Washington state has killed the last two known wolves in the so-called Wedge pack in Stevens County, which had been preying on livestock, the Department of Fish and Wildlife said Monday.Read More
Environment
Any visitors to the national park are getting blunt advice: "Travel prepared to survive." It's part of a heat wave that is forcing rolling blackouts in the West.Read More
The nominee, William Perry Pendley, has been leading the agency since last August through a series of controversial continued appointment extensions. Prior to coming to Washington D.C., the Wyoming native had spent much of his career at the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation challenging the very agency he now leads.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.Read More
This latest rollback proposal, issued Tuesday, comes from the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region. It would end a 25-year-old provision that prevents logging of trees that exceed 21 inches in diameter in six national forests across Eastern Oregon and Washington.Read More
Oregon Forest Resources Institute, created in the early 1990s to educate residents about forestry, has acted as a public-relations agency and lobbying arm for the timber industry, in some cases skirting legal constraints that forbid it from doing so.Read More
Debates have dragged on for decades about whether to remove or alter the four dams. The Army Corps, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration received almost 59,000 comments on the draft EIS this spring. The agencies are expected to finalize this plan by Sept. 30.Read More
COVID-19 is changing how the U.S. disposes of waste. It is also threatening hard-fought victories that restricted or eliminated single-use disposable items, especially plastic, in cities and towns across the nation.Read More
Many states – including Oregon and Washington – have set renewable energy goals. But, there’s a problem. The wind isn’t always blowing, and the sun isn’t always shining. That’s why wind and solar power are variable, or intermittent. Enter pumped hydro. It's not a new technology, but it is gaining more interest regionally.Read More
Supporters say the measure, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century.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.Read More
A dam removal that has been 20 years in the making reached an important milestone this week. Explosives ripped through the concrete on the Middle Fork Nooksack, east of Bellingham. Read More
When the price of oil crashes, oil companies often merge and big oil gets even bigger. So this crisis could be an opportunity for companies, but it comes with a tremendous amount of uncertainty. Read More
Cover crops are a vegetation that farmers can plant in the off-season to protect and enrich the soil. It's great for the environment — and in the long run, for crops, too — but it costs money upfront. Farmers who rent land, and who may not have access to that land in the long run, are reluctant to spend that money.Read More
The land management plans, known as the “Eastside Screens,” came about in 1995 to protect old growth trees east of the Cascades. The rules were meant to be temporary. The Forest Service wants to amend a section of the policy called the “21-inch rule,” which prohibits harvesting trees that are greater than 21-inches in diameter.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.Read More
A federal judge has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to produce a full environmental review. Until then, oil must stop flowing through the controversial pipeline.Read More
Washington fire managers say they’ve seen a significant number of wildfires in “every corner of the state.” So far this year, the state Department of Natural Resources says it has responded to more than 468 wildfires of varying sizes – nearly double the 10-year average for an entire fire season. But this year’s unprecedented uptick in the number of fires has an unforeseen Read More
The announcement Wednesday from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson came as Bayer, which acquired Monsanto two years ago, said it would pay $820 million to resolve PCB pollution claims and up to $10.9 billion to resolve many claims, both current and future, over contamination from or exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller.Read More
Historically, the Yakama Nation Tribal School was a school “of last resort,” says principal Adam Strom, where students came after they could no longer attend other area schools. That’s changing. He says courses like this one in environmental science and natural resources are a big reason why.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
The Great American Outdoors Act would permanently allocate $900 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which finally lapsed almost two years ago.Read More
Climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are not part of the $3 trillion in U.S. relief packages passed so far — despite a long history of funding energy programs after economic crises.Read More
The EPA does not require companies to notify federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with pollution monitoring or reporting. That leaves states alone on the front lines of pollution control.Read More
