Great Outdoors

In a funding one-pager released by the agency, DNR officials said recreation maintenance and operations funding was reduced by more than $7 million during the 2025 legislative session, a cut of more than 20%. 

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) safely relocated a 7-8-year-old male black bear on Jan. 9; the bear had made a den beneath an abandoned structure in Hunters. A Hunter’s resident noticed the bear in the neighborhood on Dec. 21, 2025. The large bear was caught on video and was not reacting to human movement or noise.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) officials announced they plan to stock nearly 65,000 jumbo rainbow trout in 25 lakes statewide, including two in Stevens County, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, offering anglers a chance to get outside for Washington’s annual Black Friday fishing.

As the 2025 fire season comes to an end in the area, a synthesis of the statewide statistics has been compiled by a number of organizations to reveal upward trends of ignitions and late-season smoke.

A King County Superior Court judge denied the request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) from lethally removing one wolf from the Sherman pack in Ferry County on Oct. 31. This comes after WDFW staff investigated an injured calf in the Sherman wolf pack territory in Ferry County on Oct. 23.

According to WDFW, Windrope’s decision is consistent with the guidance of the state's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the lethal removal provisions of the department's 2020 Wolf-Livestock Interaction Protocol. WDFW officials stated that the rationale for authorizing lethal removal of one Sherman pack wolf is as follows...