Bighorn sheep are highly susceptible to a pathogen they can catch from domestic sheep. (Credit: Kim Keating, USGS.) Listen (Runtime 1:00) Read Bighorn sheep and domestic sheep love to hang… Continue Reading Read More
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… Continue Reading Oregon nonprofit returns Wallowa land Read More
A barn own with her eggs at the Blue Mountain Wildlife center in Benton City, Washington. Many barn owls are rehabbed at the center after building nests in haystacks throughout… Continue Reading More wildlife rehabilitators needed in the Read More
A cross country skier follows a trail on the Sunny M Ranch property in the Methow Valley. The Methow Conservancy hopes to purchase the land this summer. Credit: Courtney Flatt… Continue Reading Conservation Read More
A mule deer lying in the grass. (Russ Parman via Flickr) Listen (Runtime 1:03) Read An animal advocacy group alleges Washington State University broke federal law after several animals died… Continue Reading Animal advocacy Read More
Elk congregate on the Camp Creek Feed Ground in northwestern Wyoming. (Credit: USGS) Listen (Runtime 00:50) Read Lately, Matthew Kauffman has been thinking a lot about spaghetti – wildlife spaghetti… Continue Read More
This particular adventure begins with the search for a bird. However, like many discoveries that venture a bit off course, birder Chris Lindsey found something much more interesting: a Western blue pygmy butterfly. The smallest butterfly in North America. Read More
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking for the public’s help to find who poisoned six wolves in northeastern Washington. Continue Reading Wildlife officials confirm 6 wolf poisonings in northeastern WashingtonRead More
Collisions between vehicles and large animals, like deer, are not only scary. The medical, car repair and cleanup costs really add up. That is according to a new study out of Washington State University that supports the case for building more wildlife crossings on highways. Read More
A new bill in the Washington Senate aims to stop a controversial policy in Klickitat County, where the sheriff deputized six hound handlers to track and kill any cougars he deemed to be a safety threat. Continue Reading Washington Read More
More manatees have died already this year than in any other year in Florida's recorded history, primarily from starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds, state officials said. Continue Reading Florida Breaks Annual Manatee Death Record In Read More
Wolf poachers go mostly undiscovered — but that hasn’t stopped nonprofit organizations from putting up significant cash rewards for information about these incidents. While rewards generally don’t lead to convictions, Defenders of Wildlife’s Gwen Dobbs says reward offers in cases of wildlife poaching can help raise public awareness, “hopefully serving as a deterrent Read More
If you’ve ever been hiking in the Cascades, high up in the alpine meadows, and were spooked by a streak of a bird, a plume of feathers that darted right in front of your face, you may have come across the Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan. Read More
Wildlife advocates are pressing the Biden administration to revive federal protections for gray wolves across the Northern Rockies after Republican lawmakers in Idaho and Montana made it much easier to kill the predators. Read More
A group of scientists urged the Biden administration Thursday to restore legal protections for gray wolves, saying their removal earlier this year was premature and that states are allowing too many of the animals to be killed. Continue Read More
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed into law a measure that could lead to killing 90% of the state’s 1,500 wolves in a move that was backed by hunters and the state’s powerful ranching sector but heavily criticized by environmental advocates. Read More
Nearly 30 retired state, federal and tribal wildlife managers sent a letter Wednesday to Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little asking him to veto a bill backed by agricultural interests that could cut the state’s wolf population by 90%. Read More
The number of wolves in Washington state rose strongly last year, according to an annual report from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife released Friday. The rate of increase was more than double what Oregon reported earlier in the week for its wolf population in 2020. Read More
Sage grouse in the Columbia Basin are cut off from others in Oregon and southern Idaho, making them unique in their recovery. In 1998, Washington listed its sage grouse as threatened. They now occupy around 8 percent of their historic range in the state. Read More
Peter Lancaster has always had a love for rabbits. But when he first saw a pygmy rabbit – perhaps what would become the most influential animal throughout his life – he didn’t know what it was. That began years of work to try and save the species, now endangered in Washington. Read More
A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found there are more than 70,000 breeding pairs of the iconic raptor in the contiguous U.S. In the late 1960s, there were fewer than 500. Continue Reading Once Imperiled, America’s Bald Eagle Read More
The Interior Department rescinded a controversial Trump-era legal opinion Monday that limited the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It also said it will soon propose a rule to replace one enacted at the end of the Trump administration that did the same. Read More
The timing of the Wisconsin hunt was bumped up following a lawsuit that raised concerns President Joe Biden’s administration would intervene to restore gray wolf protections. The group behind the suit has close links to Republican political circles including influential donors the Koch brothers and notable Trump loyalists — Kris Kobach, a former U.S. Senate candidate from Read More
Washington state wildlife officials are working with pet store chains to stop the spread of aquarium products found to contain zebra mussels. A zebra mussel is a tiny shellfish native to the Black and Caspian Seas in Ukraine. But they’re now found all over the world, except in the Northwest. Read More
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission recently approved a new rule that could soon grant George’s wish. But the rule is not without controversy. Many conservationists worry that training more hound handlers could put a strain on Washington’s cougar population and lead to catastrophic unintended consequences for the big cats. Read More
The U.S. Interior Department is delaying and reviewing the Trump administration’s last-minute roll-back of federal protections for the imperiled northern spotted owl, which called for slashing protections from millions of acres of Northwest forests. Read More
