Tony Schick, Author at Northwest Public Broadcasting

The president just unraveled years of work on tribal rights, salmon and clean energy. So what happens next?

By Tony Schick June 13, 2025

FILE - The salmon viewing area at the Bonneville Lock and Dam, August 2021. Kristyna Wentz-Graff, Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

Less than two years ago, the administration of President Joe Biden announced what tribal leaders hailed as an unprecedented commitment to the Native tribes whose ways of life had been devastated by federal dam-building along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. The deal, which took two years to negotiate, halted decades of lawsuits over the harm federal dams had Read More

Biden calls for ‘abundant’ salmon populations, directs agencies to honor tribal treaty rights

By Tony Schick September 28, 2023

Sockeye salmon like these are among the salmon species in peril. Credit: Aaron Kunz Listen (Runtime 1:05) Read By Courtney Flatt and Tony Schick President Biden today directed federal agencies […]Read More

Oregon Approves New Plan For Managing Gray Wolves

By Tony Schick June 9, 2019

This Feb. 2017, file photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a gray wolf of the Wenaha Pack captured on a remote camera on U.S. Forest Service land in Oregon's northern Wallowa County. CREDIT: OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE/AP

Oregon fish and wildlife commissioners approved a new management plan Friday for gray wolves, a long-awaited document that sets protocols for potential hunts and new thresholds for when the agency may kill wolves after attacks on cattle and sheep.Read More

Environmental Groups Withdraw From Negotiations To Update Oregon Wolf Management Plan

By Tony Schick January 7, 2019

A photo of a male wolf from the Sherman Pack captured by a camera trap. CREDIT: CONSERVATION NORTHWEST

Environmental groups have withdrawn from an effort to update Oregon’s plan for managing gray wolves days before a final meeting of stakeholders, throwing the future of negotiations over wolf management and protections into question.Read More

Analysis Reveals Northwest Communities Most Threatened By Wildfire

By Tony Schick November 14, 2018

A wildfire burns near homes in the Cleveland National Forest in Lake Elsinore, California. CREDIT: RINGO H.W./AP

A small number of Northwest communities have an outsized level of exposure to wildfire, according to data released by the Forest Service.Read More

How Fire Consumed The Forest Service Budget

By Tony Schick October 19, 2018

With fire costs rising and forest revenues shrinking, the federal government created an industrial complex around wildfire. Then it failed to rein in spending.Read More

Feds Change Oil Train Safety Rules. Northwest Governors Not Pleased

By Tony Schick September 26, 2018

File photo of oil train tankers in a Portland railyard. CREDIT: TONY SCHICK

The Trump administration has finalized a roll back of Obama-era regulations for oil trains.Read More

Fighting Wildfire Is Risky. But It’s Become Riskier Than It Needs To Be

By Tony Schick September 11, 2018

A line of wildland firefighters marches through the woods during the Yellowstone fires of 1988. The massive complex of fires, which burned more than 790,000 acres, was a transformative moment in the country's view of wildfire. CREDIT: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Federal and state agencies have come to realize fires should not be fought at all costs and, in fact, many should not be fought at all. Excluding natural fire led to forests burning in bigger, more destructive ways. Each year, hazardous fuels accumulate faster than we can reduce them through selective logging and burning.Read More

Land Use Conflict Hangs Over Plan For Renewable Fuels Refinery On Columbia River

By Tony Schick September 4, 2018

A proposal for a $1.1 billion renewable fuels refinery on the Columbia River could be held up by a dispute over land use zoning.Read More

Forest Service Chief Talks Need For New Fire Management, Fuel Treatments

By Tony Schick July 31, 2018

The West is in the midst of another intense fire season. Fires in California and Oregon have claimed lives and homes and burned up farmland. As part of EarthFix’s ongoing series on wildfire, reporter Tony Schick spoke with interim Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen about what her agency is doing to reform fire management and reverse the fire problem.Read More

Efforts To Reduce Wildfire Risk Fall Short, Buck Science

By Tony Schick July 26, 2018

A member of the Wolf Creek Hotshots uses a drip torch to ignite the forest floor during a prescribed burn near Sisters, Oregon. CREDIT: JES BURNS

The West is way behind on reducing the buildup of hazardous fuels we created. And much of the work we do to reduce those fuels is missing the key ingredient: fire.Read More

Q&A: How Investigators Sniff Out Wildfire Causes

By Tony Schick July 23, 2018

A grass fire near The Dalles, Oregon, forced evacuations of area residents. CREDIT: WASCO COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

The Substation Fire east of The Dalles has killed one person and burned more than 70,000 acres on a mix of Bureau of Land Management and private land. The fire is estimated to be 92 percent contained as of Monday morning. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Here’s what we know about it and how wildland fire investigations occur.Read More

Can ‘Moneyball’ Fix How The West Manages Wildfire?

By Tony Schick July 16, 2018

The U.S. Forest Service and others have been saying for decades that we need to allow more wildfire on the landscape. But so far, we haven't practiced what we preach.Read More

Big Wildfire Season And Summer Of Drought Await The Northwest

By Tony Schick June 26, 2018

The Chetco Bar Fire remained relatively quiet for its first month before exploding into Oregon's largest wildfire. Courtesy of Chetco Bar Fire incident command team

Federal officials anticipate a big wildfire season in the Northwest throughout July, August and possibly into September.Read More

Senators Look To Expand Thinning Work In National Forests

By Tony Schick May 15, 2018

Forest thinning, such as this work done in the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon, may be of value for some purposes but will also increase carbon emissions to atmosphere, researchers say. CREDIT: OREGON STATE UNVERSITY

A group of senators from western states want to expand a national effort to boost timber production and restore natural conditions on overstocked forests using thinning and other restoration work.Read More

Bill Protecting Lower Snake River Dams In Washington Passes U.S. House, Moves To Senate

By Tony Schick April 25, 2018

Fish advocates say sending water through spill bays is the best way to ensure fish survival through dams in the Columbia and Snake rivers. CREDIT: CASSANDRA PROFITA

The U.S. House passed has approved a bill that would circumvent a federal judge’s order for dams on the lower Snake River to spill more water and protect current dam operations through the next four years. It was sponsored and pushed by two Washington state Republicans.Read More

Mount Hood Bike Park Moves Forward After Lawsuit Dismissal

By Tony Schick April 6, 2018

Mount Bachelor opened to mountain bikers to cater to Bend’s growing “bike scene.” Courtesy of Mount Bachelor

After a six-year delay, Timberline Lodge says it is moving forward with construction of a mountain bike park on Mount Hood.Read More

Canadian Oil Going By Rail Through Washington To Portland Before Shipping To Asia

By Tony Schick March 19, 2018

Oil by rail tanker car CREDIT: TONY SCHICK/OPB

Canadian oil has found a new route to Asia: It’s moving by rail through Washington to a shipping terminal in Portland. In the long run, Canada wants to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline to move oil from the Alberta tar sands west to British Columbia — and from there onto ships that would travel through the Salish Sea and then to Asia.Read More

Killing Wolves Might Protect One Farm’s Livestock At Expense Of Others

By Tony Schick January 12, 2018

A new study claims government killing of wolves can increase the risk to nearby farms, providing further evidence for the ineffectiveness of the so-called “lethal control” policy approach. The report also casts doubt on an earlier research paper, which government agencies often use to support the practice.Read More