winter day of steelheading with jig-and-bobber rigs.
There's nothing fancy about the mountain goat horns on a cheap plaque, which Chris Culbertson will display this week at the Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show.
BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA, Minn. — The moose calf didn't seem to want to get out of the water.
Snowmobilers in the Yakima area are reaching into their own wallets to help a state agency make up for a budget shortfall – not because they want to.
TRAILS – Capt. William Clark never had it so easy. A route he and his men hiked through the Long Beach Peninsula in 1805 has been graded and paved. Sturdy wooden bridges ease the way over marshy stretches near Ilwaco.
Map finished for Beacon Hill
Three years in the making, a trail map for the Beacon Hill Recreation Area has been published.
Camouflage clothing for hunters has been developed much as fishing lures are marketed to anglers: Looking good to the consumer is perhaps more important than what the critter sees.
The unpredictability of hunting keeps us coming back. There's no such thing as a routine hunt.A sure way to add to the drama and interest: Bring along three puppies of three different breeds on their first hunt of the season for the opening of quail season.
Fly fishers take on steelhead
Lewiston fly-tier Leroy Hyatt and Spokane fishing guide Sean Visintainer will present a free program about steelheading on the Clearwater and Grande Ronde rivers Wednesday, 7 p.m., at St. Francis School, 1104 W. Heroy, sponsored by the Spokane Fly Fishers.
Skinny dipping is a generally accepted exception. A justifiable risk. But from a practical point of view, sex and nudity in the great outdoors tends to flirt with natural lust-busters such as ticks, horseflies, poison ivy and stinging nettles.
The itch to cast a fly starts irritating serious anglers this time of year. Rocky Ford Creek south of Soap Lake is a satisfying place to scratch it.
In the realm of delicious activities conducted after dark with a fishing rod, one obscure sport is leaps and bounds above the rest. "The only thing that's really comparable is spotlighting and spearing carp," said Dan Gillette, a Pend Oreille County good ol' boy who obviously prefers the path less traveled.
Three climbers were already dead on Oregon's Mount Hood when a helicopter coming for survivors crashed and tumbled 1,000 feet down a steep snowfield. The accident, captured on video in horrifying detail, seemed to symbolize the costs and risks of alpine search and rescue.
Minnesota hunter Randy Bartz began his career in insurance then left it to become an illusionist. But, he's not the sort of magician you'll find on The Strip in Las Vegas.
A month after bagging the mule deer that ended what could be a once-in-a-lifetime sportsman's odyssey, Jim Parker's desk at Parker Toyota is piled with enough work to eliminate any time for gloating, even if he were prone to doing so.
After a year of making great strides into an active lifestyle, a Hayden couple has given some old travel habits the boot. Jane and Ralph "Skip" Lincoln mark their transformation with three life-changing moments: -- A reckoning with vacation boredom on the Oregon Coast.
For three decades, Mark Buescher has planned much of his life — job selection, the birth of his children, you name it — to maintain the tradition of getting a sore butt on the third weekend in May.
A Spokane man got more than he expected out of his first expedition-length adventure race: bruises, blisters, fatigue and a field of new acquaintances, both real and imaginary.
When a cross country skier falls in the woods, does he make a sound? Apparently, at least on the second Sunday in February at Mount Spokane.
Infrequent guests through the years, moose have been moving into the northeast corner of Oregon in greater numbers, much as they started moving into northeastern Washington decades ago.
COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. — The former Post Office building is crammed to the ceiling with row upon row of boxes containing a curious assortment of items: Frog hair, centipede legs, tentacles, muskrat hides, moose mane, goose wing feathers, gator hair and something dubiously labeled "Rub-A-Dub.
Following yet another mild winter, the number of turkeys in the Inland Northwest has probably never been higher. And with the 2005 spring turkey season more than half over, this may be the best time to call in a gobbler.
The U. S. population has increased by 100 million people in the past 40 years and the rate of rural land lost to development through the 1990s was about 2.
Like a scent-seeking missile, a sleek 6-year-old English pointer named Cypress Gunpowder left vapor trails across nearly 3,000 acres of Tennessee in February and blew away the competition at one of the nation's oldest sportsmen's events.
Nothing takes modern big-game hunters to their roots more quickly and efficiently than a wilderness-bound pack string. Wall tents, wood stoves and saddle sores are part of a Western autumn tradition that dates back to the mountain men, although nowadays a wilderness hunt is a luxury in more ways than one.
Forty years and 106 million acres after Congress decided the wilderness should not be spoiled by people, the law is such an icon that skeptics dare only try to slow its consequences.
‘You get a chance to see how it all begins," muses Mike Block, one of my hiking companions. At our feet, in a burn-ravaged forest, green fiddlehead ferns unfurl their fronds.
Sweat, skill and surprise are three key elements facing participants in the region's first outdoor adventure race. The NIChallenge is scheduled for May 7 at Farragut State Park, sponsored by the North Idaho College Student Activities Department.
The walk itself is usually all the reason a hiker needs to go backpacking. But the effort is even sweeter than the trailside wildflowers when every step takes you further into history.
Leaving winter behind for a vacation break to Hawaii doesn't necessarily require going cold turkey on muscle-powered outdoor activities. Personally, I can relax on a beach with the best meat loafers on the planet — for about 30 minutes.
It's official, almost. Idaho dignitaries plan to make speeches and cut ribbons on Saturday to dedicate the 72-mile Trail of the Coeur d'Alene's, a spiffy paved parkway following the old Union Pacific railway from Plummer to Mullan.
Throughout history, people have been simultaneously awestruck and infatuated with towering peaks — pinnacles that come closer than other natural objects to the heavens. Borah Peak on Mount Borah is Idaho's offering to the gods.
Fishing and hunting remain the foundation of the annual Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, but there's much more between there and the roofs of the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center this week.
Editor's note: This is the first of a series of stories by Spokane writer Maryanne Gaddy regarding her novice plunge into mountaineering and her current immersion in the three-month Mountain School conducted each spring by the Spokane Mountaineers, celebrating their 90th anniversary.
British Columbia fishing resorts have noticed that salmon anglers no longer come from the same mold. Some anglers want nothing more than to hook a limit of chinook or coho.
The gray-haired lady at the rental-car station in Pierre, S. D. , was sliding the contract over the counter when she stopped and looked up through her horn-rim glasses with a sweet, grandmotherly smile.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska looms around the top of many lists. It's the nation's largest refuge and it encompasses the second-largest official wilderness.
Washington's last best wild steelhead runs spawn in waters protected within the wilderness of Olympic National Park. Perhaps the healthiest steelhead runs in the world originate in streams that flow out of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in southwestern Oregon.
The expedition grew, as so many others in history, from the longing gaze of a climber looking up from the lowlands at the challenge and mystery of eye-catching peaks in the distance.
Trails made the region's headlines in 2004. Some were opened, some were destroyed and others were the subject of debate between motorized and non-motorized users.
Dogs were whining with anticipation in their kennels while hunters stuffed handfuls of No. 6s into their game-vest pockets. You might have thought it was opening day of the pheasant season, that is, if you didn't notice: -- The fall colors are gone.
Anglers almost need to sleep in their waders this year. Unusual weather and a pitiful snow pack are raising havoc with normal timetables for ice-out and run-off.
It started with a strange hum, a soft fluttering as if grasshoppers had suddenly gathered on the mountain. This wasn't a symphony of Wyoming nature, but a prelude to disaster.
A story by Amy Whisenand, a Spokane home-schooled senior, has been judged the best of 252 entries to win The Spokesman-Review's 2004 outdoor writing contest for high school students.
I might have looked idiotic with my Captain America helmet, frogman fins and farmer John wetsuit, but fashion was the least of my concerns as I stood on the banks of the Clark Fork River near Missoula on a recent afternoon.
Forget video games. Don't even think about a fruit basket. This year get your family and friends gear they can use on the snow, in the woods or anywhere else outside and under the blue sky.
The black spot at the base of the mossy old bigleaf maple turned its head and looked as our party of five made its way down the trail through the meadow.
They are in their 70s, 80s and 90s, with centuries of collective life experience and wisdom. But for one day last week, they were all wet behind the ears.
A pair of falcons put Colville on the birdwatching map this summer. Two merlins, among the smaller of the falcon species that breed in North America, not only made a rare appearance in northeastern Washington, they set up house in the Colville City Park.
From a distance, much of it looks like wasteland. Up close, this bulge in the sea of Oregon sagebrush desert reveals itself as one of the most diverse and productive wildlife areas in Oregon.
Summer may be waning, but Inland Northwest bicyclists are gearing up for their sport's hottest season. Starting this morning with the 25th annual Autumn Century, sponsored by the Spokane Bicycle Club, there's a major leg-stretching event to enjoy every weekend into October.
AN EPIDEMIC IN CALIFORNIA is sounding the latest alarm that birdwatchers might be loving their songbirds to death. National surveys conducted by the U.
Three miles high on the West Buttress of North America's tallest mountain, Heather Thamm and Betsy Young are the shining faces of the new feminism. The recent graduates from Alaska Pacific University don't make a big deal about what women can do or what men might say women shouldn't do.
Lake Coeur d'Alene fishing guide Jeff Smith selects his fishing role models with the same care a savvy patient would give to choosing a surgeon. "You look for the guys who are out here doing it every day," he said.
don't know whether I'd shoot in the winter without The Spokesman-Review Trapshoot because it never crossed my mind," Chuck Booth said. After coming across a kind letter the veteran Cheney trapshooter had sent in last winter, I called recently to get a little more of his perspective on one of the longest-running sporting events in the Inland Northwest.
In August, I had a wilderness experience that changed my life. Right now, I am happy to be alive. I was unroped and scrambling on Class 4 rock on the West Ridge of Mount Stuart in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness when I strayed a bit off route, climbed through a 5th class move, decided it prudent to back off and began down-climbing.
The 158,615-acre Anaconda Pintler Wilderness in Southwestern Montana is small by Western standards, but packed inside its boundary is a beauty rivaling anything in the world.
The formula for success was pretty simple at Clear Lake on May 7. Bring in 7,000 rainbow trout plus 60 volunteers plus 1,000 rigged-up fishing rods plus 1,000 kids and you have an equation that equals more smiles than a circus.
Third in a series: This week, 30-year-old Maryanne Gaddy, an aspiring recreational climber, offers an inside look at the "snow practice" session, one of the highlights in the annual 14-week-long Mountain School offered by the Spokane Mountaineers.
She's the queen of the skies over High Bridge Park, and a devoted mate and model housekeeper as well. A 13-year-old female peregrine falcon — one of the oldest wild moms of her species — has hatched another brood of chicks under the Sunset Highway bridge upstream from the confluence of Hangman Creek and the Spokane River.
High-tech cameras have made their mark in producing high-quality films from high-energy places. The evidence was on the big screen last weekend in Alberta at the 29th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival, and it's on the way to Spokane this week.
Explorers scam sponsors, spend fortunes and span the globe looking for unique, far-flung adventures. Mike Aho found a cheap expedition in Spokane's backyard. "I'd never seen the Spokane River in its entirety, and as I started looking for information, I realized I'd never talked to anyone who'd been on the river from beginning to end," said the outdoor program director for the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department.
The blistering July sun beat upon Eastern Washington's landscape. It had killed the wild grass, leaving it withered and brown. The pine trees withstood the harsh rays better.
BOZEMAN — A federal judge's ruling in an Arizona case involving caps on nonresident hunters and the fees they must pay may affect similar regulations in Montana, a state wildlife agency attorney says.
Part 2: A helicopter fights winds, rangers scramble on foot and on ropes, and injured climbers wait and pray in this installment of a three-part serial about a lightning strike last summer that left climbers hurt high in Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.
WASHINGTON — A Senate showdown over an Alaska wildlife refuge is expected within weeks as Republicans plan to use a budget measure to overcome strong opposition to allow oil drilling in the protected area.
Wilderness is argued to be either the ultimate protection for America's choice wild lands or a drastic lock-up that excludes the use of motorized equipment, not just for recreation but also for management.
WALES, Alaska — Two men began skiing to Russia last week from the icy shores of Alaska, dragging on sleds the 250 pounds of gear they hope will help keep them alive.
Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles about a 30-year-old woman's ascent into the world of mountain climbing through the annual Mountain School conducted by the Spokane Mountaineers.
Anglers will pay a premium this year to fish seven of the most popular streams in southeastern British Columbia. To help reduce pressure in the East Kootenay Region, a special $20-a-day permit (Canadian funds) will be required for out-of-province anglers who fish the Bull, Elk, Kootenay (upstream from White River), St.
WASHINGTON — More than 125 scientists, including chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall and biologist Edward O. Wilson, have a signed a letter opposing the Bush administration's plan to reverse a Clinton-era ban on road building and logging in 58 million acres of remote national forests.
My daughters don't care much for blood and guts, and that's a healthy lesson for a Montana-born hunter-fisherman to learn. A son might have had more interest in the 20-gauge and the five-weight fly rod I've made available to my daughters, but he wouldn't necessarily have any more wilderness miles under his hipbelt.
During autumn, a sportsman who hunts and fishes struggles with a dilemma as perplexing as a loose dog that finds himself between a carcass and a cow pie.
