Local Land Conservationists Protect Open Spaces
Private land owner conservation champions and non-profit organizations work together to protect former working forests and ranchlands from development.
Search Results for: wildlife conservation
Explore Spokane County Conservation Futures Lands: Virtual Public Comments on Sept. 9
Fall is a great season for exploring Conservation Futures properties. A Zoom meeting for public comments on the 8 prospective new properties is Sept. 9.
Wildlife Travels
The movement of wildlife is crucial to their survival. Salmon travel from the ocean to the river to spawn, field mice scurry along hedgerows to avoid predation, and caribou traverse thousands of miles to search for wintering grounds. Wildlife corridors are the routes, relatively unhindered by human activity, that wild animals travel to meet many of their primary needs: food, shelter, and reproduction. Nature has a way of spreading animals across the …
Hike of the Month: Chesaw Wildlife Area
Every other year I spend one week in Olympia reviewing grant applications as a member of the statewide Non-highway and Off-road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) program through the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO). It’s an intense week of recreation grant presentations on a strict 20-minute schedule all day for five days. Our team reviews and …
Collaborative River Conservation in the Inland NW
Rivers are complex systems, and conservation efforts can be as complex as river systems themselves. Collaborative efforts involving multiple stakeholders have the best chance to be successful. Here are two regional conservation efforts where multiple stakeholders are working together to improve our waterways. Invasive Predators Invasive northern pike have been making inroads into the Columbia …
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Loomis, WA: Spring Hiking in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area
The snow has disappeared from the surrounding peaks, and buttercups and glacier lilies have been showing their yellow faces. I love wildflowers, and the successive waves of bloom are so brief. This means spring hiking is on my mind well before I put my skis away for the season. I often have trails listed on …
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National Trails Day: Help Wildlife by Hiking (June 2)
Help raise funds for wildlife biology student scholarships by hiking the Dave Brittell Memorial Trail on the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area in Okanogan County on National Trails Day, June 2. This fourth annual hike is in memory of a great lover of hiking, trails and wildlife. Dave Brittell was a wildlife biologist and Washington Department of …
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Little Spokane River Bat Condo is a Local Conservation Success
The first time I remember interacting with bats was as a young child in New Jersey. I was watching these dark whirling critters dive and circle in the sky as I waited for 4th of July fireworks. Out of the dark a man walked up and explained that these were bats and if you throw …
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Hiking Spokane’s McLellan Conservation Area
A secluded peninsula jutting out along the Spokane River, McLellan Conservation Area offers early season accessibility and relatively easy hiking. Early April wildflowers will likely include buttercup, prairie star, and grasswidow, all gradually giving way to arrowleaf balsamroot and phlox by the end of the month. With its forested core and riparian habitat along …