Oregon and Washington have joined 26 states and cities in suing the Trump administration over a new rule that weakens emission standards for cars and trucks.Read More
Deforestation, climate change and the disturbances it can exacerbate – like wildfires, extreme droughts and insect outbreaks – are decimating old growth forests across the globe. That means forests worldwide are filling in with younger and shorter trees, according to a new study.Read More
The Trump administration is rushing to finalize some of its biggest environmental rollbacks ahead of November's election. Some affected groups say they're too distracted by the pandemic to engage.Read More
Moss balls seem to roll around glaciers in a coordinated way, and researchers can't explain why the whole group moves at about the same speed and in the same direction.Read More
Energy demand plummeted because of the pandemic shutdown. A big question is whether new habits like telecommuting and flying less will endure, and mean lower oil consumption in the future.Read More
American and Canadian marine scientists -- and one talented dog -- are seizing an unexpected opportunity presented by the coronavirus pandemic. They are trying to establish whether Pacifc Northwest whales benefit from the current drop in boat traffic and underwater noise.Read More
State agencies and advocates have been alarmed by federal environmental policy rollbacks that continue unabated by the global coronavirus pandemic.Read More
Water temperatures are expected to increase as the climate warms. Rivers saw a glimpse of what the future could hold five summers ago, when low water flows and hot temperatures killed thousands of salmon.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.Read More
Coal use has plummeted in part because it's more expensive than natural gas or renewable energy. Mines are shutting down, and some power plants may run out of places to stockpile coal. Read More
This year, fire camp could be as dangerous as the wildfires, and top Western managers are deep in planning how to make fire camps COVID-19 ready for fire crews. Hilary Franz is Washington’s commissioner of public lands. She says state, federal, tribal and local officials are trying to make fighting wildfires safe during a pandemic. Read More
Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever.Read More
For much of the Northwest, snowpack is above normal. That’s a good sign this time of year, when snowpack usually reaches its peak. Having enough snowpack is critical for spring and summer runoff that will supply water for irrigation and salmon runs. But that doesn’t mean everywhere has that much snow.Read More
Will the current lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change?Read More
You’ll have to put off your favorite hike on Washington public lands for at least two weeks. State-managed parks and wildlife areas are closing starting Wednesday, March 25.Read More
If you want to attend public hearings on the federal government’s plan to manage the Columbia and Snake River dams, you’ll have to do it by phone. The previously scheduled in-person meetings are now teleconferences.Read More
Washington regulators must soon consider rules to limit the use of a controversial pesticide that can cause neurological and health problems, especially in young children. A bill passed by state lawmakers this session didn’t outright ban the pesticide, as health and farmworker activists had proposed. Read More
The wildflower season at Mount Rainier National Park was short in 2015. Some of the lupines stopped flowering and didn’t make seeds like they normally do. The shorter season also meant fewer people saw peak blooms. A new study looks at how winter changes may affect tourist season at Washington's iconic park.Read More
For the second year in a row, Democrats’ signature bill for instituting a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was stymied by a Republican walkout. Now, the focus falls on Gov. Kate Brown.Read More
Climate change isn’t a new topic for progressive churches like Shalom United Church of Christ in Richland. But it is perhaps tinged with new urgency. Survey results from the Pew Research Center show that congregations are delving into environmental awareness recently. And so are farmers.Read More
There are nearly 1.5 million electric vehicles in the U.S. today. E.V. boosters want more government incentives to increase that. With little federal movement states like New Jersey are taking action.Read More
Researchers began their detective work, trying to figure out what happened to these treated areas during the first few extreme days of the Carlton Complex fire. They gathered geospatial maps and satellite images.Read More
JPMorgan Chase is the latest investor to say it won't finance drilling in Alaska's Arctic. Some welcome the move, but there's also concern in a state that depends heavily on oil revenue. Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration laid out a range of six alternatives in a draft environmental impact statement. The most controversial measure would have been to remove or alter the four Lower Snake River dams.Read More
Uproar in Lewis County has pushed the Washington Legislature to the verge of closing the tap for water permits for new water bottling plants statewide. Business groups are mounting an 11th-hour push to stop what they consider to be an overreaction in Olympia that they say could cost jobs and unfairly tarnishes a healthy product.Read More