The Colville, Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests are shifting into another gear on the road to revising their forest management plans. Although forest officials have been working with user groups to outline specific issues, such as motorized use of recreational roads and trails, broader public meetings have been scheduled.
Winter is prime time to delve into the sport of fly fishing, from the art of creating flies to the skill of catching fish with them.
Imagine an incessant whining of mosquitoes, caribou hair so pervasive it sticks to food and covers clothes, a week trapped in a tent sharing a single sleeping bag, not enough sleep, not enough food, months without a shower.
Turkey hunters head into the woods well before dawn in the hopes of calling in a gobbler, but the truth is that most hunters could sleep in and still have an excellent chance of bagging a bird.
The Cedar was a workingman's river. It flowed past cement plants, airplane factories and trailer parks in southeastern King County, feeding Lake Washington, a poor-man's Puget Sound.
Cold air rushing in the open window, Damion looks out from his room above Pierre's Trade Store, peering down at the dirt street of New Mica.
Third in a series: Last time, The Lake Lady visited the Lower St. Joe River. This week she heads a little farther north into the Idaho Panhandle as she continues her powerboater's view of Inland Northwest waters.
Part 3: "Am I going to be OK? " a dangling climber asks as rangers finally reach him in this last installment of "Courage on Friction Pitch," a three-part serial about a lightning strike last summer that left climbers dead and injured high in Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.
Birdwatchers in this region and across the continent will flock together in the next few weeks for the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, the annual birding social event of the season.
Norm Price is on a crusade that has two goals: help fellow anglers catch more fish, and recycle millions of discarded beer bottle caps from bars and restaurants throughout North America.
Second in a series: Last time, Laurel Boone Helm offered her powerboater's view of Banks Lake near Coulee City, Wash. This week The Lake Lady and her family launch their 18-footer at the south end of Lake Coeur d'Alene as they explore another boating getaway within a short drive of Spokane.
HELENA — In 1991, new arrivals to the Canyon Ferry Wildlife Management Area started making a few nests on the islands at the south end of the reservoir.
"Dang it, missed another one," I said to myself, "Oh well, there are always more fish to catch. " "Meghan, set the hook, how many times do I have to tell you?
Managing access, whether by motor vehicle or human power, has become a hot topic as national forests revise their management plans for the first time in about 15 years.
Two Spokane-area anglers said there was a downside to landing the fish that put their names in the record books.
Two Spokane-area anglers said there was a downside to landing the fish that put their names in the record books. For Bryan McMannis, it was a matter of timing.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Let others dissect only frogs in science class. Stephanie Bradford also wants the hearts and eyes of moose, caribou and bear.
This is bizarre. People are launching kayaks on what is essentially a lake of weak battery acid at Badwater Point in Death Valley National Park, Calif.
For starters, I am a sportsman, not a gear junkie. I love hunting, fishing, hiking and paddling. I hate shopping. I prefer spending my time in the field, not at the mall.
Allen Peterson has the humble goal of working one on one to introduce the joy of fly fishing to underprivileged kids from single-parent families. Since he opened Swede's Fly Shop on North Ash Street last April, Peterson has offered free fly tying lessons to single-parent kids, one or two at a time.
The history of the body of water that became Lake Roosevelt started with the Ice Age floods that carved the landscape, leaving huge boulders and abstract formations along the shores of the Columbia and Spokane rivers.
GARIBALDI, Ore. — A year ago, the Taki-Tooo left the Port of Garibaldi bound for the deep fishing waters off the Oregon coast and headed into infamy as one of the state's deadliest marine tragedies.
SALT LAKE CITY — There are pack horses, pack mules and pack llamas. But how about pack goats? Goats are perhaps the newest trend in hiking and backpack-carrying animals, and Utah is leading the pack in their promotion by hosting the 2004 Rendezvous for the North American Packgoat Association this spring near Flaming Gorge.
Rivers are the blood vessels of a wilderness area. They are the life lines that link the ecosystem and provide the arterials for fish, wildlife and adventurers alike.
SHELBY, N. C. — The Appalachian Trail opened in 1937 as a continuous footpath and, a year later, Lee Barry first set his boots on the trail.
The National Park Service will distribute guided climbing opportunities of Mount Rainier among three mountaineering companies beginning in 2006, effectively ending a near-monopoly one company has held at the peak for more than 30 years.
A new era is developing for fishermen who have made traditions of catching trout in British Columbia's southeastern waters. New attractive fisheries are emerging while the fishing quality is fading at some perennial favorite lakes.
Just as the runt of the litter can turn out to be the best dog in the kennel, a gem could be hiding in the dregs of the fishing-guide pool.
Editor's note: Last summer, Laurel Boone Helm wrote 11 columns for Outdoors & Travel chronicling her travels to launch her family's 18-foot powerboat and explore the dozens of lakes within a reasonable drive from her home near Cheney.
Fourth in a series: Last time, The Lake Lady cruised on North Idaho's Spirit Lake. This week, she's returning to the same neighborhood to explore Hauser Lake for another powerboating tour of Inland Northwest waters.
MOIESE, Mont. — The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has shot 11 coyotes on the National Bison Range so far this year, in an effort to give newborn pronghorn antelope a better chance of survival.
The beaches were an afterthought. Olympic National Park was established in 1938 primarily to protect the declining herds of Roosevelt elk and the old-growth forests that sustained them.
Montana is a magnet to hunters from across the nation each fall. Time seems to have stood still in the rural areas of this huge state with its rich, thriving wildlife populations.
Fly tiers are realists and dreamers all in one. They create fly-fishing patterns to simulate insects and fishes. Some dream up attractor patterns they hope will deceive fish and become as popular as the Royal Coachman, a pattern that's been a staple for a hundred years.
RENO, Nev. — Jon Wilson, a 27-year-old downhill mountain bike racer, likes the new style called freeriding because any challenge is fair game — from bombing down flights of stairs to dropping off 10-foot cliffs to riding across teeter-totters.
In the next few weeks, the camps of President Bush and challenger Sen. John Kerry will be rolling out their campaigns to win over what is often called the "hook and bullet" crowd.
Back in 1988, my family lived at the famous Grand Canyon in Arizona. My dad was a trail crew worker for the National Park Service and knew the incredible canyon and the mighty Colorado River very well.
The real estate boom on Lake Coeur d'Alene is gradually silencing the boom of waterfowler's guns. Hunters in recent years have gone to bays only to find new homes in areas where they used to build their duck blinds.
Ah, wilderness! Friday marks the 40th anniversary of The Wilderness Act, the legislation signed by President Lyndon Johnson that has helped assure that America's grandest landscapes — from the Florida Everglades to the Washington Coast — would remain wild .
Volunteers focused on elk, turkeys and ducks are busy organizing Inland Northwest fund-raising dinners and auctions to boost wildlife conservation projects. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wild Turkey Federation are particularly active, raising millions of dollars to improve habitat for these and other wildlife species.
DULUTH, Minn. — Walking through the woods near my home the other day, I came upon a great gray owl that had died. It was lying atop the snow beneath some alders and young aspen.
Walking is something we learn naturally. The art of backpacking, however, requires a few additional steps. Two different Spokane-area outdoor clubs with decades of experience in hiker know-how offer spring backpacking schools to get hikers off on the right foot.
Waterfowl hunters who hunker on a Snake River island in hope of decoying ducks or geese are more likely to have a shot at fur than feathers.
While this winter has been the worst for snow lovers, it has been among the best for cyclists who would rather ride outside than on an indoor trainer.
Your feet will work fine, but you need to train your brain to hike the desert of Central Washington. For those used to roaming the forests and mountains of the Cascade Range, this country is too big, too wide open, a bit unnerving.
WASHINGTON — Hours after formally kicking off his U. S. Senate campaign, Republican Rep. George Nethercutt endorsed a wilderness proposal in Washington state. Nethercutt, a conservative who has drawn criticism for what environmentalists call anti-environment votes, said Friday he believes the proposed Wild Sky area northeast of Seattle should be preserved.
Hunter education instructors have lives to live and passions to pursue, a point that's especially worth making this time of year, their Washington state leader says.
Logging is a high-profile activity when it occurs between city neighborhoods and skidders drag trees across popular hiking and mountain bike trails. Reaction to a current forest-thinning operation on Spokane City Parks land near Hangman Creek and Hatch Road has ranged from concern to delight, city officials said.
While a bill that would authorize opening more secondary roads to all-terrain vehicles is cruising through the Washington Legislature, U. S. Forest Service officials in Washington are saying they may have been too strict in banning ATVs on some forest roads under existing law.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — "People look at the long barrel and think it's going to kick or that it's too hard to shoot," said inventor Wendell Diller.
Grand Teton National Park is all about the mountains. Doing almost anything is more fun while watching the jagged peaks shift in front of forested hillsides and alpine lakes, and biking through the park is becoming one of the most popular ways to do that.
WASHINGTON — About 10 percent of all bird species face extinction by the end of the century and 15 percent more are on the brink, according to researchers who say such extinctions would have a widespread impact on the environment, agriculture and human society.
The steelhead runs up the Snake River have slowed. But even anglers with good steelheading in their neighborhood can find reasons to drive the winding roads toward the Bogachiel River on Washington's Olympic Coast.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A conservative legal foundation filed twin federal lawsuits last week challenging federal protections for 42 species, 15 of which live only in shallow seasonal pools across much of California and in far southern Oregon.
LEWISTON, Idaho — Mike Rinard of Lewiston isn't shy about his product. "We make the finest shooting glasses," he says. "We have been rated No.
SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, Calif. — Norm Macdonald rises each morning with the sun, grabs his . 223-caliber rifle and slips into the passenger seat of a tiny, doorless helicopter for another day of shooting pigs.
If you've ever fantasized about joining an expedition but couldn't shake free for the months or years required, set aside a few hours to view the current shows at the IMAX Theater in Riverfront Park.
Paddlers and downtown interests are eager to harvest some of the Spokane River's unutilized recreational value. But first they need some seed money. The Spokane Canoe and Kayak Club has joined area businesses to raise $45,000 needed for the design, permit and engineering phase of developing a whitewater park on the Spokane River near the new Sandifur pedestrian bridge.
ANCHORAGE — The McNeil River brown bears — famous for going about their business of catching salmon within a few yards of admiring tourists and photographers — won't be hunted during the next two years on state lands adjacent to the state game sanctuary.
A California company, Red Rock Biologics, is marketing a canine vaccine that has proved effective in protecting dogs against venomous snakebite. According to company spokeswoman Janet Jones, most veterinarians are selling the vaccine for $25 to $30 a dose.
RENO, Nev. — A lawsuit by three New Mexico outfitters accusing Nevada of discriminating against non-residents when issuing big-game hunting tags has Nevada wildlife officials scrambling to revamp the rules before next fall.
It's time for high school students to begin thinking about fame, fortune and the great outdoors. The Spokesman-Review once again is joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America in sponsoring a contest for youth outdoor writing.
MOSCA, Colo. — More than 100,000 acres of towering sand dunes, snow-capped mountains and high desert became the Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Baca National Wildlife Refuge on Sept.
CHARLOTTE, N. C. — Takahiro Omori, an immigrant from Japan, came to the United States hoping to become a pro fisherman and one day winning bass fishing's biggest prize, the Bassmaster Classic.
The only federal wildlife refuge set aside to protect bison — the American buffalo — will be managed by the Interior Department and Indian tribes in an unusual partnership that conservationists fear could lead to more development of public lands.
More than 30 volunteers from northeastern Washington have joined a project to spy on the region's shyest wildlife. The helpers already been trained on installing special cameras with motion-activated sensors that trigger the shutter when a critter moves through the viewfinder.
Late snowfall and April showers have offered hope for trout anglers fond of fishing Montana's fabled Beaverhead River and its upstream tributary, Red Rock River.
BOZEMAN — A Yellowstone National Park ornithologist who saw four ravens systematically kill 141 grebes describes the spectacle in a recent issue of Yellowstone Science, a quarterly magazine.
Two Texas ranchers recently paid $450,000 for Jake the Dream Buck, a white-tailed deer with an enormous set of antlers that far exceed the measurements of the state record buck taken in 1892.
A flurry of activity has surrounded the issue of endangered species in the past month, from the field to Congress. Several Western governors recently called for a reform of the federal Endangered Species Act that would promote conservation while giving states a greater say in how their lands are managed.
A rifle sight that incorporates a digital camera and computerized trajectory compensation has created a buzz heard far beyond the shooting industry's annual trade show last month.
GREAT FALLS — Outfitters and federal land officials are expecting a surge of recreational floaters on Montana's Wild and Scenic portion of the Missouri River this summer that could compensate for last year's lackluster traffic.
A ballot measure to outlaw bear-baiting in Alaska apparently came down to a debate over which side represented the true Alaskan. On Nov. 2, the state's voters sided with the small number of hunters who use bait to lure bears within shooting range.
Backers of a Montana constitutional amendment protecting the ability of state citizens to hunt and fish consider it a necessary pre-emptive strike against future threats to something that is a "cherished way of life" in the state.
PARADISE, Wash. — Just 12 years old when he first climbed Mount Rainier, Peter Whittaker considers the rugged, glacier-studded peak his back yard. He has ascended the 14,411-foot mountain more than 200 times, and his company, Rainier Mountaineering Inc.
