A controversial wind farm that was set to be the largest in Washington has been slashed nearly in half. (Credit: John McIntyre / Flickr Creative Commons) Listen (Runtime 1:06) Read… Continue Reading Washington council Read More
Scientist Kris Bauer measures a pyrosome that was caught in a net aboard the Bell M. Shimada in May 2022. (Credit: Courtney Flatt, Northwest News Network) Listen (Runtime 0:59) Read… Continue Reading Pickle-shaped sea Read More
People walk along a trail at Leslie Groves Park in Richland, Wash. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / Northwest News Network) Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read A new study has found – when it… Continue Reading Study: as the climate changes, Read More
Listen An aerial view of the lower village of Taholah, Washington on the edge of the Pacific Coast. (Credit: Quinault Indian Nation) (Runtime :48) Read New funding from the U.S.… Continue Reading Funding for Northwest tribes Read More
A view from the edge of the cliff where the Goldendale Energy Storage Project could be built. An underground tunnel would carry water from a upper reservoir to a reservoir… Continue Reading Controversial energy project moves closer to Read More
A controversial wind farm that was set to be the largest in Washington has been slashed nearly in half. (Credit: John McIntyre, / Flickr Creative Commons) Listen (Runtime 0:57) Read… Continue Reading Largest Read More
Blue-green algae seen behind Lower Granite dam on the Snake River. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / Northwest News Network) Listen A large algal bloom on the Snake River officially has died… Continue Reading Snake River toxic algal bloom warnings liftedRead More
Pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture of fast fashion are growing just as fast as the industry. A new bill in Washington aims to help lessen the industry’s… Continue Reading Washington bill aims to reduce Read More
Tree climber Matt Zhun reaches through the branches of a whitebark pine to find cones. The climbers are protecting the cones from birds and mammals that like to eat the… Continue Reading Scientists sequence Oregon whitebark Read More
The United States Forest Service, under the directive of the United States Department of Agriculture, has announced plans to apply consistent standards to the conservation, restoration and maintenance of old-growth across the country’s national forests.
It’s a first of its kind standard that many say is necessary, given threats from climate change and varied management Read More
The second day of record-breaking heat in the Seattle area. People of all ages took advantage of the sprinklers during a free concert at the Lake Burien School Park. (Credit:… Continue Reading Researchers say deadly heat waves to be more Read More
Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said removing the four dams on the Lower Snake isn’t feasible right now. CREDIT: Bonneville… Continue Reading Historic agreement seen as a harbinger to Read More
A sunrise over the Rocky Mountains from Rocky Ridge Campground in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests on August 8, 2020 (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen (Runtime :59) Read A… Continue Reading Thousands of Northwest jobs Read More
A cross country skier follows a trail on the Sunny M Ranch property in the Methow Valley. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / NW News Network) Listen (Runtime 1:06) Read New tools… Continue Reading NASA satellites could be a Read More
A Western gray squirrel. (Courtesy: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) Listen (Runtime 0:54) Read Western gray squirrels will now be listed as endangered in Washington. The state Fish and Wildlife… Continue Reading Western gray Read More
File photo of snowy Idaho mountains. (Credit: Motowebmistress, Flickr Creative Commons) Listen (Runtime 1:03) Read For mountain snowpack to melt slowly, not all of the white fluffy stuff is created… Continue Reading Cleaner Read More
After about five years in the works, the Pierce County Council adopted a new Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan that broadens the scope of what kinds of flooding the county will plan for – from coastal to urban flooding.
Angela Angove is the floodplain and watershed services manager with Pierce County Planning and Public Works. She said different types of Read More
In the foothills of Mt. Rainier runs the Carbon, the Puyallup and the White Rivers, meandering through towns and cities, along roadways and near homes, the paint strokes of the natural environment now surrounded by a human-built ecosystem. Once tightly restricted by levees, these rivers are beginning to again flow closer to how they would have, not adhering to the confines Read More
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists Rochelle Labiosa (right) and Lil Herger examine the Columbia River for toxic algae as Jason Pappani leans over to reach into the water. (Credit: Rajah… Continue Reading Big trouble on the Read More
Blue-green algae seen behind Lower Granite dam on the Snake River. (Credit: Courtney Flatt) Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read From the air above Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River, a… Continue Reading Large Snake River toxic algal bloom hasn’t Read More
Jeremy, Stella and Manaia Wolf, members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, collect fresh fir boughs in the Rainwater Wildlife Area near Dayton, Wash. The fir boughs… Continue Reading How some Read More
Washington Rep. Steve Tharinger of the 24th district became intimately acquainted with levee setbacks when he discovered the levee protecting his house on the lower Dungeness River was not only not protecting his house, but harming the ecosystem too.
“I sold my house and the five acres in a barn we had, so that we'd have more room to move that levee back and give the Read More
Jason Vander Kooy said the potential for flooding weighs on his mind every November.
