Environment
Environment
![A man guides young people on a park tour](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Latino-Conservation-Week-2022-in-Seward-Park-500x500.jpg)
Latino communities celebrate conservation week
Environmental organizations around Washington hold educational and outdoor activities to celebrate Latino Conservation Week. It encourages communities to enjoy nature and join forces to protect the environment.
![A creek flows centered by rows of black trees burned by a fire.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Landscape-Edited-500x500.jpg)
Millions in wildfire funding coming to the West, projects already underway
The Williams Creek Fire burned thousands of acres in the north Idaho wilderness last summer. Fire crews, with the help of heavy rains, eventually put out the blaze. (Credit: Lauren
![imagen de un hombre cocinando salmón a la parrilla](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/El-salmon-es-cubierto-con-papel-de-aluminio-500x500.jpeg)
Para las tribus, la bienvenida del salmón al Alto Columbia es un recordatorio del ‘trabajo de toda una vida’
El sol apenas comenzaba a salir sobre el río Columbia en Bridgeport, Washington, cuando un pescador Colville capturó el primer salmón de la temporada.
![Two fire managers dressed in heavy green and yellow clothes with helmets walk through the brushy grasslands, setting fires with red drip torches.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Drip-Torch_field-500x500.png)
Fighting fire with fire: Bringing prescribed burns back to Washington state
As the days get hotter and warmer, many Washingtonians are gearing up for the wildfires that will ignite across the region this year, causing smoky skies, evacuations and potentially devastating loss.
![The sun shines over a mountain peak in central Washington behind rows of green vineyards.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Red_Mountain_20090612_182-1500x855-1-500x500.jpeg)
New Washington wine research focuses on climate change, sustainability
Sunrise over Red Mountain vineyards in central Washington. (Credit: Andrea Johnson Photography/Washington State Wine Commission) Listen (Runtime 1:03) Read It’s been a slower start to spring in the Pacific Northwest,
![The sun shines above a bright blue lake next to a golden field of grasslands surrounded by evergreen trees.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/mt-howard-into-sun-_DSC9831-copy-500x500.jpg)
Oregon nonprofit returns Wallowa land to Nez Perce Tribe
Oregon nonprofit Wallowa Land Trust gave 30 acres of undeveloped land near Wallowa Lake to the Nez Perce Tribe. (Credit: David Jensen) Listen (Runtime 00:53) Read Wildlife will have easier
![A bright red crayfish sits atop grey gravel with its red and bumpy claws outstretched.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RedSwampCrayfish-500x500.jpg)
High school students discover invasive crayfish in Idaho
Red Swamp Crayfish have been discovered in the Lewiston Levee ponds, thanks to science students at Lewiston High School. (Credit: istockphoto) Listen (Runtime 00:59) Read Lewiston High School teacher Jamie
![A white tanker plane drops bright orange flame retardant onto a smokey forest of evergreen trees.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AP190217388725891-500x500.jpg)
More firefighters needed to control wildfire hotspots in Eastern Washington
A tanker airplane drops fire retardant on a wildfire burning near Twisp, Wash. Three firefighters were killed battling the blaze. (Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press) Listen (Runtime 1:07)
![A plume of smoke rises above a yellow field flanked by three evergreen trees against a blue sky.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cow-Canyon-Fire-2022_Courtesy-Washington-State-Department-of-Natural-Resources-500x500.jpg)
Wildfire Defense Grants to fund 14 programs in Washington
The Cow Canyon Fire burns near Naches, Washington in August 2022. New funding from the federal government is earmarked to help Northwest communities become more resistant to wildfire. (Credit: Washington
![Adult Japanese beetles can take plants like roses, grapes or hops down to the nubs quickly if infested. The beetle comes from Asia, and doesn’t have many predators in Oregon and Washington](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/beetle-5101435-500x500.jpg)
Spring killing: Smaller-than-a-penny Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture
Adult Japanese beetles can take plants like roses, grapes or hops down to the nubs quickly if infested. The beetle comes from Asia, and doesn’t have many predators in Oregon
![](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_7292-500x500.jpg)
A Northwest dryland wheat farmer looks to the sky, contemplates the coming harvest
Even with all the rain and snow in California this winter, it’s been pretty dry in our region, especially in much of eastern Oregon and parts of eastern Washington.
![Látis Nowland, of Mission, Oregon, digs for wild celery, or latit latit in the Umatilla language, as Tatum Ganuelas, right, and Beth Looney search the surrounding hills. Nowland said she’s been doing this work since the Sunday after she was born, when her mother, Trinette Minthorn, brought her along in a baby board. The women were among a group of about 15 women and girls who gathered for the sacred tradition that marks the arrival of spring for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1_APW-500x500.jpg)
Moving up the line: Northwest tribal women and girls gather wild celery amid challenges
Around this time each year, women and girls from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation gather wild celery. They say their ancestors come back through the plant, and the ceremonial dig marks the arrival of spring.