For the third year, biologists observed sea lions pig out on salmon at the base of Bonneville Dam, and fishermen are not pleased. The sea lions usually show up from mid-March through May, said Robert Stansell, a U.
POCATELLO, Idaho – In the summer, it's a black, barren place, and the sweltering temperatures on the lava flows remind visitors that its more than 700,000 acres were once an active volcanic area.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The recent slaughter of at least 40 eagles in British Columbia has drawn attention to what appears to be a growing market for feathers and talons of the majestic birds.
CURLEW, Wash. — Kerrin Doloughan and his friends are helping bighorn sheep that might not see the predators for the trees. For the past four years, they have thinned thick stands of Douglas fir, killed weeds, installed a watering trough and planted shrubs the wild sheep savor.
The cowboys of the skies call Idaho their home on the range. Outside of Alaska, Idaho is the nation's last great place for backcountry pilots and outfitters who have the skills and aircraft to take advantage of nearly 60 remote landing strips.
The "temporary" recreation fees for national forests and other federal lands are looking more permanent. The fees were first imposed in 1996 on a temporary basis and had been renewed by Congress every two years since.
After being measured and re-measured, the rack of a moose shot last fall in Pend Oreille County by Leroy Cooper of Sprague has become the state record for Washington.
Leave it to the Japanese to leap ahead of American auto companies even in the field of producing functional vehicles for outdoors enthusiasts. Consider our shortcomings.
ANCHORAGE — Each summer, about eight million pink salmon swim into Valdez waters, but the run of tourists has been dwindling. So some Valdez residents have hatched a plan to provide a free, frozen-fresh pink salmon to anyone who drives up the Alaska Highway and later pays a visit to the Prince William Sound port city.
LIVINGSTON, Mont. — Two young tourists on a walk in Montana's Paradise Valley found themselves on a hillside infested with rattlesnakes, and used a cellular phone to tearfully ask for help.
Southern Idaho, and wildlife lovers who visit there, received a Christmas gift last month from Oregon, Nevada and Utah — 35 bighorn sheep and about 200 antelope.
Like a lot of other self-propelled human slope-side menaces, I taught myself how to ski. Sometimes, it shows. This should come as no surprise, given that my method of self teaching consisted of the following: -- Drive to Snoqualmie Pass, exit vehicle, nearly choke to death on parking-lot diesel bus fumes.
The number of swans deaths attributed to ingestion of lead shot has nearly doubled in the past 15 months, to 1,850 in Whatcom County and British Columbia.
Nature has a way of rising to the occasion. As if on cue, this year's crop of bald eagles at Newman Lake hatched just before Earth Day, and were strong enough on April 23 to raise their wobbly heads from the nest and thrill dozens of people touring the latest large addition to the Spokane County Conservation Futures Program.
TWISP — John Rohrer smiled broadly as, one by one, 17 rattlesnakes slid slowly down the dark hole that will be their new home this winter.
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Defenders of Wildlife paid out more than $139,000 in 2004 to Western ranchers whose sheep or cattle were killed by wolves, the group said recently.
A crude but cozy winter sanctuary for winter backcountry travelers near Sherman Pass has been dismantled by Colville National Forest rangers who promise to build an even more useful shelter for the future.
WENATCHEE — Dam operators researching birds that prey on endangered fish in the mid-Columbia River should have been looking to demure ducks swimming in the water instead of blaming high-flying gulls, according to preliminary findings of a study.
In many cases, a state's highest mountain is a wilderness no-brainer. Weather and terrain hostile to development and resource extraction often creates wilderness by default in rugged mountain areas.
Like a faint voice in the wilderness, a small group of Republicans is rising to the call for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Our overall mission is to restore the Republican Party's historic leadership on conservation issues," said Jim DiPeso, policy director for Republicans for Environmental Protection.
Virtually every hunter education instructor gets a thrill from teaching new hunters and giving them the tools to be safe, successful, legal and ethical, said Red Nierstheimer, president of the Washington Hunter Education Instructors' Association.
The key to claiming the Washington state record moose last fall came down to the oldest and most reliable of hunting methods, said Jeff McKeen of Spokane.
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana is distinguished from the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness of Washington and Oregon by several factors important to elk hunters, including more elk, longer seasons and fewer restrictions.
Numerous trails in the Inland Northwest lead to some sort of historical attraction. Among them:•Kirkwood Ranch in Hells Canyon on the Idaho side of the Snake River, including a house built in 1925.
Long-distance trails, many of them born from the beds of defunct railroads, are becoming a recreational signature of the Inland Northwest. Walkers, runners, bikers and in-line skaters are checking in from other states to make tracks on a remarkable and still-evolving network of routes, including:Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes — 72 uninterrupted miles, paved, the crown jewel of the region's rail-trails, from Plummer, Idaho, across the Chatcolet Bridge, along Lake Coeur d'Alene to Harrison and then along the Coeur d'Alene River to Mullan.
1924 Year the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, championed by ecologist Aldo Leopold, was designated as America's first official wilderness area8 Number of years the Wilderness Act was debated before passage in 1964106 million Acres designated as wilderness in 662 units in 44 states, an area larger than California...
Under the 1964 Wilderness Act:• There are now 106 million acres protected as wilderness. Alaska accounts for more than half of them, 58 million acres, which is 16 percent of the state.
Naturally, most people assume that water is critical to the existence of wilderness fish and wildlife. Legally, however, there are dissenting opinions. The Idaho Supreme Court in 1999 upheld trial court decisions that maintained "federal reserved" water rights for the Sawtooth Wilderness.
Key developments involving the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska:1954 — National Park Service recommends preservation of Alaska's northeastern corner for wildlife, wilderness, recreation, scientific and cultural values; sparks debate, controversy.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. — Wild enough to get lost in, tame enough for youngsters to follow porcupine and coyote tracks, Ojito Wilderness is about to become an official nature-lover's paradise.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is a mostly unmarked 42-mile route that cuts through North Cascades National Park and the Glacier Peak Wilderness in north central Washington.
Following the principle of supply and demand, Idaho's controlled-hunt tags have become increasingly valuable — and profitable. Any hunter can buy over-the-counter tags to hunt deer and elk in some parts of the state.
The Missoula-based Tour of the Swan River Valley (TOSRV West) is a spin-off from the Tour of the Scioto River Valley, the two-day, 200-mile mother of all big organized bike rides based in Ohio.
Now you see them, now you don't. That's why working with big-running bird dogs occasionally requires a good dose of faith. Just ask Medical Lake-area dog trainer Dan Hoke, who breeds and trains a variety of bird dogs, from close-range hunting companions to long-distance field champions.
Snowmobilers will find access to Inland Empire Paper Company lands to be cheaper this winter, but slightly less convenient. IEP will not charge registered snowmobilers displaying Sno-Park permits an additional fee this winter for entering the company's timber lands from Mount Spokane State Park.
Sandwiches aren't sold at the Lunch Counter on Mount Adams. Passing through the Pearly Gates on Mount Hood doesn't mean you're dead. Most climbers go past Quitter's Point on Mount Jefferson.
DARRINGTON, Wash. — Most of the meadows and rocky outcrops mountain goats inhabit in Washington state are so remote, only hardy backcountry hikers ever see them.
In our youth decisions are often impulsive, like the time I bushwhacked up Chapman Peak, one of the many trail-less mountains in Glacier National Park.
The Idaho high country, above the town of Salmon, stunts most growth. Buds of lupine and paintbrush, penstemon and pines, even the paddling mallard ducks are tiny that high.
We'd talked ourselves into it. My husband and with our son and his girlfriend decided we were more than capable of hiking 13 miles into the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness to Warren Lake back in one day.
It's thrilling to hike alone in bear country. I love grizzly bear stories, I chuckle when I think of Lewis, Clark and the boys running across the West's biggest and baddest.
ABERDEEN, Wash. — Thousands of purplish-blue jellyfish washed ashore recently along the beach at Ocean City. Most people out for a morning stroll didn't give it a second thought, but those with a trained eye and a quest for elusive glass floats and other sea treasures watched closely.
ST. LOUIS — While not as harrowing as Lewis and Clark's sojourn westward two centuries ago, the river journey by modern-day re-enactors has been anything but smooth sailing on the Missouri River.
BOISE — A group of Idaho hunters maintain that efforts to reintroduce wolves in the state have reduced the population of big game. The hunters claim to see fewer elk and are skeptical of evidence that says there is no hard link between more wolves and less game.
Washington is trying a new approach this month to satisfy the annual fall crush of interest in hunter education courses. A special jamboree-style course designed to handle up to 200 students has been scheduled for Sept.
SALEM, Ore. — Kelly McGrath, 25, moved to Oregon from Ohio for the things that make the state special: mountains and coastline, salmon and deer, dripping moss and towering trees.
Paddle sports are gaining muscle in the Inland Northwest. Numerous schools, clinics, tours and events sponsored by clubs, businesses and recreation departments are already on the spring and summer schedule.
ANCHORAGE – Climbing season has begun at Mount McKinley with several changes, including higher climbing fees and less support for rescues. About 1,200 climbers are expected on the mountain between now and mid-July.
Idaho and Montana wildlife agencies are proposing increases in hunting and fishing license fees in order to maintain services. Meanwhile, Washington's Department of Fish and Wildflife is asking for a $5 hunting license increase for a new program to expand hunter access on private land.
GREAT FALLS — Montana's famed big rainbow trout are disappearing from a section of the Missouri River. Wildlife managers point to old age, years of drought and a rise in whirling disease for the drop-off over the past two years.
SALEM, Ore. – Lewis and Clark only could have dreamed of a camp-out like this. Catered meals. Snack breaks and rest stops. Water from bottles, not creeks.
MIAMI — The Fort Lauderdale fisherman who said he put his gold wedding ring on a sailfish's bill before letting it go and then recaptured the same fish more than two years later with the ring still attached has passed a polygraph examination.
WASHINGTON — Four leading GOP House members and senators announced a joint effort last week to rewrite the Endangered Species Act's references to habitat and scientific provisions.
PORTLAND — Beavers may be Oregon's official state animal, but they don't always make great neighbors, especially in the state's fastest-growing cities and suburbs. The animals, rebounding after centuries of being trapped for their once-coveted pelts, have a pesky habit of chomping on landscaping and constructing unexpected lakes.
A Spokane hunter has bid the highest amount ever for the Idaho bighorn sheep tag offered each year during an annual fund-raising auction. John Amistoso made the record $180,000 bid during the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep convention March 2-5 in San Antonio.
SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Few new wilderness areas in the Bighorn National Forest are being considered under a draft management plan, according to environmentalists. But a forest planner says more wilderness would conflict with the U.
DEVILS LAKE, N. D. — Bruce "Doc" Samson hit the water for the Wal-Mart RCL walleye tournament this summer at the helm of a boat with a control panel resembling the Starship Enterprise.
Wet landscapes and wilderness management rules have maintained paddling as the premier mode of transportation in several of the nation's wilderness areas outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
The Clark Fork River's Alberton Gorge, a major attraction for whitewater river runners and a critical stretch for the river's rainbow and cutthroat trout, has been permanently protected from development.
There's no reason to be up the creek without a paddling partner or paddling instruction this season. Canoeing and kayaking clinics, courses and group activities are being offered by several organizations in the Inland Northwest.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal and state officials have agreed to spend $1. 3 million over the next five years to save California's state fish.
PREDATORSWolverine takes a hikeA wolverine wearing a global positioning system collar wandered nearly 550 miles in seven weeks, including a trip from Pocatello, Idaho, to the northern reaches of Yellowstone National Park.
WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENTBlueRibbon leader citedThe director of the BlueRibbon Coalition has been placed on indefinite administrative leave after being cited last month for outfitting without a license in the Sawtooth National Forest.
WILDERNESSHike the Salmo-PriestMembers of the Kettle Range Conservation Group and Northwest Ecosystem Alliance are inviting the public on a hike through unprotected wild areas in northeastern Washington adjacent to the Salmo-Priest Wilderness Area on Sept.
BIG SKY — Montana's newest ski area plans to offer free lift tickets to students in two counties who earn good grades or bring poor grades up.
ENDANGERED SPECIESPelicans crash-landingMore than 30 endangered brown pelicans have crashed onto sidewalks and roads in Arizona this summer, mistaking the heat-induced shimmer of the paved surface for lakes and creeks.
HUNTINGElk season extendedBig-game hunters today are ending a two-week extension of several antlerless elk hunts in Montana that were created in a continuing effort to reduce crowded elk herds in the southwestern portion of the state.
There are fabled stories and epic survival tales built completely on the transpiration of a multi-tool in a time of dire need. Whether it's the climber high on a mountain who repaired his stove just before freezing or skiers who needed to jigger a binding back to life 14 miles from the car, the multi-tool has saved a legion of outdoor athletes from great misery or much worse.
NATIONAL FORESTSORV proposal opposedA group of bikers, snowmobilers and all-terrain vehicle riders is fighting a proposal by the Gallatin National Forest to close significant areas to motor vehicles.
PREDATORSWolf fence fundedAn environmental group is building 6-foot-high fenced pens on two sheep ranches in the Paradise Valley where wolves have killed 38 sheep in the past year.