Vander Kooy is a dairy farmer — one of many in northwestern Washington. Two years ago, some farmers there dealt with flooding that killed livestock, damaged fields, and overtopped manure lagoons — meaning the basins that store cow waste filled with water and, like a bathtub too full, Read More
Visible from the smoke they’re emitting, seven fires are burning within the wilderness of Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula. Lightning strikes ignited the fires Aug. 28 and all were burning relatively small until this past weekend, when the Delabarre fire took advantage of hot, dry conditions and took off like a bandit, growing to over 3,500 acres. Read More
Ken Luke, a manager with McCain Foods, shows off some of the old standby potato varieties, along with some of the new, like the fresh “King Russet,” at a recent… Continue Reading Fries of the future could use Read More
In South Tacoma, there is about 150 acres of land sitting vacant where dry grasses and trees cover an area that, in part, once served as a rail-yard for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Continue Reading Mega-warehouse legal battle Read More
On Monday, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decided to pause an auction of 102 acres of public, forested lands to harvest for timber in King County that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
King County council members wrote a letter to Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and the Board of Natural Resources last week, urging them to defer the Read More
Prineville Hotshots construct handline along the edge of the Newell Road Fire in south-central Washington. (Credit: Newell Fire Information, Facebook) Read As new, large fires have started in Oregon and… Continue Reading Drought Read More
The Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. (Courtesy: Bonneville Power Administration) Listen (Runtime 0:45) Read Several conservation and fishing groups say the Snake River dams are making the river… Continue Reading Groups Read More
The golden paintbrush, a bright yellow flower found in Oregon and Washington, no longer needs federal protections. ( Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) Listen (Runtime 0:57) Read… Continue Reading A Read More
Yakama Nation biologist Dave’y Lumley shows Aleeyah McJoe, 7, an adult lamprey at the Yakama Nation’s Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration. (Credit: Courtney Flatt.) Listen (Runtime 4:15) Read On the banks… Continue Reading Tribes celebrate as lamprey Read More
File photo of solar panels. (Credit: Sarah Swenty / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) Listen (Runtime 1:01) Read Not everyone loves renewable energy development, but a new project in Washington… Continue Reading Solar development maps: Where is there Read More
The Naches River is the main source of drinking water for the City of Yakima. Credit: Cmh2315fl, Flickr Creative Commons.) Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read Thunderstorms high in the Cascades recently… Continue Reading NW drinking water Read More
Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the west side of Washington is going to see some sunny, hot weather. The daytime highs of 80- and 90- plus degrees being predicted might still seem abnormal to those who call the Puget Sound basin home, but those temperatures are on trend with the hotter summers climatologists have been tracking.
Historically, Western Read More
The Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. CREDIT: BPA Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read At a Congressional hearing in Richland, Wash., designed to defend the four Lower Snake River dams… Continue Reading Congress members dive into Northwest dams debateRead More
Washington faced unwelcome news this week that the state’s average price for a gallon of gas is the highest in the country. Continue Reading Rising gas prices in WA fuel debate over who pays to combat climate changeRead More
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. Continue Reading Fighting fire Read More
Casie Davidson, a scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, points out how basalt rocks are layered on top of each other. The rocks formed millions of years ago after volcanic… Continue Reading Could the Northwest’s basalt Read More
Washington Governor Jay Inslee visited Washington State University's Pullman campus on Thursday. He spoke with Northwest Public Broadcasting's Mary Ellen Pitney on climate-related issues including building more electric car charging stations, helping towns become fire resistant and recovery efforts in Malden, three years after that Labor Day fire. Read More
The Army Corps of Engineers began emergency repair work May 22 on a jetty that sits at the mouth of the Skagit River’s North Fork, near La Conner.
Crews will use cobble and sediment to essentially plug porous areas of the McGlinn Island Jetty. Those gaps have stranded, harmed or killed out-migrating juvenile salmon this spring, according to a press release from the Read More
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,… Continue Read More
Blake Foraker grills gene-edited German-style sausages at Washington State University. Credit: Connor Henricksen Listen (Runtime 3:58) Read At a barbecue on campus last week, flames licked a set of sausage… Continue Reading WSU researchers Read More
A view from the edge of the cliff where the Goldendale Energy Storage Project could be built. An underground tunnel would carry water from a upper reservoir to a reservoir… Continue Reading Federal regulators want public input Read More
For decades, the federal government declared all forest fires in the West a destructive force. Now, it is viewed as a fundamental part of the western ecosystem. Lauren Gallup and Mary Ellen Pitney explain. Continue Reading How controlled burns benefit Read More
An illustration of a potential floating wind turbine under the water. Credit: University of Maine Listen (Runtime 1:00) Read With the climate rapidly changing, researchers are trying to find ways… Continue Reading NW scientists study the Read More
File photo of solar panels. Credit: Sarah Swenty, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read In the Pacific Northwest, conversations about renewable energy can get pretty heated. Residents… Continue Reading Washington Read More
Grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Listen (Runtime 1:03) Read Grizzly bears in Washington’s North Cascades could gain habitat as the climate warms, according… Continue Reading Read More
You probably no longer bat an eye when an electric car passes by on the road. More novel battery-powered vehicles are soon joining the parade to help operators achieve their sustainability goals. Electric ferries are coming to Puget Sound and hybrid electric airplanes are being tested in Washington. Now, several Pacific Northwest fire departments have ordered their first Read More
Forested area in Washington. CREDIT: Connor Henricksen Listen (Runtime 1:07) Read In the eyes of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, one big thing is missing from the state’s… Continue Reading Read More
Late afternoon light catches smoke from the Cold Springs Fire near a structure that appeared to be empty long before the fire, Monday, Sept. 7, 2020, near Omak, Washington. CREDIT:… Continue Reading Artificial Read More