conservation Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Where Have All The Wolverines Gone? Apparently Not On The Endangered Species List (Yet)

By Courtney Flatt January 18, 2020

An unknown male wolverine was spotted at a wildlife monitoring station. Courtesy of the Cascades Carnivore Project

Conservation groups say the animals need to be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Ten groups want to force the federal government to protect the elusive wolverines. The groups estimate there are around 300 wolverines left, sparsely scattered across the Mountain West, including Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Read More

West Coast Scores Rare Conservation ‘Home Run’ As Fishery Rebounds From The Brink

By NWPB News December 28, 2019

Kevin Dunn, who fishes off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, holds a rockfish at a processing facility in Warrenton, Oregon. A rare environmental success story is unfolding in waters off the U.S. West Coast as regulators in January 2020 are scheduled to reopen a large area off the coasts of Oregon and California to groundfish bottom trawling fishing less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean due to the species' depletion. CREDIT: Gillian Flaccus/AP

After years of fear and uncertainty, bottom trawler fishermen — those who use nets to scoop up rockfish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fish — are making a comeback here, reinventing themselves as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean because of the species’ depletion.Read More

Charter Fishing Fleet Casts Wary Eye Toward Possible Fishing Cutbacks To Save Orcas

By Tom Banse April 24, 2019

Hula Girl is one of the remaining vessels in the Westport, Washington charter sport fishing fleet. TOM BANSE / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

Pacific Northwesterners are undeniably fond of their endangered resident killer whales. Many locals are also fans of salmon fishing, a hobby that sustains charter fishing fleets in coastal harbors from Neah Bay, Washington, to Brookings, Oregon. But now there is a chance future fishing trips on the ocean could be curtailed to leave more food for the killer whales. Read More

Salmon Fisheries Set As Managers Start Process To Protect Endangered Orcas

By Jes Burns April 18, 2019

Members of Puget Sound's south resident orca population. CREDIT: NOAA

The organization that sets limits for commercial, recreational and tribal salmon fisheries in the Pacific Northwest wrapped up their work Tuesday at a meeting in Northern California.Read More

Tougher Rules Aim To Save Salmon Habitat For The Good Of Puget Sound Orcas

By Eilís O'Neill April 8, 2019

A view of the new seawall being installed on the Seattle waterfront. It's designed to help juvenile salmon.

The state legislature is considering a bill that aims to help southern resident killer whales by protecting shoreline salmon habitat. But soon it might be more difficult to build a seawall on Puget Sound.Read More

Interior Secretary Nominee Gets Grilled On Ethics At Confirmation Hearing

By NPR News March 28, 2019

David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist, speaks before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at his confirmation hearing to head the Interior Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 28, 2019. CREDIT: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

During a testy confirmation hearing on Thursday, President Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's largest land steward told senators that he would take steps to prevent conflicts of interest and to improve ethics guidelines at the Interior Department.Read More

Bird Advocates Question Raven-Killing Plans To Protect Sage Grouse

By Courtney Flatt March 21, 2019

A male greater sage grouse struts its stuff on Bureau of Land Management land in this April 21, 2012, photo. CREDIT: BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT/FLICKR

Deep in Oregon’s sagebrush country, there’s one county with an abundance of ravens. Biologists say those ravens like to eat sage grouse eggs, and they’ve come up with plans to take care of the raven problem. That’s got bird advocates questioning whether killing one bird for the sake of another is the right move.Read More

Congress Passes Big Public Lands Protection Bill. Washington’s Methow And Yakima Valleys Benefit

By Jes Burns February 28, 2019

File photo. Glacier Peak volcano Washington's central Cascades. CREDIT: Walter Siegmund/Wikimedia/Creative Commons BY-SA 3.

The Natural Resource Management Act includes a little of everything — meant to satisfy public land interests all over the country. The land-conservation measures have received a lot of attention. But there are other provisions in the bill concerning the Northwest, among them wildfire risk, research and air quality resources, hunting on public lands, water management for Read More

The Phoenix Conservancy

By Murrow News - Rhoddy Jensen January 15, 2019

Conversation is happening on the Palouse

How science and food growers can work together to conserve resources on our planet. That work is being done in eastern Washington, the rolling hills of the Palouse.Read More

Conservationists Worry As U.S. House Votes To End Wolf Protections, Senate to Consider

By Courtney Flatt November 16, 2018

The U.S. House passed a bill Friday that would end federal protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48 states. For wolves in the Northwest, that would mean protections fall to state agencies. Read More

How Conservationists Are Using AI And Big Data To Aid Wildlife

By NWPB News August 15, 2018

A whale shark. Big data and AI allows scientists to rapidly comb through thousands of photos and identify individuals using the skin patterning behind the gills and any scars they might have. CREDIT: SIMON J. PIERCE/COURTESY WILD ME

A Portland-based organization has developed a digital tool called Wildbook that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to expedite wildlife identification.Read More

The Northwest Juniper Lumber Industry Is Poised For A Healthy Bump

By Jes Burns May 22, 2018

Juniper were once sparse on the Central and Eastern Oregon landscape. Due to fire supression and grazing, the trees are 10 times as dense as they were in 1870. CREDIT: AMELIA TEMPLETON

There’s been a push to create a juniper wood products industry to get some of those trees off the landscape. But western juniper processing and sales is still a fledgling industry in the Pacific Northwest.Read More

Decline In Hunters Threatens How States Pay For Wildlife And Habitat Conservation

By NPR News March 22, 2018

Jacob Zeuske climbs into a deer stand overlooking a wooded basin in Sauk County, Wis. CREDIT: NATHAN ROTT

State wildlife agencies and the country's wildlife conservation system are heavily dependent on sportsmen for funding. Money generated from license fees and excise taxes on guns, ammunition and angling equipment provide about 60 percent of the funding for state wildlife agencies, which manage most of the wildlife in the U.S. Nearly a third of all hunters in the U.S. are Read More