RICHLAND -- The spawn is on or just starting for pikeminnow in southeast Washington, and interest in catching the juvenile salmon-eating predators may be up because of the payday.

NORTH BONNEVILLE -- Just how bad is the economy?

Re-entry from the top of the world can be an ordeal in itself.

OLYMPIA -- Washington's Fish and Wildlife Commission is set to act at its meetings July 10-11 in Olympia on a new policy aimed at advancing conservation and recovery of wild salmon and steelhead populations.

UMATILLA -- The FLW Series returns to the Columbia River this week, though competitors probably will wonder if they are in familiar waters.

UMATILLA -- Ronald Hobbs Jr., of Orting, leads the pro division after the first day of competition at the FLW Series National Guard Western Division bass tournament on the Columbia River.

UMATILLA -- It's bass fishing, not boxing. But listening to competitors talk about the rough waters after Thursday's second round of the FLW National Guard West Series stop on the Columbia River, it sounded as if they had just finished 15 rounds in the squared circle rather than a day skimming along the waves.

UMATILLA -- Usually when someone is handed one of those giant, oversized checks and it has $100,000 stamped on it, it's a life-changing event.

CHENEY -- The drought is over for a geriatric but persistent trumpeter swan which has sired the first cygnets since 1987 at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.

Dry conditions have Washington land managers warning people heading outdoors over the Fourth of July weekend to be careful with fire.

YAKIMA -- One of the Pacific Northwest's first and most storied triathlons was already on life support.

OLYMPIA -- The search has begun in earnest to find the next person to lead the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

An ongoing study by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists could yield clues to the decline of goose nesting in some rural areas of Eastern Washington that led to the closure of the September goose season.

OLYMPIA -- Hunters who submitted applications for 2009 special-hunt permits can check the results of this year’s drawing on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site.

Fourteen days of summer chinook fishing begin Monday in the lower Columbia River, a chance to catch, arguably, the best salmon in the Northwest.

The good news is that the damage estimate following the historic November 2006 flood at Mount Rainier National Park has been lowered to $27.9 million.

TRI-CITIES An ongoing study by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists could yield clues to the decline of goose nesting in some rural areas of Eastern Washington that led to the closure of the September goose season.

TRI-CITIES Kennewick fishermen Garret McAfee, 18, and Grant Greene, 14, won their respective age divisions at the recent Washington State Bass Fishing Junior State Championship, earning the right to fish later this summer in the national junior championships.

BONNEVILLE DAM -- In the world of salmon, size matters.

OLYMPIA -- This is free fishing weekend in Washington.

WENATCHEE -- Expert kayakers in July will have their first chance since 2000 to paddle the wild waters of the Chelan River Gorge.

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A pair of federal judges will decide which states in the Northern Rockies have enough gray wolves to allow public hunting, as the bitter debate over the region's wolves heads to courts in Wyoming and Montana.

For want of a park, many of the state's trail systems may be lost -- to underbrush, overuse and, eventually, a chaos of downed trees.

KENNEWICK -- The June meeting of the Richland Rod & Gun Club is 7 p.m. Tuesday in front of the hydroplane pits at Columbia Park in Kennewick.

Ryan Bernsen of Burbank and Kyle Wright of Pasco, representing Washington State University, won the recent National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Division tournament at Lake Oroville, Calif.

A presentation about bats, their life cycle and how they benefit other life will be the topic of the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society's monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Mid-Columbia Library, 1620 S. Union Street, Kennewick.

DALLESPORT -- Could there be a million showy yellow balsamroot blossoms scattered on the south slope of the Columbia Hills leading up to Stacker Butte?

The pedaling season is shifting into high as organizers gear up for mass bicycle tours throughout the Northwest.

Summer steelhead fishing in the Columbia River downstream of Interstate 5 will not open today, placed on hold for possibly as long as a month to prevent incidental catches from the struggling spring chinook salmon run.

Don Hogue of Pasco reeled in a two-day total 29.13 pounds to earn the Washington state adult championship, and Jake Cook of Kennewick reeled in five fish for a total of 14.4 pounds to earn the age 15-18 Western Division title in Bass Federation Nation competitions held Wednesday and Friday on the Columbia River.

These are ominous times for muzzleloader enthusiasts, upland bird hunters and perhaps even trapshooters.

YAKIMA -- For many families, Memorial Day weekend annually means a camping trip to the Little Naches.

Salmon and steelhead anglers in the Columbia River and select tributaries will be paying an extra $7.50 a year in state fishing license fees through mid-2016, thanks to a bill adopted on the next-to-last day of the legislative session.

RICHLAND -- The Tri-City Chapter of Ducks Unlimited plans a luau-themed auction and banquet May 16 at the Clarion Hotel, 1515 George Washington Way in Richland.

Persisting snowpack weakness combined with wind-loaded snow on steep terrain in March contributed to the first avalanche fatality in Northeastern Oregon's Wallowa Mountains since 1982.

SPOKANE -- Wildlife researchers devoted several sessions last week to the impact of predators on big game during the Western States and Provinces Deer and Elk Workshop in Spokane.

NACHES -- Outlaw shed hunters can no longer depend on the dark of night.

The Outdoors for All Foundation plans adaptive recreation demonstrations, including adaptive cycling, today and Sunday at Sacajawea State Park.

Events are planned May 9 at three Mid-Columbia wildlife refuges to observe Migratory Bird Day.

Despite setbacks caused by vehicle collisions, the endangered Selkirk Mountains caribou herd is at least holding an even population.

KENNEWICK -- Leonard Northrop makes short work of cleaning fish.

OLYMPIA -- Washington sportsmen will have to apply earlier for permits, pay a little more for licenses and read the 2009 regulations carefully for many changes and new opportunities that will take effect under new rules and legislation emanating from Olympia this week.

POWERS, Ore. -- There's a big pig rooting its way around Jody Cyr's 400 acres of southern Coos County rangeland, and Cyr has spent the better part of the past three years doing his best to kill him.

RICHLAND -- Jake Cook of Kennewick reeled in a two-day total of 10 fish for an aggregate 25.02 pounds to earn the 15-18-year-old division title at the 2009 Junior Bassmaster State Championship, which was held April 18-19 and based out of Columbia Point Marina in Richland.

It may be bigger in other regions of the state, but the opening of Washington's trout season today offers the chance to land lunkers at a handful of Mid-Columbia lakes.

NACHES -- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will conduct its first auction of shed elk antlers May 2 to raise funds for its Oak Creek Wildlife Area winter elk feeding program.

Herald photographer Paul T. Erickson takes viewers on a ride down the slopes at Crystal Mountain during Easter Sunday. Video was captured using a helmet camera.

KENNEWICK -- A stroll near a river or walk in the woods this spring could leave an unwanted pest or two clinging to you or a pet.

BURBANK -- A guided bird walk at McNary National Wildlife Refuge is planned April 26.

Considering what sage grouse have suffered in the past 200 years, the most recent ordeal was a joyride.