WILDLIFEHigh-strung mooseIn one of those only-in-Alaska stories, a trophy-sized bull moose was accidentally strung up in a power line under construction southeast of Fairbanks. The moose, apparently on the fight during mating season two weeks ago, tangled its antlers in electrical wire before workers farther down the line winched the wires tight.
PHOTOGRAPHYNorthwest Exposure contestIt's time to pluck the best photograph from your trips into the outback of Washington state for entry in the second annual Northwest Exposure photo contest sponsored by the Washington Trails Association.
SNOW SPORTSSnow Show scheduledArea ski resorts, skiing, snowboarding and backcountry equipment retailers will join stunt skiers and Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke at the Spokane Snow Show, Nov.
FISHERIESFish pesticide proposedA Spokane public meeting is scheduled by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to review proposals to use antimycin-A as a fish pesticide to kill undesirable fish populations in selected area waters.
HUNTING/FISHINGIdaho to boost feesIf you plan to get an Idaho hunting or fishing license, you'll save money buying it before July 1, when most of the state's license and tag fees will increase by about 10 percent.
PORTLAND — The cash-strapped U. S. Forest Service can no longer afford to maintain many campgrounds and trailheads and has started ranking recreational sites for possible closure.
FISHINGFish hog blows itAlbania's most wanted man fought off special police and eluded capture for years only to blow himself up recently while fishing with dynamite.
BOISE — The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to decide by May 16 whether threats to the North American pygmy rabbit warrant a yearlong review that could lead to protection under the Endangered Species Act.
CLIMBINGIdaho on the wallSome hot-shot climbers and a swarm of local talent is expected to congregate Saturday for the third annual Palouse Climbing Competition, 10 a.
MOUNT SPOKANELanglauf fills parkingNext Sunday is the busiest day of the year at the Mount Spokane nordic skiing area. The annual Langlauf 10-kilometer cross country ski race, which attracts more than 300 participants, is set to start at 11 a.
Fred Shiosaki's reappointment to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has shocked his friends. A press release lauding the Spokane man's service circulated from Olympia last month as Gov.
HUNTINGRecord moose measuredJeff McKeen of Spokane filled his once-in-a-lifetime Washington moose tag last fall with a once-in-a-lifetime bull — unofficially a Washington record. Larry Carey, an official Boone and Crockett scorer in Spokane, recently measured the trophy after the required 60-day drying period and gave it a score of 186 4/8 points.
MOUNTAIN BIKINGWomen-only fat-tire weekendRegistration is open for the 12th annual Skurtzendirt, a June 25-26 weekend of mountain biking rides, instruction and camaraderie at Farragut State Park for women only.
OFF-ROAD VEHICLESDrinking banned at dunesAlcoholic beverages have been banned at a second sand dunes area south of Moses Lake in action prompted by a rash of accidents last Memorial Day weekend.
For Sunday, June 27, 2004.
For Sunday, June 13, 2004.
SEATTLE – Floods and fires have hit hundreds of miles of the state's hiking trails so hard they could stay closed for years unless Congress dramatically boosts funding to repair them, the Washington Trails Association says in a new report.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONElk Foundation building The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation broke ground recently on a new $14 million headquarters and Elk country Visitor Center in Missoula. Hundreds of members and staff joined the festivities, including Bob Munson.
Riverside State ParkFee areas expandedBeginning Friday, Riverside State Park will collect the $5 daily/$50 annual parking permit fee in areas on the west side of the park.
WILDERNESSWild Sky reintroducedFor the third session, bills to establish the Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle are working through Congress. Bills sponsored by Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen.
RIVER RUNNINGRiggins BigWater BlowoutWhitewater rafting, Dutch oven cooking, a rafting gear swap, movies and music are set for the 6th annual BigWater Blowout Saturday on the Salmon River based out of Riggins, Idaho.
WILDLIFEState elk range closedAbout a fourth of the 12,000-acre Wooten Wildlife Area in southeast Washington's Columbia County has been temporarily closed to all uses to help prevent disturbing elk and moving them onto surrounding private agricultural lands.
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENTDiseased pheasants destroyedAbout 2,200 pheasants have been euthanized in the past week at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Centralia Game Farm after workers discovered an outbreak of an avian bacterial infection Dr.
The Clearwater National Forest will soon be accepting lottery applications for permits to travel the 58-mile section of the Lolo Motorway along the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
BICYCLINGREI honors HyattSpokane's tireless bicycling advocate, Eileen Hyatt, is among seven "outdoor stewards" throughout the country honored by the annual national Stewards for the Environment Awards by Recreational Equipment, Inc.
LOCAL FORUMSCC explores wildernessThree speakers will be featured in a free public forum on the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act Tuesday at Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium: -- At 8:30 a.
Game wardens across the country say mobile phones – and the sportsmen who use them – are the next best thing to catching a poacher kneeling beside a steaming gut pile.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIINGTry new nordic trailsCross country skiers can visit a different nordic ski trail system almost every weekend in a group trip series sponsored by Spokane Parks and Recreation Department.
BOZEMAN — An avalanche in southwestern Montana killed one cross country skier and injured another, leaving him stranded in the snow for two days until a rescue helicopter could pluck him to safety.
The boat and sportsmen's show season kicks into high gear this month, giving outdoor enthusiasts a chance to see the latest products from manufacturers. While plenty of shows are still being scheduled to get sportsmen on track, it's notable that there aren't as many as there were a few years ago.
ENDANGERED SPECIESFour trumpeters shotFour trumpeter swans were killed by gunfire in two separate incidents the week of Dec. 20 in eastern Idaho. Idaho Fish and Game Department officials said three of the birds were shot in the neck with a rifle near Oneida Narrows below Oneida Dam, a wintering area for the rare species.
BICYCLINGHiawatha closes Oct. 3The Route of the Hiawatha bike trail will remain open daily through Oct. 3, according to a report from Lookout Pass Ski Area.
WILDLIFECritter tourism toutedThe Othello Sandhill Crane Festival, a popular spring event, is a prime example of communities capitalizing on wildlife spectacles. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife likes this trend and is offering help to other local communities interested in planning wildlife festivals.
MOUNT SPOKANE STATE PARKPark passes in transitionSometime within the next few weeks, Mount Spokane State Park will make the transition between the two different parking passes most visitors are required to have in their vehicles during the year.
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration says it will put off until after the election a final decision on whether to allow road building and logging on 58 million acres of national forest where both are now prohibited.
ANCHORAGE — Remains found on Mount McKinley may be those of a 32-year-old Wyoming man who died there in 1969, the National Park Service said. The body was found recently by climbers poking around in a high-elevation camp cache.
For Sunday, July 11, 2004.
For Sunday, July 18, 2004.
For Sunday, July 04, 2004.
SNOWMOBILINGTax collections decline Resort tax collections at West Yellowstone, Mont. , declined more than 15 percent this past winter, and town officials are putting the blame squarely on confusion over snowmobile rules at nearby Yellowstone National Park.
WILDLIFE HABITATContest for landowners Whether you have a ranch or simply a big yard you want to develop for wildlife, local members of Safari Club International want to showcase your efforts.
RIVER RUNNINGWhitewater fest set Rafting, Dutch oven cooking, movies nad a party are set for the 6th annual Bigwater Blowout Saturday on the Salmon River based out of Riggins, Idaho.
An Inland Northwest four-race telemark series for competitors of all skill levels has been scheduled for January and February, with the first event set for Saturday at Silver Mountain.
Bird migrations are in full wing through the Inland Northwest this month. Sandhill cranes and long-billed curlews showed up on schedule for the Sandhill Crane Festival that's concluding today in Othello.
Brunton has taken the decades-old concept of canned heat and added a couple crucial modern twists. The company's new line of GreenHeat fuel canisters, which are being marketed to backpackers, climbers and anyone else who needs to pack as light as possible, are filled with a special concoction of gelled and highly-flammable vegetable oil.
Water temperatures are nearly ideal and the walleye bite is coming on. Do you know how to get in on the action? The annual Lake Pend Oreille spring fishing derby is only a few weeks off.
For the chance to recount nervy tales of outdoor machismo, many backcountry enthusiasts will risk nearly everything. Blocking off dangerous areas outside of ski resorts won't deter them, nor will frightening signs or avalanche advisories.
The ubiquitous polycarbonate water bottle is the canteen of the 21rst century. But these colorful plastic vessels, made by companies like Nalgene and GSI Outdoors, have been embroiled in a controversy for the past two years, ever since a researcher at Case Western Reserve University said they may pose health risks.
Andy and Kelli Friedlander started their marriage on the right foot — wearing hiking shoes on Kauai. Along the way, they blended surf and turf into a perfect honeymoon and a model of marital compromise.
Predatory black crappie fish were recently illegally introduced in two lakes in northwestern Montana and have the potential to spread to many other fisheries, a state fisheries manager says.
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana game wardens were searching last week for an mule deer buck, which has a history of aggression, that attacked a man near Cameron.
Two public comment periods on important policies involving off-road vehicles and national forest roadless areas are ending this week. Monday is the deadline to comment on the Forest Service plan to keep off-road vehicles on designated roads and trails across the nation.
Being an outdoor writer is a risky business, as one can clearly see by the books they produce. Pat Wray, for example, a former Marine helicopter pilot who's written for newspapers, magazines and the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department, recently published "A Chukar Hunter's Companion.
Many a ski day was ruined during my younger years while wearing the wrong eyewear on the slopes. A procession of cheap sunglasses and second-hand goggles left me with foggy vision and wind-battered, teary eyes whenever the weather turned foul.
BISMARCK, N. D. — Pelican nesting grounds will be off-limits to the public this year at a refuge in central North Dakota while biologists plan their most extensive study ever of the big birds.
Bill Painter of Richland wanted a little activity before sitting down to talk about becoming the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Rainier.
RENO, Nev. — Sage grouse populations across the West appear to be stabilizing overall, but the once-abundant game bird under consideration for federal protection still faces serious threats to its survival, a new report says.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian scientists are sounding the alarm about the spread of the nonnative bullfrogs, which are native to the eastern United States, grow as big as dinner plates and eat anything they can fit into their mouths — including ducklings, garter snakes, songbirds and mice.
A new study shows chronic wasting disease can spread through environmental contamination and not just animal-to-animal contact, a finding that could change the way experts fight the ailment that afflicts deer and elk.
Teaching fishing techniques to youngsters and collecting roadkill from area roadways are among the many activities that led to Jim Kujala, 63, being named Volunteer of the Year by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife this month.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It's not quite as high as Mount Everest, but it's been about three times as dangerous to conquer. And on Monday, an Italian marked the 50th anniversary of his grandfather's first successful climb of K-2 by summiting the mountain.
Overall, this year's ocean salmon seasons are likely to be good between San Francisco and Monterey, Calif. , a little tighter than last year off Washington, and a lot tighter from Northern California to Newport, Ore.
EUGENE, Ore. — A Eugene man has given $500,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help restore a native grassland in northeast Oregon. John Soreng, 80, an avid fly fisherman and longtime supporter of conservation causes, wants to help preserve Zumwalt Prairie near the Snake River and Hells Canyon.
Whether it's the requisite summit shot on top of a mountain or a picture of sunrise over the ocean, photography has become a default part of any big adventure.
Long johns, skivvies, union suits, long underwear — whatever you call them — must be well-fitting and comfortable. For outdoor athletes, base layer clothing must also balance breathability and insulation.
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress who have successfully blocked oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for more than a decade vowed to do everything, including a Senate filibuster, to protect the preserve again this year.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Christine Gregoire, moving to recast the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, has removed four commissioners who hadn't been confirmed by the Senate and replaced them with her own choices.
Deer are cute and almost everyone loves them — unless those same deer are destroying their gardens and champing on their trees and shrubs. Even the renowned Albert Schweitzer, who maintained all life was sacred, was reported to employ a double standard.
An exhibit of Alaska wilderness photos ignited a minor uproar in the nation's capital last year. The exhibit featured 49 photos of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is at the center of a fierce debate between environmentalists and the Bush administration over oil development.
In a world of Lycra, nylon, Spandex and polypropylene, a fabric as age-old as wool can seem obsolete. But sheep fuzz is making a comeback as outdoor circles re-appreciate its natural characteristics.
Members of the Spokane Mountaineers Adamants-Gothics 2004 climbing expedition list the following possible alpine first ascents (confirmation pending):Post Peak, 9,930 feet: Northeast Ice Remnant and Direct North Ridge, a route created by extensive glacier recession and not visible in previous guidebook photos.
HELENA — Whether to designate new federal wilderness areas in Montana leaves state residents divided about evenly, according to a statewide poll. Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they support designating more wilderness areas, 48 percent were opposed and 6 percent undecided.
The northern elk herd in Yellowstone National Park went into 2004 at its smallest size since 1988, primarily due to drought, wolves, severe past winters and outside hunting, officials said.
Montana's wildlife commission has voted to resume bison hunting, allowing up to 25 animals to be killed next year if they enter the state from Yellowstone National Park.
The first man to climb Mount Everest — that is, the entire mountain from sea to summit — will be in Spokane this week to relive the details of his audacious mountaineering career.
