Recreation / Outdoors

A search for a well-made scythe leads to an appreciation of the great toolmakers who lived here 13,000 years ago.

Is it finally Spring?

Posted Fri, Apr 17, 6 a.m.

Mossback finds it hard to let go of winter, when it's easiest to get in touch with Northwest nature

Back to the drawing board on spotted owls

Posted Fri, Apr 17, 6 a.m.

A new administration signals yet another deep examination about how to save forest habitats for endangered spotted owls. After decades of studies and litigation and administrative maneuvers, are we any closer to a solution?

The lasting impact of the New Deal's CCC

Posted Fri, Apr 10, 6 a.m.

By Brian D'Ambrosio

A new book looks at one spectacular legacy in the Colorado Plateau

The Cascadian Dream

Posted Thu, Apr 9, 6 a.m.

Can a Pacific Northwest utopia be shaped on the shared belief that nature is sacred? This latest installment in a series on regional identity looks at the patron saint of the environmental movement, John Muir, and how his thinking informs the desire for a new, greener, and elusive entity some call Cascadia.

Muddy waters of the Salish Sea

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 6 a.m.

A new name for the Northwest waters could be a setback for those charged with cleaning up Puget Sound. On the other hand, maybe a fresh start is what's needed.

The Bush court sets back environmental litigation

Posted Mon, Mar 9, 6 a.m.

While Obama is undoing some Bush rules on endangered species, the Supreme Court renders a verdict that could be a serious blow to future environmental lawsuits.

A desert town's dusty soul

Posted Fri, Feb 27, 6 a.m.

A feisty newspaper that carried on the Edward Abbey tradition in Moab, Utah, is closing. It's a sign, along with too much good coffee, of change in the West.

Can you get a merit badge in clear-cutting?

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 6 a.m.

A Hearst investigative series reveals the Boy Scouts to be chainsaw-wielding maniacs, confirming the author's long suspicion that scouting is a fraud.

Obama acts fast to rescind Bush's midnight rules in the West

Posted Fri, Jan 23, 6 a.m.

By David Frey

A quick freeze puts a hold on such last-minute regulations as removing the grey wolf from the endangered list, lifting ban on guns in national parks, and expanding oil shale programs.

Why the national park gun rule should stand

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 6 a.m.

By Bill Schneider

The rule doesn't change much, says this commentator, mostly just making the status quo the legal status quo. So let it be.

A gift guide for the greens on your list

Posted Fri, Dec 19, 6 a.m.

By Christian Martin

Here's a set of gift book suggestions culled from the year's worth of new titles on nature and the environment.

Pacific Science Center's architecture might change

Posted Wed, Dec 17, 6 a.m.

By Benjamin Lukoff

Dramatically lit at night, the Science Center is an icon in the Seattle skyline. A national group is sounding alarms about potential alterations of the campus, though the arches seem sacrosanct.

Reframing Northwest environmental issues

Posted Mon, Dec 15, 6 a.m.

By Floyd McKay

Lacking top figures in the Obama administration from the region, area environmentalists are linking forest and salmon issues to a cause Obama understands better: climate change.

How Wall Street is destroying the timber way of life

Posted Fri, Dec 12, 6 a.m.

The pressure for real estate and the short-term perspective of fancy Wall Street financial instruments have changed the old line companies utterly.

Lending for ultra-luxury Western resorts: dumb, dumb, dumb

Posted Wed, Dec 10, 6 a.m.

By Jonathan Weber

As resorts for the wealthy such as Yellowstone Club, Tamarack, and Promontory tumble into insolvency, you have to wonder what the lenders such as Credit Suisse and Lehman Bros. were thinking. Here's another tale of toxic assets, poor diligence, and no backup plans.

Saving Puget Sound? Exactly how?

Posted Mon, Dec 8, noon

The Puget Sound Partnership has an Action Agenda, but so far no Answer Agenda. Here are some tough questions.

Seattle's misguided gun ban

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 6 a.m.

Mayor Greg Nickels plans to defy state law with a gun ban that is worse than an empty gesture: It puts law-abiding citizens at greater risk.

Joe the Bigfoot Hunter

Posted Mon, Nov 10, 6:46 p.m.

