Environment

New to the outdoors? These volunteers will teach you to explore safely

When the best laid plans go south, and you're stuck in the wild either lost or hurt, Seattle Mountain Rescue springs into action to get you home safe. The volunteer team covers a wide area from Seattle city proper to the Cascades, and after 70 years they're finally close to getting a new base of operations in North Bend. Additionally, a recent study from the Black Washingtonians Workgroup on Outdoor Recreation found fewer than 1.5% of State Parks visitors are Black. So how can Washington improve access to its famed outdoors?

What our poop tells us: Wastewater surveillance examines what most of us would prefer to flush and forget

You've probably taken part in one of the new frontiers of public health research: wastewater surveillance. All that's needed is a sample from down the drain: poop or pee. Our feces and urine are helpful indicators in detecting all sorts of outbreaks and infections. And wastewater surveillance can give scientists a preview of new viruses and disease variants, patterns of drug usage, and much more. Including potentially assessing the next pandemic.

A spike in wolf killings around Yellowstone has conservationists worried

Last year, two neighboring states loosened restrictions on hunting wolves outside Yellowstone, resulting in a spike in deaths. Locally that's politically popular, but biologists see problems.

Seattle Now: Wolverines return to Washington

There haven't been Wolverines in Washington in nearly 100 yea

The Cougar Conundrum

How we are sharing the world with a successful predator

In the Yakima Valley, tiny beetles are posing major problems for growers

Saving trees, making moolah

Washington's public lands aren't all protected from logging. In fact, the state makes a lot of money for schools, libraries and hospitals by cutting down trees. That's starting to change with a new plan to preserve forests and "lease" them to companies looking to offset their carbon footprints.

$3 million will help tribes study salmon reintroduction in the Upper Columbia Basin

Bringing salmon back to the Upper Columbia River will take a lot of time and a lot of money.