The Colville National Forest is winding down months of public involvement in developing travel routes on roads and trails for off-road vehicles. Hikers, bicyclists, equestrians, ORVers and other forest users will have three more chances to offer their opinion on where motorized recreation should be allowed before the Forest Service moves into the next management phase, said Debbie Wilkins, the forest's coordinator for recreation strategy.
One of the Canada's richest commercial fisheries, the Fraser River sockeye salmon run, will likely be shut down for the 2008 season due to a sharp decline in spawning stocks that may be related to climate change, a report by a Canadian government committee in Ottawa has concluded.
Once again, it's time to fish for fame, and especially for fortune. The 2005 Pikeminnow Reward Season opened Monday on the Columbia River from John Day Dam to the mouth while the program starts upstream from John Day and up the Snake River to Lewiston on May 16.
HELENA — Montana activists on both sides of the national forest roadless issue praised the Bush administration's recent postponement of a decision on the controversy.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has a new Internet service that allows sportsmen to subscribe to instant e-mail alerts on specific subjects of interest.
KATMANDU, Nepal – One of the United States' most accomplished climbers has come down from the death zone. After Ed Viesturs recently became the 12th person and the first American to climb the world's tallest 14 peaks – all above 26,240 feet – the 45-year-old said he is retiring from high-altitude climbing.
Recreational salmon fishing is tentatively set to begin June 26 in all Washington coastal areas under agreements reached recently by the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Winter fly fishing is a sport for the patient angler. The weather usually is brisk and the fishing is anything but red hot when water temperatures plummet.
The antlers of the Washington state record moose taken in November will be on display this week at the Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show at the Spokane Fair and Expo Center.
Audubon Society members welcome newcomers interested in helping with Christmas Bird Count. Following is a schedule of area outings and contacts. North Idaho Coeur d'Alene: Dec.
On May 1 – six days after the opening of Washington's general trout season – the state's 2008-2009 fishing rules go into effect.
Spokane County, as usual, will produce some of the best trout fishing in the state when Washington's general lowland lake fishing season opens April 26.
Liberty Lake, once a general-season rainbow gold mine, has evolved in to a productive lake for a mix of species from trout to bass, perch and even walleyes and saugeyes (a sauger-walleye hybrid).
Northeastern Washington's elk population continues to grow and expand. Although the number of elk killed is low in this generally thickly vegetation country.
The Yakima elk herd's reduction from roughly 13,500 animals to 9,500 has been accomplished over the past few years, requiring fewer antlerless permits to be issued this year.
Blue Mountains elk numbers are growing slightly, but the herds also are changing patterns slightly because of forest fires.
I don't consider myself a seedy character, but I love this time of year when my attention turns to writing about hookers, nymphs and maggots.
Four northeastern Washington game management units were by far the best general season deer-producing areas in the state in 2005. The Huckleberry, Mount Spokane, 49 Degrees North and Sherman units produced about 7,500 deer to hunters who averaged success rates of better than 30 percent.
Chris Donely was up to his gill nets in trout last week. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department district biologist spends a few weeks each spring setting up a circuit of gill nets, each of which he allows to "soak" for 24 hours in order to survey the growth of hatchery fish stocked in Spokane County lakes.
April 30 is only one of several "opening days" for Columbia Basin trout anglers, who have virtually no off-season. Indeed, a few of lakes that opened March 1 are already near being fished out.
On May 1 – just two days after the opening of Washington's general trout season – a new set of rules will take effect. Read the new regulations pamphlet carefully for the waters you intend to fish.
Not all rainbows stocked in Washington lakes before the April 30 season opener are created equal. Some hatchery rainbows called "triploids" have been genetically altered to make them sterile, a technique that lets the fish put all their energy into growing large.
Washington's late whitetail buck hunt in the Palouse region south of Spokane will not be open to general hunters this fall. For years, the November season was a good thing for trophy buck hunters.
The Yakima Region continues to be the best elk producer in Eastern Washington, but it's cooled from the hot spot it used to be. "The harvest has been down a little the last two years, mostly intentionally because we're trying to reduce the herd and we've been fairly successful at it," explained Jeff Bernatowicz, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Yakima.
Northeastern Washington is not overflowing with elk, and it probably never will be. But while their numbers are not huge, a hunter has a chance of bumping into one just about anywhere in Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens counties and well beyond.
Washington's continued testing for chronic wasting disease in deer and elk will be focused in Eastern Washington this fall, Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said.
Idaho and Washington have numerous fishing seasons geared to different waters and fisheries — too many to even summarize here. Always check current regulations for specific waters before going fishing.
Lake Roosevelt is among the region's most productive fishing waters, luring anglers with diverse interests ranging from rainbow trout and kokanee to smallmouth bass and walleyes.
While Montana and Idaho have the glamour rivers featured in the fishing magazines, Eastern Washington has some less-popular gems.
The Idaho Panhandlecontinues to be a haven for elk hunters, with its liberal seasons and large numbers of big bulls.
Hunters will have to pay fees this fall for entering some private timber company lands. Potlatch Corp., since April, has sold 2,300 permits for recreational access.
Idaho's "whitetail tag" still confuses some hunters after being introduced last year, Fish and Game Department officials said. Hunters can choose either a regular deer tag or a white-tailed deer tag.
The Idaho Panhandle is in the glory days of hunting for white-tailed deer. "The last nine winters were exceptionally mild," said Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish and Game Department spokesman in Coeur d'Alene.
Hundreds of Eastern Washington farmers and ranchers are withdrawing from a state Fish and Wildlife Department program that assist sportsmen in getting permission to hunt on private lands.
Programs are expanding to give disabled hunters more opportunities to drive on forest roads that are otherwise closed to public vehicle travel. Both the Colville and Idaho Panhandle national forests have disabled hunter programs, as do some private timber companies.
Sprague Lake has been revived and is open for business after its fishery was eradicated in October.
Medical Lake was in the buzz at a recent Spokane Fly Fishers meeting, where members told of frequent visits since the March 1 opener and catches of big rainbows and browns up to 24 inches long.
Walleyes can be caught virtually any time of year in Washington's top walleye lakes, including Banks, Moses, Pothholes, Roosevelt and Scootenay Reservoir.
Idaho Panhandle deer seasons – among the most unrestrictive in the West – have been liberalized even more this season in answer to complaints about too many deer.
Spokane area anglers won't have to travel far on opening day to find some of the top trout fishing waters in Washington. The April 29 general lowland lake trout season opener should put fat trout in the bag and smiles on the faces of thousands of anglers who won't even have to leave Spokane County.
Elk hunting is steeped in tradition, which partially explains why a lot of Eastern Washington sportsmen continue searching this region for eligible elk while most of the state's elk-hunting success is in Western Washington.
The region from Spokane to Colville is Washington's deer hunting Mecca, producing far more bucks and does to hunters than any other region in the state.
The secret is out among walleye anglers who are venturing in growing numbers to the lower 12 miles of the Okanogan River. Inasmuch as most of the stream's shoreline is privately owned, nearly all of the walleye fishing is from boats.
A closure on fishing for tiger muskies at Newman Lake started this week and will run through May 15 as researchers capture and implant radio transmitters in adult fish so their movements can be tracked.
Northeastern Washington hunters are enjoying the most liberal elk seasons ever, although that still doesn't mean the hunting is easy. The elk are thinly populated and scattered through a huge area and the timber and vegetation is thick.
For anglers who prefer quality to quantity, the top selective fisheries in the Spokane region are Amber and Coffeepot lakes, both of which opened March 1.
Forest and range fires have displaced wildlife and altered hunter plans in some locations throughout the Inland Northwest. Fires continue to burn in portions of Idaho and Montana, including the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
Elk hunters in the Idaho Panhandle last year had one of the best seasons in memory for bagging bull elk, and this year should be even better, according to Idaho Fish and Game surveys.
After a 15-year hiatus, bison hunting is back in Montana. A 90-day bison hunt was recently approved to help thin herds migrating out of Yellowstone National Park, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department announced last week.
Sprague Lake, just 45 minutes west of Spokane off Interstate 90, is one of those waters that holds more secrets and more potential than most anglers will ever discover.
Following are some of the region's top walleye tournaments: -- Rod Meseberg Spring Classic, April 30-May 1, Potholes Reservoir. Info: (800) 416-2736 or www.
Until the Idaho Fish and Game Commission firms up its definition, all of the Panhandle muzzleloader seasons this year have been changed to "short-range weapons seasons"
Disabled hunters can get special privileges to drive through locked gates onto some forest roads that are otherwise closed to public vehicle travel.
Elk hunting in North Idaho has been great for the past two years, and it's getting better. Cows continue to produce good crops of calves and some of the oldest bulls in the state are coming from the Panhandle, Idaho Fish and Game Department officials say.
The revival of wolves in Idaho has had an impact on Idaho elk, but it's not the death blow some hunters have imagined, according to Idaho Fish and Game Department aerial surveys.
Idaho deer hunters have had to pause a moment when buying their licenses this fall because of a new "whitetail tag" option. But if you hunt in the Panhandle region, you didn't have to pause long.
Eastern Washington deer hunters may have to adjust their expectations, for better or worse, depending on where they plan to hunt this year. While the number of bigger bucks has improved to pleasing numbers in the state's northeastern corner, a stretch of tough winter conditions two years ago knocked deer numbers back significantly in portions of the southeast corner.
Lake Coeur d'Alene has become the darling of kokanee anglers since the fishery peaked with good numbers and hefty average sizes in 2003. This year the kokanee population is expected to be down a little from ideal numbers but size running 13-15 inches should once again put anglers in blueback heaven.
The future of elk hunting in Central Washington has a huge stake in land swaps currently being negotiated by the state Department of Natural Resources, private timber companies and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Hound hunters have until Saturday to apply for permits in the third year of a three-year pilot cougar-hunting season with the aid of dogs.
Of the 35 wildlife management areas in Idaho, Craig Mountain south of Lewiston is a standout, from top to bottom. The 78,000-acre jewel is the wedge at the confluence of Idaho's two mightiest rivers, the Snake and the Salmon.
Anglers will be able to cash in on Lake Pend Oreille long after the annual K&K Spring Derby is over. This year's derby – the 61st annual event – starts April 29 and runs through May 7 with $28,000 in cash and prizes.
Washington hunters who didn't fill their tags this spring have one last shot at wild turkeys this fall. For the second year, the state has set a general fall turkey season for either hens or gobblers.
For the first time in years, the entire 40,000-acre Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge in Stevens County will be open for hunting from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.
Whitetails and even mule deer in northeastern Washington are showing encouraging progress in population building. That means more bucks for hunters this fall, but more favorable hunt regulations are still a year away.
YA — Year around, but some rules may apply. R — Rivers and streams, May 28 to Nov. 30 in Panhandle. Note — Most lakes and reservoirs open year around for all species except trout.
G: General season, opens April 30; see regulations for closures. Beware, however, that most streams open June 1. M: Opens March 1; see regulations for closures.
Vast land closures prompted by forest fires are of immediate concern to national forest visitors, especially sportsmen heading into the backcountry for early hunting seasons.
Ron Friez uses dry humor when describing this season's waterfowl hunting prospects for the Columbia basin. "Ducks don't stay where it isn't wet," noted the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department waterfowl biologist in Ephrata.
Waterfowl hunters face safety challenges that the average land-based hunter does not. The complicating factor is water. The tips below dealing with firearm safety, weather and water safety are taught at Montana's Youth Waterfowl Hunting Safety workshops.
Here are the top 10 tips for effective scouting, offered by area hunting experts.
More than 20,000 rooster pheasants have been ordered for release at designated sites in Eastern Washington for upland bird seasons.
Paul Degel killed his first deer with a muzzleloader at age 14 and was hooked. Twenty-five years, nearly a dozen elk and more than two dozen deer taken with a flintlock later, Degel said his passion for the only type of weapon he hunts big game with has only grown.
This isn't a banner year for the region's upland birds, but versatile hunters are going to find some excellent wing-shooting.
Water could be as important to hunters as it is to fishermen this year. Going into mid-September, walking through the mountains around the Inland Northwest was like a stroll through a bowl of corn flakes.
Wild turkeys continue to boom throughout the Inland Northwest, seemingly impervious to the whims of spring weather.
Hunters in Idaho and Washington should contact their fish and wildlife agency if access is barred to their special-permit hunt areas because of forest fires.
Stock up on shot shells and get the dog in shape. The buzz is that this could be an upland bird season to remember throughout much of the Inland Northwest.
Once again, more than 20,000 rooster pheasants have been ordered for release at designated sites in Eastern Washington for upland bird seasons, Washington Fish and Wildlife officials said.
Lake Pend Oreille's trout and kokanee fisheries are not in great shape, but area sportsmen and fisheries managers are still eager for the annual Spring Derby, set for April 26-May 4.
For Thursday, April 17, 2008.
The absolute best time of the year to take a kid bird hunting is coming up before the general hunting seasons open. "The special youth seasons are the best deal of the year for a hunter to take a kid, especially for waterfowl," said Matt Monda, Washington Department of Fish and wildlife regional wildlife manager in Ephrata.
While summer has been hot and dry in this region, it's been a wet year in Canada's pothole regions where much of North America's waterfowl are produced.
Idaho's moose populations are much larger than those in Washington, and still growing. The Gem state's moose numbers are so large that the state issued 1,095 permits to hunt moose this fall.
