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‘Endangered’ status to remain in effect for Washington wolves
A sharply-divided state panel on Friday retained strict protections for gray wolves in Washington, concluding their status under the state’s endangered species law should not change despite signs of a growing population. In a pair of 5-4 votes, the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission rejected downlisting wolves from “endangered” to either “threatened” or “sensitive,” […]
Why Washington’s wolf count is under scrutiny
With a controversial vote planned this week on whether to loosen protections for wolves in Washington, wildlife advocates are raising alarm that officials could be relying on flawed wolf count figures from a tribe in the northeast corner of the state. Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission members have been told by agency staff that wolves […]
Feds will move grizzly bears into Washington’s North Cascades
Grizzly bears are coming back to Washington’s North Cascades. The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday a decision to actively restore the animals in the region, where they lived for thousands of years. The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in this area was in 1996. The plan […]
New Washington apple needs a name
Washington has created a new apple variety – again. And its creators want you to name it. WA 64 is a cross between a Honeycrisp and a Cripps Pink, also known as a Pink Lady. It’s small to medium in size, pink and yellow, and has “exceptional eating characteristics,” according to Washington State University’s College […]
Conservationists fail in push to tighten Washington wolf killing rules
Washington fish and wildlife officials have declined a request from conservation groups to tighten restrictions around when wolves that attack livestock can be killed. A petition the groups filed in September with the state Fish and Wildlife Commission described Washington’s system for dealing with wolf-livestock conflicts as “ineffective.” It asked the panel to reopen rulemaking […]
WA lands chief: State just had one of its ‘most challenging’ fire seasons ever
After an abnormally hot and dry summer in Washington, some in the state may say it was good fortune there weren’t more large wildfires or that the fire season wasn’t that bad. But fire officials don’t see it that way. In fact, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said this year was one of Washington’s […]
Plans take shape for eastern Washington tribute on state Capitol grounds
A ponderosa pine and a western larch, snowberry and camas, basalt rock columns and a bench made out of aspen wood. These elements are all part of a soon-to-be-installed landscape feature on the Washington state Capitol Campus in Olympia commemorating eastern Washington. The State Capitol Committee on Monday received an update on the new site, […]
The latest clash over managing Washington’s wolves
Eleven conservation groups are asking Washington state to tighten its guidelines for when wolves that attack livestock can be killed. The groups are concerned too many wolves are dying needlessly under the current system. Their petition to Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission describes the existing standards the state uses to authorize lethal action against the […]
On Washington’s public lands, a rise in fires caused by people
Fires have more than doubled so far this year on state-managed public land in Washington compared to 2022, and people are mostly to blame for the blazes. On Washington state lands, there have been 49 human-caused fires through Aug. 1, compared to 27 during that same time frame last year, according to the Department of […]
Bird flu outbreak stokes fears for Washington’s wild birds
The spread of bird flu has left Washington wildlife officials scrambling to test suspected cases and cleaning up hundreds of tern and gull carcasses along the coast of an island in northern Puget Sound. Avian flu has historically affected mostly poultry, but a new strain – H5N1 – is proving deadly for wild birds as […]
Washington weighs in against Idaho law restricting out-of-state abortions
Washington joined nearly 20 other states this week in arguing against Idaho’s new law that makes it a crime to assist minors in seeking abortions outside the state. Attorney General Bob Ferguson, along with attorneys general from 18 other states and the District of Columbia, filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday in support of several advocacy […]
Washington’s high gas prices fuel talk of anti-gouging measures, cap-and-trade tweaks
With an average price of around $4.95 for a gallon of regular unleaded – the highest anywhere in the country – gas in Washington is expensive. That’s not in dispute. But when it comes to the reasons for the spike, what to do about it, and how much the state’s new cap-and-trade program is to […]