Fishing and hunting license sales jumped in 2020 across the Pacific Northwest as more people flocked to outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total license purchases rose even though part of last spring was crimped by stay-home orders and in some states by the suspension of non-resident permits. Read More
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer joined with colleagues from Washington, California and Arizona Tuesday in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Interior. In it, they requested an immediate federal review into the previous administration’s decision to remove 3.4 million acres of the Northern spotted owl’s critical habitat in Read More
Washington’s salmon are “teetering on the brink of extinction,” according to a new report. It says the state must change how it’s responding to climate change and the growing number of people in Washington. Continue Read More
Bringing back sea otters to the Oregon Coast just got a high-level endorsement. The federal budget for this new year, which President Trump signed after some unrelated last minute drama, includes a directive to study sea otter reintroduction. Read More
According to the rules approved by the commission last week, from July through September, commercial whale watching companies can view endangered Southern Resident orcas during two, two-hour periods daily, The Skagit Valley Herald reported. Read More
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service ruled against upgrading the iconic Northern spotted owl’s protection status Monday under the Endangered Species Act. Continue Reading Endangered Species Status Of Northern Spotted Owl Will Remain Read More
Bighorn sheep in central Washington could be in danger if domestic sheep continue to graze nearby. That’s the concern from two groups suing the U.S. Forest Service. Domestic sheep or goats can pass a deadly bacteria to bighorns. Read More
“In this year of, well, exceptions, we’ve been handed an unprecedented level of damage to our wildlife mitigation program,” a Washington state wildlife biologist recently told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Read More
The number of chinook salmon returning to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River and its tributaries is just a tiny fraction of historic numbers, experts said. “More is better, but it’s still abysmal numbers,” said Russ Thurow, a research fisheries scientist with the U.S. Forest Service based in the small city of Salmon. “We’re bouncing around just above extinction.” Read More
The federal government says it will remove endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48. The move will reduce protections for the predators in the western two-thirds of Washington and Oregon. Continue Read More
Conservation groups are vowing to again challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s decision not to add wolverines to the Endangered Species List. There are likely fewer than 300 wolverines across its habitat across the Mountain West, which includes populations in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, where 90 percent of their habitat is on federally managed lands and wilderness areas. Read More
The first part of a project that covers the most dangerous section of Highway 97 near Tonasket, Washington, is finished. It’s expected to prevent more than 100 collisions each year in just one mile in the Okanogan Valley. The 13-miles stretch from Tonasket to Riverside sees nearly 350 deer-car collisions per year. Read More
Conservationists are “cautiously optimistic” after discovering a mother wolverine and her kits at Mount Rainier National Park. It’s the first time a family of wolverines has called the park home in more than 100 years. Read More
In 2017, the Trump administration scaled back protections of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. A federal judge has now struck down the rule change — and cited "To Kill a Mockingbird" in so doing. Continue Reading Eagles Read More
The state of Washington on Tuesday ordered that more endangered wolves be killed in a pack that continued to prey on cattle in Stevens County even after one member was eliminated. The decision was criticized by conservation groups who want the state to stop killing wolves. The state has killed more than 30 wolves since 2012. Read More
The newly completed conservation area in south-central Washington is expected to protect habitat and lead to a more resilient forest. Conservation groups say this is a big step toward connecting important ecosystems in the area. Continue Read More
Firefighters are wrapping up after three days at this season’s first big wildfire in eastern Washington. As crews began heading home, the Saddle Mountain Fire had burned about 10,000 as of Wednesday, July 8, in steep terrain on part of the Saddle Mountain Wildlife Refuge. Read More
Conservation groups have said they are “weighing options” about what to do next. Ranching and cattle groups applauded the decision, saying more predators present challenges for their members. Continue Reading Interior Read More
A study of sea otter restoration in British Columbia is giving encouragement to a group that wants to bring sea otters back to the Oregon Coast. The research team led by the University of British Columbia analyzed the rebound in sea otters off the coast of Vancouver Island. Read More
In a study recently published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, WSU scientists found that lynx only occupy about 20% of potential habitat in Washington. Continue Reading Big Study Finds Small Territory Usage For Washington’s Read More
Even though large predators sometimes leave food that smaller predators scavenge, turns out, it’s actually dangerous for smaller animals to eat the leftovers. Continue Reading ‘Fatal Attraction’: Seen On Movie Screens … And In Read More
Most Western states rely on hunters to keep cougar numbers in check. It makes a sort of logical sense: if cougar populations are high, attacks on elk, bighorn sheep and deer should be high. So should attacks on livestock and humans. But a new study casts doubt on the effectiveness of sport hunting as a means of predator control. Read More
Interior Dept. Grant To Help States With Wildlife Migration. One Area In North Idaho Is A Chokepoint
A new federal grant aims to improve wildlife habitat and migration corridors in the Northwest. About $100,000 is going to a project related to a wildlife underpass that will be built under U.S. Highway 95 in North Idaho. Read More
A group that wants to bring back wild sea otters to the Oregon Coast is taking a big step forward. The federal government has awarded them a grant to launch a feasibility study for a possible reintroduction effort. Continue Reading Read More