Idaho waterfowlers got their two ducks' worth as they complained to Fish and Wildlife Commissioners about the reduced bag limit last year. This year the commission upped the daily limit from five to seven, the maximum allowed by federal law.
Reducing wounding losses is both the ethical and the economical goal of waterfowl hunters. "None of us wants to wound a duck or goose and not be able to retrieve it," said Jim Hansen, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department migratory bird manager.
Have you heard about the snipe hunter who wrote a bird hunting guidebook? It's no joke. His name is John Shewey, and he's the author of the "Wingshooter's Guide to Oregon," a straight-shooting primer on hunting everything from band-tailed pigeon to valley quail.
A landmark change in trout fishing regulations has been enacted, effective April 1, for North Idaho's most popular streams. The key provisions:
Hatchery trucks are scheduled to make sizeable deposits in 17 North Idaho Lakes this spring – but the lingering winter has delayed the schedule.
Cutthroat trout in the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene rivers have different strategies for surviving summer heat.
The Inland Northwest has a wealth of public lands, most of which are open to hunting. Idaho is 64 percent publicly owned.
There's reason for hope this season, even though pheasants, quail and partridge don't appear to have produced as many young as they did in 2005, a banner year for Inland Northwest upland bird hunters.
Several lakes and streams in Okanogan country this year are loaded with bragging-sized fish. Blue Lake in the Sinlahekin holds 3- to 4-pound triploid rainbows.
Trout waters in the northeastern corner of Washington will hold pleasant surprises for anglers when the trout season opens on April 30, plus a few unpleasant ones.
The St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene rivers have never been at the bottom of the list of places to go fishing in North Idaho.
A Ross' goose is featured on Washington's 2007-2008 migratory bird stamp painting by Robert Steiner.
Luring ducks is considered higher education, thanks to Mike Plein, who has represented Idaho at the World's Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, Ark.
In two early forest grouse hunts this year, my English setter, Dickens, nearly fried his olfactory wiring by locking into the scent of a flock of wild turkeys.
With the explosion of off-highway vehicle sales in the last few years, more and more Americans are wanting to take their SUVs and trucks out to scale more than just their office parking garage.
There should be no shortage of elk for hunters this fall in north central Montana. Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologists from the east front of the Rockies to the Little Belts and on to the Missouri Breaks all agree that elk numbers are good.
Pronghorns, the speedsters of sagebrush country, are a novel prey for sportsmen who draw permits to hunt them where the antelope roam in areas such as southern Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
About 20,000 rooster pheasants have been ordered for release at designated sites in Eastern Washington for upland bird seasons, Washington Fish and Wildlife officials said.
Six is the number to remember on Lake Coeur d'Alene this year.That's the daily limit for any combination of kokanee and/or chinook until further notice.
North Idaho stream anglers have new reasons to look beyond the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe.The Moyie and Kootenai rivers are perking up.
Biologists have their eye on Newman Lake this year.Although bass fishing remains fairly good at the Spokane county lake, the panfish angling has been deteriorating in recent years and relatively few of the rainbows and brown trout the state stocks each year end up on anglers' hooks.
Anglers received an icy reception at Twin Lakes on April 8 for the opening of the trout fishing season on the Colville Indian Reservation. "The lakes were still mostly iced over," said Jerry Marco, fish biologist for the Colville Confederated Tribes.
Black bear hunters in an even wider swath of Idaho must take a second look before taking a shot to filling their tags.
Kokanee are the region's icon for brightness, not just because of their color, but also because these landlocked sockeye salmon are known for eating quality that can brighten anyone's day.
Waterfowl seemed to enjoy the spring rains that, at least temporarily, filled puddles and lakes throughout the region. Mallard counts in Washington are up 11 percent from 2005, although still down about 17 percent from the long-term average, said Don Kraege, Fish and Wildlife Department waterfowl manager.
Hunters in Idaho and Washington will be keeping a sharp eye out for wildlife this season, and they need to watch out for some potential wildlife diseases, too.
Got a last minute urge to hunt for the first time?'
Youths heading out for their first hunts should review the following reminders from Tom Higgins, 26-year veteran hunter education instructor in Spokane.
The best is yet to come at some lakes in northeast Washington. Being at slightly higher elevations than the most popular April 29 openers, many of the lakes in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille require an extra few weeks for the waters to reach prime fishing temperatures.
Summer fires are causing grief for hunters in portions of Idaho and Washington
Net pens projects are giving a giant boost to a growing number of trout fisheries in the region. The biggest project is on Lake Roosevelt, where nearly 500,000 rainbows are being raised in 57 net pens and scheduled for release in mid-May in a program funded by The Bonneville Power Administration.
Like humans, deer use the five senses to interpret the world around them, especially to warn of danger. But unlike humans, who rely heavily on sight, whitetails have a highly efficient sense of hearing and smell, the latter thought to be 100 times more sensitive than humans.
Bighorn tag back with state raffleA single bighorn sheep hunting permit was issued to the winner of a state raffle for the Blackbutte, Wenaha and Tucannon areas this year, marking the first season for wild sheep in that region since disease decimated the herds in 1995-1996.
Kids fishing events set for area lakesCasting contests and other activities focused on fishing and fun for kids under 16 are scheduled for Saturday (April 16) during the Curlew Lake Fishing Festival for Kids, 9 a.
Editor's note: Luke Clausen, 27, of Spokane is the 2006 Bassmaster Classic winner and youngest angler in professional fishing history to win more than $1 million in a career.
Interstate 90 ranks up there with caddis and mayflies in delivering satisfaction to Inland Northwest fly fishers. The four-laner is the express way to Montana and its assortment of premier trout fishing streams.
Scattered through the timber and even the sagebrush of Okanogan and Douglas counties are lakes worthy of a long spring fishing expedition. Whether you cast flies or troll plugs, there's a fish waiting for your hook.
Managing trout fisheries is not a slam dunk, even in the fabled fishing waters of the Columbia Basin. Even fisheries biologists are surprised to see what opening day delivers after factoring in the effects of weather and competition from cormorants and pelicans and illegally introduced species.
The recipe for teaching a little person to fish includes one dash of angling technique, two or three tablespoons of gear, and several cups of patience.
Certain fishing waters in Washington are just for kids. Listed in the regulations pamphlet as being for "juveniles-only," these waters often are small lakes or ponds that are stocked with hatchery trout to provide dependable early-season fishing close to communities.
Pacific Lake near Odessa is starting to fill with water for the first time in years. "There's not enough water yet to stock it, but one more good, wet winter and it might be back," said Chris Donley, Fish and Wildlife department district biologist.
With smallmouth bass and walleyes booming in some of Eastern Washington's most popular fisheries, daily catch limits will be liberalized starting May 1. Among the changes:•Walleye on Lake Roosevelt: Daily limit will be 8 fish, no minimum size, but no more than one over 22 inches.
Brentwood Elementary School held a luncheon last week for its army of volunteers who, throughout the school year, have donated their time to help the Mead district school.
It takes all kinds to form an effective safety net for people who venture outdoors. The people coming to your aid in a search-and-rescue situation are likely to be volunteers with a passion for activities as diverse as ATVing and hiking, snowmobiling and mountain climbing, river rafting and Ham radios, horse riding and flying private planes.
Muscle-powered travel isn't all about body punishment. The best expeditions teach us something about ourselves and the land we explore. Here's a selection of recently published books that capture the big picture through the outdoor experience.
Gerry Copeland broke with convention during his summer vacation along the edge of the Himalaya. He didn't relax on the 21-day trek away from roads and motorized vehicles.
While some people are content to simply watch killer whales, sea kayakers have a yen to experience them. The payoff for investing a few days and a little muscle power can be huge, as another eclectic group of adventurers learned this summer in the fabled orca waterways off northeastern Vancouver Island.
Love is in the air this week wherever Rocky Mountain elk roam. This is the peak of the mating seasons — the rut — and bulls are whipping their longings to a libidinous pitch.
Shivering, weak and injured in a snow cave, on a mountain he and two climbing companions had tried to conquer, Kelly James managed to reach his wife on his cell phone.
Three balding climbers and a token young guy from Spokane dubbed themselves the "Into Thin Hair Expedition" as they left this spring for Alaska. Beyond that, the trip was no laughing matter.
Even Michael Phelps would have been a disappointment had he put off his seasons of pool training until a few days before the Summer Olympics. Your bird dog's performance this weekend – Washington's opener for quail and partridge seasons – may not garner international attention, but the principles are the same.
Here's a do-it-yourself guide for crab lovers who want to get a handle on the action.What
Summer crabbing in South Puget Sound and Hood Canal.
Spring chinook salmon fishing is the hottest game on the Columbia and many of its tributaries.
Only the very best physicians look over their patients as thoroughly as Dave Mannino checks out a bicycle that comes into Two Wheel Transit for a tune-up.
Carol Schmidt of Mead had no reason to be optimistic on Oct. 28 as she hiked up a ridge before sunrise – until she and her husband, Mike, spotted a fresh elk track that ranked with the legendary NBA shoe size of Bob Lanier.
A bright red Pisten Bully named Princess hugged a narrow snow-draped arête in the Canadian Rockies. The driver, a spicey. tongue-studded chick, spun it adroitly around a ledge to stop atop a pitch plummeting several thousand feet. Twelve laughing skiers spilled out — all women. Decked out in K2 Phat Luvs made for floating in deep powder, they attacked slope after slope of fluff as light as cottonwood whisps.
Standing on the rim of the gigantic, steaming caldera, the awesome power of the blast still resonates. The sight into the bowels of Mount St. Helens is an impressive reminder of how lives were so profoundly affected in 1980. To ski down after the climb in such an exotic volcanic setting is icing on the cake of a great climbing experience. You won't need a lift ticket, but you'll pay a serious physical price for the thrill.
Some years stand out for accomplishment, but 2008 seems to be notable for unfinished business in the great outdoors.
Standing in the middle of the wildlife-land grazing controversy is Kittitas County cattleman Russ Stingley, who's waiting for state approval to put his cattle out on 18,500 acres over six pastures of rolling shrub-steppe. The state-managed land known as the Skookumchuck – set to be the next battleground for the controversy over grazing on public wildlife lands – is east of Ellensburg and home to thousands of elk. Originally scheduled to take effect April 1, the permit isn't expected to be approved by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission for another week or so. But every day that passes costs the rancher money.
Although far short of the fanfare rampant at college basketball venues, teamwork is scoring points for wildlife habitat and public access to recreation lands.
A day of gear swapping and an evening festival of eight whitewater boating films will make downtown Spokane the place to be on Saturday.
Will 2009 be the year that general-season whitetail deer hunters in northeastern Washington will be limited to shooting only bucks with at least four points on one side of their antlers?
Three teenagers didn't let a few bumps, blisters and grizzly bears detour them from the route to independence.
When is a willow as good as graphite or boron?Answer: When a Spokane Valley fly fisher shows up on the St. Joe River without his fishing rod.
A story by Thomas Cleary, a senior at Cheney High School, has been judged the best of 196 entries to win The Spokesman-Review's 2008 Outdoor Writing Contest for high school students.
Waterfalls are rivers and streams stood on end; they flow insistently and endlessly, they're pretty, soothing to hear and they capture the imagination.
Even though it had been mounted on a 12-foot pole, only the top few inches of a snowmobile trail sign showed above the snowpack on Windy Ridge last week.
The bite had tapered off by noon. Most of the trout anglers at the south end of Priest Lake had reeled in and left the ice.
While it sounds like a fraternity drinking game, egg sucking at the Spokane Fish Hatchery is of sobering importance to the region's trout anglers.
Winter camping has a way of focusing wilderness skiers on their core values, which, in this case, involved peeing in the tent and sharing my sleeping bag with Clif. Blushing, I might add, wastes precious body heat.
When the snow piles on and threatens to smother the enthusiasm for winter, snowshoeing enables any reasonably active person to stay above it all.
A rash of incidents in Central Washington at the end of January is tarnishing Washington's Advanced Hunter Education (AHE) program. Founded in 1991, the voluntary program seeks to train and recognize a corps of elite sportsmen whose ethical standards and technical proficiency rise above the realm of the average hunter.
Timing, timing, timing.For the backcountry explorer, that mantra is every bit as worthy as location.
River runners are banking on a wealth of spring runoff that's finally roaring out of the region's mountains. "The good news is that the snowpack is bigger than normal and we'll have a longer summer season of fun water," said Peter Grubb, owner of Coeur d'Alene-based River Odysseys West.
Changing farming practices have been plowing new ground for trout among the Palouse wheatfields of Whitman County.
Mark Zoller was a third-grader in 1973 when his father came home from a long work day overseeing the family's small chain of Portland-area restaurants and made an announcement.
The trouble with off-road vehicles becomes apparent during a 12-hour holiday shift with Mike Mumford, Colville National Forest law enforcement officer.
This isn't Maine or Minnesota, but Washington and beyond through the Inland Northwest is second to none for a diversity of choice options for paddling a canoe or kayak.
This first week of August is not a day too soon for bicyclists to gear up for September.Although major cycling events are scattered through the year, September has become the month of the bike throughout the Inland Northwest as charities and bicycling advocates spin the attributes of pedal power.
