RIVER RUNNING -- People lined up along Highway 12 over the Memorial Day weekend for a whitewater thrill show as rafters and kayakers challenged the big runoff waves on Idaho's Lochsa River. This YouTube video captures the action, and believe me, there's plenty to see...…
RIVER RUNNING -- A Wisconsin man drowned while rafting on the Lochsa River on Saturday, according to a report filed today by S-R reporter Alison Boggs. This is the second rafting fatality in the region this spring, following the death of a Hauser, Idaho, man…
SALMON FISHING -- Chuck Thompson of Lewiston battled a fish for 30 minutes before netting an icon of the 2011 spring chinook run up the Snake River System. His 36-pounder caught May 22 on the Clearwater River is a glimpse at the run's heavily weighted…
SALMON FISHING -- Here's today's Salmon River spring chinook salmon fishing report from Amy Sinclair of Exodus Wilderness Adventures in Riggins: The Idaho Department of Fish and Game have documented a total of 21 Chinook harvested from the Salmon River; 16 adult and 5 jacks…
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Cougar management and the state Endangered Species Program are on the agenda for the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting Friday and Saturday in Olympia. During the two-day meeting, the commission is scheduled to hear a briefing on cougar management, including research…
TRAILS -- Vandalism has marred a mural in the Fish Lake Trail tunnel less than two weeks after volunteers had put all but the finishing touches on the colorful farm-to-rail scenes. Apparently on Friday night, a paint roller was used to write graffiti and ruin…
BACKPACKING -- The big lingering snowpack and advent of warmer, wet weather is raising the pucker factor for any backpackers heading out on routes that cross streams. A point I missed in my Sunday story about hiking the Lake Chelan Shoreline Trail is that rising…
HIKING -- After reading my series of stories on early spring hikng in Sunday's Outdoors section, several readers have emailed reports aboout rockslides and closures on Snake River Trail 102 between Pittsburg Landing to Kirkwood Ranch in Hells Canyon. But according to an advisory posted…
WILDLIFE -- My day has been crawling with wildlife. 6 a.m.: Going out to get the newspaper, I see a robin chick has just broken out of its egg in the nest behind the house. Naked pink and squirming with a little shell still on…
PADDLING -- Conditions were cold and wet and the Spokane River was running big for Thursday's HydroTherapy session at Dead Dog Wave and Cyclops. The Stateline play spots attracted a hearty group of paddlers learning and practicing tricks. Photographer Michael Kinney captured the action with…
OUTDOORS TRENDS -- Compiled by Headwaters, here are a few of the past week's outdoors and environmental news stories to ponder while relaxing this weekend: USFWS study tracks lead's effect on songbirds in Idaho basin The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is studying the effects…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will swear in its new Spokane District manager on Tuesday at the district office,1103 North Fancher Rd. Daniel Picard has been the Superintendent for the Uintah and Ouray Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs since…
RESERVOIRS -- The Lake Roosevelt water elevation was 1,234.1 at noon today and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation predicts the level will continue to rise 1-2 feet a day through the Memorial Day weekend. The agency predicted today that the lake will be about 1,250…
CYCLING -- Police in the town of Amity, Ore., wrote more than $4,000 in traffic tickets Saturday during an annual charity bicycle ride that passed through the community, the Associated Press reports. Some riders told KGW-TV they thought police were at the intersection to allow…
COUNTY PARKS -- The National Trails Day weekend work project scheduled for Liberty Lake County Park has been changed to put more muscle to Spokane County’s popular Iller Creek Conservation Area up from Dishman-Mica Road. Volunteers are needed June 4 or 5 to improve the…
FISHERIES -- Commercial net-pen-raised rainbows are dying by the hundreds of thousands from the impact of the huge runoff pouring down the Columbia River through Grand Coulee Dam -- and federal water managers say there's little they can do to help the Pacific Seafood operators.…
HIKING -- The annual summer series of group hikes organized by the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness will begin June 4 with a trek into Thunder Creek northeast of Lake Pend Oreille. The moderately difficult hike is just the first of 15 hikes the…
HIKING -- A June 4 hike along the proposed Pend Oreille Bay Trail kicks of the summer-long series of free guided North Idaho dayhikes organized by The Idaho Conservation League. The hike series, which overlaps with a series of hikes offered by the Friends of…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The Washington State Department of Natural Resources will hold a public hearing in Colville regarding a proposed boundary to limit access to the Trombetta Canyon Natural Area Preserve. Trombetta Canyon, 2 miles southeast of Northport in Stevens County, is a striking geological…
BACKPACKING -- Glacier National Park officials breathed a sigh of relief this week after an aerial search fairly quickly turned up an overdue backpacker who'd set out on an overambitious spring itinerary. But after returning the Helena man safely to civilization, ark officials issued a…
FISHERIES -- Owners of Pacific Seafood say the dissolved gasses resulting from increased flows out of Grand Coulee Dam are killing up to 100,000 large rainbow trout a day in the commercial net pens downstream. The fish are raised in the Lake Rufus Woods net…
RIVER RUNNING -- The National Park Service is abandoning its normal practice of stationing rangers at a rescue camp near the most dangerous stretch of the world-renowned rapids of Utah's Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River. A story in the Deseret News explains that with…
SALMON FISHING -- Anglers in Washington will get another chance to catch spring chinook from the lower Snake River starting Saturday. Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune delved into the details in the following story published today. Read on.
OUTDOOR ACCESS -- Highway crews are making headway on clearing snow from mountain passes that give outdoor enthusiasts quick access to the high country. North Cascades Highway was cleared on Wednesday and another Cascades route, Cayuse Pass, is supposed to be clear today, but many…
NATURE -- Get more out of a walk in the woods by joining a group hike with a nature-related group. Here are two good upcoming options: Saturday, Bird Walk with Friends of Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. Join Marian Frobe, 8 a.m.-noon, for a walk around…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
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