The campaign symbol that got away. Plus: tales of ravenous locusts, obese bears, Bigfoot's B.C. invasion, and more animal news.

How climate change is affecting Mount Rainier

Posted Sun, Nov 9, 11:12 p.m.

By Jonathan Hiskes

Author Bruce Barcott, who wrote a book about the mountain, recounts the visible effects of climate shifts: plants growing higher up, melting glaciers releasing rocks and silt, climbing routes turning from ice to rock.

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Other media

Studies show bicycling may be bad for your bones At least that's indicated for competitive cyclists, who have less bone mass than normal.

NEW YORK TIMES

Exploring the forgotten stretch of the Columbia River Remember Skamokawa? Get out your Atlas and don't forget your kayak.

FORBES

Seattle's spring flower show, thought dead, will bloom again Portland-based O'Loughlin Trade Shows purchased the show from Seattle's Duane Kelly, who said he'd had enough. It's the nation's second-largest garden show, after Philadelphia, and it will run next February, as it has for the last 21 years.

SEATTLE TIMES

The Yellowstone Club saga: Where's Tom Wolfe? It's turning into one of the gilded age's final flings. Here's how one of the owners, Edra Blixseth, is coping with divorce, bankruptcy, and endless litigation. The club, with its caviar bar and "private powder" ski runs with names like Ebitda, boasted privacy-seeking celebrities like Bill Gates.

NEW YORK TIMES

Obama creates Pacific Northwest Trail It will connect Glacier National Park with the Pacific Ocean, the first new long trial created in the past 26 years.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Blog posts

Signs of livability in Seattle and that other place

Posted Tue, Jun 30, 6 a.m.

More thoughts from the Seattle and Vancouver urban debaters on what makes their cities livable, or not.

The complexity of Harvey Manning

Posted Sat, Jun 6, 10:45 a.m.

by Paul Manning

The wilderness champion tried to find a middle course between pristine preservation and getting more boots (and votes) on trails.

Lessons from a failed luxury resort

Posted Wed, Apr 1, 3:03 p.m.

by Lee M. Spencer

The problems with Tamarack Resort in Idaho, where the author worked, suggest that we should stop building such playgrounds for the wealthy.

Saving the old New Deal

Posted Mon, Feb 9, 12:30 p.m.

The historic legacy of the original New Deal is endangered while we debate the the benefits of a new New Deal.

Is Northwest nature worship neurological?

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 6:30 a.m. 2008

Our religious impulses toward the wilderness could be boosted by the way our brains work.

A remarkable vote for the arts

Posted Wed, Nov 5, 3:54 p.m. 2008

by David Brewster

Minnesota passes a generous program of dedicated funding for arts and outdoors, passing the measure despite economic hard times. Might Seattle be next?

Bigfoot hunters must change tactics

Posted Thu, Aug 21, 4 a.m. 2008

I'm sure you were stunned by the headline: "Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber gorilla suit." Hard to believe, I know. If you are looking for answers, however, don't despair. Instead of wondering aloud, "how can this be," turn to your home Mossback library. I'm sure tucked in there somewhere is a copy of the book that has all the Sasquatch answers.

Whassup with Wasilla

Posted Mon, Sep 1, 4:47 p.m. 2008

by Sue Frause

The day after a former Miss Wasilla was picked by Sen. John McCain as his running mate, I realized I'd been there. In 2004, I went to Alaska to see the start of the Iditarod. That's the grueling 1,150-mile sled dog race that starts in south central Alaska and ends in Nome on the Bering Sea. Often referred to as "The Last Great Race on Earth," it takes anywhere from 10-17 days for the teams of 12-16 dogs and their mushers.

Where the Dems are

Posted Wed, Aug 20, 8 a.m. 2008

by David Brewster

In sorting tea leaves, take a look at the very close primary race between state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland, a Republican, and his challenger, Peter Goldmark, an Okanagan Democrat. Sutherland looks like the only statewide officeholder, aside from Gov. Gregoire, in a tight race for reelection. The race will be a barometer of the greenward tilting of the Evergreen State. As a relatively low-profile, down-on-the-ballot race, it's also a good measure of where the Democratic voters are.

Amazing Bigfoot discovery!

Posted Sat, Aug 16, 12:01 p.m. 2008