The worst place you can be in a lightning storm is outdoors. And that's exactly where we were: standing atop a treeless ridge in California's Sierra Nevada when several bolts of lightning materialized from out of nowhere to zap an adjacent peak.
After three decades of turkey hunting experience, David Busta had a couple of career moments last spring.
Levi Meseberg is a man prepared to fish Potholes Reservoir. His 21-foot Ranger fishing boat is festooned with a forest of fishing rods. He has rods for flipping plastic baits, pulling crank baits, casting tube baits, pulling worm harnesses. He has rods with bait-casting reels and others with spin-casting reels.
A picture is worth a thousand tracks, rubs, scrapes and scats. At least it was to Cheney bowhunter Thom Long. After taking up archery in the late 90s, Long switched to muzzleloader to take advantage of late deer seasons near his home. This year, he got back into archery hunting – in a big way.
Dan Agnew invested time and a small fortune for the chance to bag what is sure to be a Washington state record bull elk.
Summer is marching along for several groups leading hikes and trail work parties in the region's national forests.
Near the peak of high water this month, I found myself on the Pend Oreille River with two awesomely efficient predators:
A Washington fisherman with an inquisitive mind, the discipline to take notes and an itch to travel has breached angling tradition in a series of tell-all guidebooks.
The Columbian white-tailed deer population of Washington has rebounded from the verge of extinction, and wildlife officials are starting a process that may remove the species from the federal Threatened and Endangered Species list.
Adventure has been a long-term investment for Bob Rust. Working as a family physician in Sandpoint, the 65-year-old kayaking enthusiast hasn't been able to devote a full summer to the long-distance expeditions he craves. But that didn't stop him from paddling across North America.
Some of the most colorful entertainment in the world is flying into local back yards. To help point this out, the National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology once again are inviting everyone with a birding field guide, binoculars and a computer to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count starting Friday through next Sunday.
Wild turkeys – one of the region's great wildlife introduction successes – are flocking, scratching, pecking, pooping and otherwise wearing out their welcome with some lowland landowners in the Inland Northwest.
A retrieving dog couldn't draw a much better deal than landing in the home of a waterfowling fanatic.
Elk that frequent Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge are the root of more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assassinations.
The Inland Northwest was thinking big in the outdoors this year, with people catching record fish, and spending more per gallon of gas than they ever imagined.
A story by Delaney Dittman, a sophomore at Lewis and Clark High School, has been judged the best of 361 entries to win The Spokesman-Review's 2007 Outdoor Writing Contest for high school students. In "One More Run," Dittman puts readers in the chairlift to witness a 4-year-old girl's power-trip on the ski slopes.
Television fishing shows have a tempting connection to fantasy. Editing can make four days of filming and mediocre action look like one fantastic half-hour.
Birdwatchers are flocking together in the next few weeks in about 2,000 localities across North America for the 108th Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Fishing for Priest Lake mackinaw can be good just about any time of year if you find the fish, said Ned Horner, Idaho Fish and Game regional fisheries manager.
Editor's note: This excerpt, "The Permission Seeker" is one of 80 stories from "Fish Tales," a new collection of humor by Spokane author Alan Liere.
Bald eagles continue to congregate at Lake Coeur d'Alene for their annual feast of kokanee spawning in Wolf Lodge Bay, with counts of more than 80 birds last week.
Langlauf, the region's largest and longest running cross-country skiing event, is scheduled once again to take over Mount Spokane State Park's nordic trails on Feb. 10.
MISSOULA – A man who "took a game animal in every unlawful way he could," was sentenced to 20 years of probation, fined $52,744 and ordered to do community service.
The filmmakers who lugged a downsized 30-pound IMAX camera to the top of the world for their 1998 Academy Award-nominated "Everest," are back with eye-popping scenery and a gripping story from the North Face of the Eiger.
Knowing that kids are the future of outdoor sports, this week's Inland Northwest Wildlife Council's annual sportsmen's show will have attractions that appeal to everyone from youngsters and families to big-game hunters and anglers.
These aren't the fly fishing videos you're daddy used to watch.The Fly Fishing Film Tour, stopping in Spokane on Friday during a 70-theater run, wastes little time on instruction or profiling the contemplative angler. False casting is virtually prohibited.
It has been snowing all day. The friendly kind of snow. The kind that floats out of a nearly blue ski with plush fluffy flakes that, no matter how fast you fly down that hill, never sting your face. You can see each individual sparkling particle as it sways on the breeze and joins the many others coating the shimmering ground; so bright it hurts your eyes.
The reintroduction of gray wolves to the northern Rockies has been officially declared a success. They were removed from the federal Endangered Species list on March 28, transferring most wolf management authority from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Bicycles will rule in Riverfront Park on Sept. 7 with the debut of SpokeFest.The non-competitive cycling event includes food, entertainment and ride options for cyclists of all abilities and ages, ranging from short loops in the downtown park to a 21-mile tour using the Centennial Trail into Riverside State Park and back.
Spokane-area recreationists will have to endure major disruptions this summer in two popular venues – the Spokane River and Mount Spokane.
A Spokane native was on track this week to set a speed record – possibly this weekend – for trekking 700 miles to the South Pole in less than 40 days.
While actress Marlee Matlin is swinging with her hearing disability on Dancing with the Stars, Miriam Richards has put her disabilities to the test of ascending to the heights of all 50 states.
Target shooters are triggering concern for public safety on public lands near Fishtrap Lake about 30 miles west of Spokane.
A husband-wife team from Seattle is nearing the completion of a 4,000-mile odyssey that ranks among the most impressive human-powered explorations of the northern Pacific Coast.
Harsh winter conditions took a heavy toll on elk in the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area in recent months, even though wildlife managers trucked in tons of hay to feed them.
The outdoors is a giant nursery this time of year.Hunters know "the rut," or peak of breeding activity for elk is in mid-September and then around Thanksgiving for white-tailed deer. This is when love-sick bulls and bucks temporarily lose some of their characteristic wariness in order to get the job done.
Trout aren't automatic in waters of the Inland Northwest.Without a boost from hatcheries, most lakes in this region would be troutless.
"Seasons On the Fly" may be the first cable TV fishing show in which a Few fish is better than a bunch.
Bow. Arrows. Binoculars. Camera. Gloves. Face mask. Masking scent. Eau de Doe. Safety vest. Lifting rope. GPS. Energy bars. Water bottle. Pee bottle (don't confuse with previous). That backpack's going to weigh 20 pounds.
Labor Day will be the season's last hurrah for kokanee anglers at Lake Coeur d'Alene.The Idaho Fish and Game Department has announced an emergency closure on the lake's kokanee fishery starting Sept. 2 based on surveys indicating dangerously low numbers of spawning-age fish.
ON THE RUSSIAN RIVER, Alaska – Washington angler Justin Steinhoff was enjoying his first Alaska fishing trip in June when he spotted a group of dark objects moving downstream out of the brush toward the riverbank.
Pronghorns one day could again roam swaths of Eastern Washington, although not as soon as longtime supporters of reintroduction have hoped.
Bill and Debbie Pierce of Spokane have a reputation for bringing home their far-flung outdoor adventures to share in sharp photographic detail.
Adventure, humor, awareness and awe, plus a good dose of pucker factor are coming to Spokane next weekend in a road show of top films from the recent Banff Mountain Film Festival.
A new law passed in the Idaho Legislature earlier this year requires a "restricted vehicle" license plate for all off-highway motorcycles, ATVs and utility vehicles starting Jan. 1.
Humor is the latest victim in economic tsunami that's sinking many outdoor industry markets.Patrick F. McManus, Outdoor Life's iconic back page humor writer, says the magazine has terminated his contract for budget reasons.
Jack O'Connor helped Al Biesen launch a distinguished gunsmithing career. Now Biesen, 79, and his family are giving a hand to the center named for the famed gun writer.
America's only museum dedicated to mountains and mountaineering opened this weekend in Golden, Colo.
Bird migrations will be getting into full wing through the Inland Northwest this month, as you may have noticed last weekend when songbirds seemed to flood into the area and fill yards with song.
CLARKSTON – A new group has formed in Asotin County to protest the closing of roads on public lands in the Blue Mountains and beyond.
It was a God-send to a Kaniksu National Forest trail crew that's swamped with work and strapped for funding.
Washington led the country in tiger muskies reported caught and released in 2007 according to Muskies Inc., an international, nonprofit group that tracks the catching-and-releasing of the big trophy fish.
A new sportsmen's snow coming to the Spokane Convention Center next weekend is dedicated to anglers.
Off-road vehicle drivers lost a small portion of the routes they can ride on the Colville National Forest this week, but disabled hunters are gaining ground.
No law prevented Mike Weaver from evicting the messy tenants in his home along the Spokane River.
Two men last week set a record for climbing to the highest point in each state in less than 50 days.
Conserve fuel, improve health and fitness, contribute to better air quality, eliminate parking hassles and save money.
One blast from a can of bear spray was all it took to make believers out of Carl Ramm and wife Susan Alexander five years ago.
Grazing on state wildlife lands has become a hot-button issue in Washington with little middle ground. People either want it and see benefits to wildlife habitat and to the rural economy, or they consider it a travesty.
One of the keys to successful ice fishing is selecting a place to fish. While tradition helps narrow down the lake selections, technology can help locate the fish.
Unlike the huge dump of snow in Spokane last week, the snow in the 2007- 2008 winter came more gradually and steadily, and it disappeared the same way.
He's hobnobbed with presidents. His likeness hangs alongside those of Ernest Hemingway and Zane Gray in the Sport Fishing Hall of Fame.
A backpacking school and a fly-fishing school conducted each year in Spokane have one important common denominator.
Most of Lake Roosevelt's 1.4 million annual visitors have come and gone for the season, and what many of them left behind will make you wince.
The cream of the crop among Washington State Parks campground hosts will open the gates when the Nine Mile Resort campground opens for the season on Thursday.
With spring runoff fouling the rivers, it's prime time for trout fishing in the region's lakes.Looking for something new?
Anglers seem to be keeping their cool and getting along in the midst of an outstanding steelhead run on the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon rivers this year.
Finding a group or a good place to go snowshoeing is easier than ever in the Inland Northwest.After this week's snowstorms, many people can don snowshoes and discover a new world virtually out their backdoor.
It's time for high schoolers to begin thinking about fame, fortune and the great outdoors. The Spokesman-Review once again is joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America in sponsoring a contest for youth outdoor writing.
Choice areas of Yellowstone National Park are being groomed for cross-country skiers.Since 2006, park concessionaire Xanterra has been managing 33 trails, many of them groomed for day use by classic and skate skiers.
Biologists and conservationists have been using remote camera technology on a limited basis for years to help document lynx, fishers, wolverines, wolves, grizzly bears and other rare wildlife species in the Inland Northwest.
The 2008 Critter of the Year for the Inland Northwest had no rivals at the top of the food chain — except for man.
I'm not big on technology. Give me the old ways, tried and true. But occasionally an innovation is so effective, even an old Luddite falls for it.
A landmark change in North Idaho trout fishing regulations has occurred this weekend.Starting Saturday, all cutthroat trout caught in the Spokane River drainage – that includes all of the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe rivers – must be released.
Although mute swans look elegant on a pond at a park or retirement community, Washington declared them to be deleterious exotic wildlife in 1991 and Oregon has listed the non-native species among the state's 100 Most Dangerous Invaders list.
A North Idaho family is suffering from too much of a good thing this fall.
This concluding newspaper report was sketchy last year, considering it apparently involved the most expensive search-and- rescue effort in Stevens County history:
Ellie LaRocca didn't have a plan for last summer – a mistake she may not make again.Her parents came up with a plan for her.
A group of Oregon birdwatchers have spotted and photographed what appears to be the first documented hybrid resulting from a breeding between North America's most common species of hummingbirds, Anna's and rufous.
"It's going to be one of the better seasons we've had in probably 10 years," said D.J. Tuttle, who operates Action Rafting in Cashmere. "I'd say the last year we had like this was '99, with this kind of snowpack and late runoff."
With his heart tugging one direction and his instincts pulling another way, Rance Block tied competing interests into a career that's had a significant impact on wild critters and the people who enjoy them.
As more than one mother has told her child at the beginning of the ice fishing season, "You don't need to be the first one out on the ice."
Spotting bird species became a year-long goal for Coeur d'Alene veterinarian Stephen Lindsay, who dedicated himself to listing as many species as he could in Kootenai County in 2001.
Many bird lovers in the Inland Northwest are rolling out the welcome mat for the spring migrants flocking into the region.
Slobbish behavior has cost shooters the privilege to fire their guns on a popular piece of public land in southern Stevens County.
Jane Schelly has become a master at extracting every ounce of adventure from an airline ticket to a Third World country.
An unprecedented surge of volunteers is putting muscle into trail projects and cleanups throughout the Inland Northwest this season.
The dining should be excellent, but the meat of an upcoming event will be the program about hunting and fishing in the 21st century.
As we wound down the bumpy dirt road, I looked up from the book I was reading to peer out the window. If I craned my neck in just the right way, I could catch a glimpse of the sparkling blue water.
As my father and I waded through the Clark Fork River, I was overwhelmed by the beauty surrounding us. The water glistened in the late afternoon sun; trees swayed in the gently autumn breeze.
Alert and watchful, I listen for the sign.I hear the rustle of grass slowly waving in the wind. I hear the crackle of dry leaves moving across the ground. I hear the swaying of the branches of the giant pine close by. I hear the ... wait ... the sign ... I hear the sign.
Despite the rapid change from harsh winter to spring-like conditions at low elevations in the past week, big-game animals are not out of the woods.
In Washington, elk hunters are grouped into the "haves" and the "have nots."
Published this spring, "Paddling Washington," (Mountaineers, $24.95) details more than 120 paddling trips in the region, from the scablands to the mountain wilderness areas.
Seth Burrill, the Spokane Valley fishing video guru for the Angler's Xperience, is bringing his Angling Academy lessons to The Spokesman-Review. Starting today — and through all four seasons — look for his fishing tips for various species condensed into a highly readable graphic presentation in Outdoors & Travel.
OUTSHOOT
Fine tuning sporting clays
The state's top shotgunners have been demonstrating their prowess this week in the Washington State Sporting Clays Tournament, which concludes today at Landt Farms just west of Spokane.
OUTPADDLE
910 lakes and counting
Minnesotans call her The Kayak Lady.
OUTFIELD
Colorful lakes are health risk
Hot summer weather brings the risk of toxic blue-green algae in some of the region's lakes.
OUTDISTANCE
Local cyclist's dark, secret ride
If you need pampering, don't show up for this cycling event:
OUTPICK
Huckleberry Haiku
One of the best huckleberry crops in memory is leaving stains on fingers and smiles on faces throughout the region. Berries are so thick in some mountain areas, a serious harvester might move less than 25 feet in an hour.
OUTGOING
Summit road closing on Mount Spokane
Today is the last chance to drive to the summit of Mount Spokane, that is, if an unusual weather event hasn't already closed the road.
OUTGOING
Check out local outdoor groups
What: The Inland Northwest Trails Coalition's Spring into Action gathering; chance to meet representatives from 16 non-motorized trail and paddling groups.
OUTFIELD
Be bear aware
With bears emerging from their dens and looking for food in lowland areas such as Priest Lake, a timely presentation on living and recreating in bear country will be presented in Spokane on Tuesday.
OUTBREAK
Gobblers galore
While most sportsmen are still trying to fill their spring turkey tags, at least one hunter has thrown in the towel.
OUTBOARD
Wildlife panels meet
Idaho Fish and Game, Nov. 5-6 in Lewiston. Hot topic: License fee increases.
OUTLAST
Winterizing boats
1. Drain all water from the engine and lower unit and fill the cooling system with environmentally safe antifreeze. Remove spark plugs; fog cylinders, and wipe down engine with moisture-displacing lubricant.
OUTDO
Souper Bowl Sunday is ladies' day out
What: 3rd annual Women's Souper Bowl Nordic and Snowshoe Sunday, with lunch, on-snow activities and prize drawings.
OUTFIELD
Learn birding basics
What: Two free seminars on basic bird-watching skills.
OUTLAST
Forest giants fall to storms
Severe storms the past two winters have been the last straw for some of the biggest trees and oldest living things in Oregon and Washington.
OUTPEDAL
Moo U embraces bikes
In the latest action to break away from the aura of the cow-college, Montana State University has taken the bold step to allow bicycling on campus.
•Inside: Mountain bikers have big plans for Beacon Hill/T2
OUTMEDIA
New resource for Idaho trail
Hiking, biking, horseback riding and riding a motorcycle or ATV on the Idaho Centennial Trail should be easier to plan with the help of a new Web site and blog maintained by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
OUTBACK
Lucky Lab licks avalanche
"I'll probably always see her eyes just looking up at me as she slid down into that thing," said Montana backcountry skier Tom Pick, describing the last sight of Lizzie, his 3-year-old Labrador retriever as she broke loose a cornice and was swept down a hillside by an avalanche this winter.
OUTCOME
Nice shot, Bubba
The small print of the Idaho official records revealed recently that Zeb C. Zielinski, 28, of Coeur d'Alene was sentenced to a $300 fine, five days in jail or 40 hours in the county work program for an "attempt to take simulated wildlife."
OUTFIELD
These climbers have a cause
Because it's there, many charities are looking up to the biggest mountain in their area.
OUTCRY
Lousy deal for wild salmon
Researchers announced new evidence last week that increasing densities of salmon farms are driving nearby wild salmon runs to extinction.
OUTPADDLE
Kayakers heading to local waters
The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department's first-of-the-season group kayaking trips to Inland Northwest lakes for paddlers 18 years and older are launching this month to:
OUTFISH
Top this catch
Losing ice-fishing poles down an ice hole is one of the hazards of winter angling. But it really hurts when the outfit is a brand-spanking-new Christmas gift from your son.
OUTPEDAL
Got spring fever? Go 'parking'
Bicyclists looking for a road of their own in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks get a once-a-year window of opportunity during spring plowing before the parks are opened to motor vehicles.
OUTCOOK
Campfire cooking recipe contest
What: Redwood Creek Wines Campfire Classic recipe contest.
OUTPEDAL
Bikes come out of the closet
About 1,000 people in the Spokane area pledged to commute by bicycle last week in a successful revival of Bike to Work Week, and a jump-start to their summer cycling fitness foundation.
OUTDATED
Geology bike tour
Explore the deepest and most rugged of the flood canyon in the path of the Ice Ages Floods during a fairly gentle 11-mile bike tour by special permit on the Columbia Plateau rail-trail.
OUTWRITE
Huckleberry Haiku inspires readers
A bumper crop of huckleberries has inspired readers to take up our challenge and send in some delicious deep purple verse.
OUTCRY
Grizzly bumper crop
Vehicles were the grizzly bear's worst enemy in northwestern Montana last year.
OUTDINE
Wild Game Dinner an elegant event
Time to get reservations and start fasting for the popular annual Wild Game Dinner, a North Idaho College Alumni fundraiser. Tickets for the Jan. 24 event at NIC cost $55.
OUTCRY
Room for improvement
Reorganization of Spokane area's Department of Emergency Services has left search and rescue "in flux as far as whose running the program," Spokane County Undersherriff Jeff Tower said last month.
OUTFITTER
Gifts that catch a fly fisher's fancy
Rods are too expensive, and reels are too personal, but two products stand out as pleasers for the fly fisher on your gift list:
Following are answers to frequently asked questions regarding Idaho's new OHV licensing requirements effective Jan. 1:
"We bought a cabin, right on the beach!" my mother says as she bursts through the front door. "Finally, I catch a break," I think to myself. "For once in my life my parents do something cool."
Even though she's an 18-year-old Running Start sophomore at Eastern Washington University, Melissa Main's body doesn't seem to have learned about the basic forces of gravity.
After piling up enough brass in six years to build a monument, Amanda Furrer is just 60 rounds from making the 2008 U.S. Olympic Shooting Team.
Joey Nania was hooked by the bass fishing bug at an early age. The Central Valley High School junior is a formidable competitor on the region's bass fishing circuits, but to understand his prowess, it helped to be aboard a boat to watch him fish three years ago as a 14 year-old who was just a few weeks away from winning a world title.
At least one of the two "master hunters" recently cited for hunting elk within a state park would not have been eligible for Washington's Advanced Hunter Education program under new standards.
Permits: Each climber needs a permit, $22 apiece, to ascend Mount St. Helens beyond the timberline at 4,800 feet.
Paul Fish of Spokane has sold millions of dollars worth of specialized outdoor equipment in the 25 years since the former backpack builder retired his industrial sewing machine and founded Mountain Gear, Inc.
Anniversaries
100, Seven northwest national forests, including the Clearwater in Idaho and Umatilla in Oregon-Washington.
Managing bighorn sheep is a moving experience for modern wildlife managers.The sturdy cliff-dwelling critters are particularly susceptible to diseases transmitted from domestic livestock. Thriving bighorn herds have been decimated in months by disease outbreaks.
Marathon-style cross-country ski races are not new to the Inland Northwest, but this year the world is taking an unusually keen interest in the region.
In a society that tends to demand quick fixes and raise kids with short attention spans, Robert Fisher deserves a tip of the fluorescent-orange cap.
One North Idaho family has defied the theories of probability and challenged the fundamentals of physics.
This year marks a milestone for the Spokane River Canoe Classic, as the annual Father's Day weekend event moves off the flowing water and onto a lake.
To comply with state laws, most national forest roads in Washington have been closed to ATVs, dirt bikes and other unlicensed vehicles that are not "street-legal."
Aug. 31
Great Northwest Fall Tour
Location: Newport
The grill was hot enough for the apple wood to start smoking. Friends had brought microbrew beer and chardonnay, gourmet breads and artistic salads.
Some of the earliest residents on Inland Northwest waters are being crowded off Loon Lake. Small remaining colonies of red-necked grebes have had poor nesting success in recent years, and the situation is worse this spring, according to local bird watchers.
BASSETT'S STATION, Calif. – Dennis Desjardin tenderly plucks a delicate brown cupped mushroom, small enough to be Tom Thumb's goblet, growing in the debris of a soggy field of young corn lilies.
The route back to the birthplace of skiing was a quagmire of rotten snow and horse manure, hangovers and monotonous meals, not to mention nearly five weeks without a bath.
Some adventure filmmakers rose to the occasion of the 32nd annual Banff Mountain Film Festival last week, while others sunk to unnerving depths.
A three-passenger snowmobile on steroids is putting North Idaho on the cutting edge of backcountry snowcat skiing and snowboarding operations. "Anybody can get a group of three, so you know exactly who you're skiing with," said Shep Snow, the snow conditions expert and partner in the Selkirk Powder Company.
Soaring fuel prices have made 2005 one of the best years to have a sailboat since the harnessing of steam power. Yet with all the development booming around Lake Coeur d'Alene, the tidy Panhandle Yacht Club is the lone sailboat-only facility on the lake.
icycle helmet laws are as rare as cheap lake frontage in North Idaho, but the Route of the Hiawatha is a notable exception. Riders are required to be equipped with helmets as well as lights while riding the 15-mile rail-trail, which features seven towering trestles and 10 tunnels.
The Scotchman Peaks region north of Lake Pend Oreille is among the darlings of Idaho's unofficial wilderness areas. Studded with peaks and ripe with lakes, streams and wildlife, the area was among the first in the state to be embraced by conservationists for a campaign launched in June.
Editor's note: The last of the Inland Northwest's brief fall dove hunting seasons closed last week. Farther south, however, dove hunting is a way of life.
For decades, off-road vehicle enthusiasts have been mostly free to roam federal forests and rangelands at will. But their freewheeling days could be numbered.
While "Near Nature, Near Perfect," might be a stretch for Spokane, the city's slogan would be an understatement for the 94-mile Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier.
Across the country, from classrooms to living rooms, people have been revving up their computers to see the next generation of peregrine falcons hatch, grow and fledge on a ledge of a Harrisburg, Pa., office building.
A documentary produced by a professional film crew following the rampage of a man-killing Siberian tiger was named the grand prize winner at the 31st annual Banff Mountain Film Festival that wrapped up last weekend in Banff, Alberta.
A friend recently informed me he is getting a four-wheeler – "for huckleberryin' and mushroomin' and such," he said. He was appropriately apologetic, for he knows how I feel about such things.
Defining the perfect man weekend is about as easy as landing the perfect date or riding a greased pig up a ladder. I am not claiming my adventure on the second weekend of May was perfect, but it was damn close.
As the spring pedaling season shifts into high gear, some of the region's classic mass bicycle tours are showing signs of running their course. The Spokane Bicycle Club already has announced the cancellation of the Autumn Century, the north-Spokane 100-miler that celebrated its 26th year last September.
OROFINO, Idaho – When Ray Reel comes hovering onto the scene, it's usually because bad things have happened in hard-to-reach places. When forest fires rage in north central Idaho, Reel is there with his bucket to douse the flames or ferry firefighters to the front.
The recent cold snap that ushered the Inland Northwest into winter was greeted warmly by anglers pulling plastic sleds onto lakes freshly covered with ice.
Differentiating the students from the instructors was impossible at Idaho's first Responsible Rider ATV course late last month. "We're all students today," said Ron Hood of the Wallace-based High Mountain ATV Association.
A local group of bird hunters is no different in the basic approach to their sports than hoopsters eyeing the NCAA tournament — your team is going to be a lot sharper and more successful if you don't wait until the season opener to start practicing.
A family holiday tradition, perpetuated for years by my father, involves giving the gift of interesting, unique outdoors gear. Though we give and receive wool socks, long johns and other standard fare, there's an unwritten family code that says one gift item each year must be unexpected, intriguing or a bit off the wall.
Like the beer commercials that end with a plea to drink responsibly, sponsors of the X Games punctuated the extreme-sports event of speed and wild jumps with a sobering note: Trying the death-defying jumps, flips and spins televised at the X Games could be hazardous to your health.
Going the extra mile for a special reunion of four old college friends, we huffed and hoofed deep into a Montana wilderness where roughly 240 square miles appeared to have been reserved for our private party.
This is a banner year to be in the business of restoring wetlands. While ducks and geese are already taking advantage of the trend toward normal spring runoff, nobody is happier about this season's soggy landscape than The Nature Conservancy staffers working on the Ball Creek Ranch.
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