Inland Northwest Wildlife Council

12/13/2025

12/12/2025

📢 The latest news on wolf management from Washington State: A court ruling has lifted the block on wolf management, restoring WDFW’s authority to address chronic livestock conflicts under the state’s science-based protocol.

This decision highlights the delicate balance between predator recovery, rural livelihoods, and the North American Model of Wildlife Management. CSF remains a strong advocate for collaborative solutions through the Washington Wolf Advisory Group (WAG), ensuring that both predator and prey populations are managed responsibly.

As tensions rise in shared landscapes, CSF continues to champion the sportsmen’s perspective, pushing for durable, adaptive policies that protect wildlife, hunting heritage, and rural economies.

Read more in The Sportsmen's Voice - your weekly connection to outdoors legislation. Sign up at https://congressionalsportsmen.org/newsletter/

12/11/2025

12/10/2025

Everyone wants to “trust the science”… until the science calls for regulated hunting and trapping. The minute wildlife management means a pretty animal has to die, suddenly science doesn’t matter anymore, as if it’s only acceptable to manage “ugly” animals and leave the cute ones alone. That’s not how biology works, and it’s not how conservation works.

The reality is simple: hunting and trapping are the most proven, effective tools we have for managing wildlife populations. They keep herds healthy, prevent species from outgrowing their habitat, and drastically reduce human wildlife conflict, from crop damage, to predator issues, to the thousands of vehicle collisions caused by overpopulated deer every single year.

And none of this is unregulated. Seasons, bag limits, tag allocations, and quotas are all set by biologists using hard data to ensure a sustainable harvest year after year. Hunters and trappers operate under some of the strictest regulations in the outdoors. We’re not just enjoying wildlife, we’re helping maintain it.

So here’s the real question:
If we’re all supposed to trust the science, why does that stop the moment the science says hunting and trapping are necessary for healthy wildlife populations?

12/10/2025

Big Horn Show is gearing up for another great year! From March 19-22, your favorite outdoor event will return for 2026. This year, the core of the event is choosing your adventure, curating your own personalized experience. Join us in celebrating its 64th year running!

12/10/2025

Heads up — the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission is holding a short web conference meeting on Friday December 12th, with a Lands 20/20 briefing from 9:00am - 10:00am. Staff will present 21 proposed land acquisitions, about 59,485 acres across 17 counties, as part of the Lands 20/20 annual acquisition cycle. 17 of these properties will be open to activities like fishing and hunting. If you care about fish and wildlife habitat, public access, or how state lands are prioritized, this item is one to appreciate— and the public can testify on this item.
Check out the agenda of this final meeting of 2025 and register using this link if you wish to speak: https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/commission/meetings/2025/12dec2025-agenda

12/02/2025

Here's the thing about outdoor traditions: they don't survive on nostalgia. They survive because someone deliberately hands them down.

Today is Giving Tuesday, and the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council needs your help to keep doing exactly that.

Your donation funds:

✅ Kids Fishing Day—where over 1,000 young anglers make their first cast
✅ Outdoor Education—real wildlife, real curiosity, real learning
✅ Mentorship programs—connecting kids with experienced outdoorspeople
✅ Hands-on conservation—habitat work, field education, the whole pipeline

This isn't abstract. This is kids holding beaver skulls and asking brilliant questions. This is a teenager learning to read a compass. This is the spark that becomes a lifetime of stewardship.

Help us pass the torch. Help us keep the wild alive, one kid at a time.

👉 Donate today by clicking the link in the comments section below. 👇

And if you can't donate today? Take a kid outside this week. Show them a track. Tell them a story. Let them get muddy. That matters too.

12/02/2025

I was ten years old when I took Hunter's Ed, not in a classroom, but out in the field where it mattered. I learned how to carry a rifle safely, how to cross a fence without pointing the muzzle at anything living, how to treat a firearm like the serious tool it actually is. No slideshows. Just adults teaching kids the things that kept you alive and kept others safe.

Later, at forestry camp, I learned to identify Douglas fir by its 'bacon bark,' a detail I still use more often than most of what I learned in algebra. Those weren't just fun summer memories. They were formative. They taught me patience, responsibility, and humility in ways that only the outdoors can.

And none of it would have happened without someone caring enough to pass it on.

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, and I'm asking you to think about what you want to pass forward. If you believe kids deserve more than screens and schedules—if you know firsthand what one good outdoor experience can do—then supporting organizations like the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council is one way to make that happen.

I'll share the link tomorrow. But tonight, just sit with this question: What do we want the next generation to inherit? Not just land, but knowledge. Not just wilderness, but wonder.

12/01/2025

Here's what a lot of kids are missing today:

Unstructured time outside. Adults who know how to bait a hook. A creek to explore without someone scheduling it into a Tuesday at 4pm.

The curiosity is still there; put a kid near water, and they'll find the deepest part to step in. But the access? The mentors? Those are harder to come by.

That's where organizations like the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council step in.

🎣 Kids Fishing Day: 1,000+ kids learning to cast, catching their first fish.
🦫 Camp Reed: wildlife education with skulls, skins, and tracks—the kind of learning that sticks.
🤝 Mentorship programs: connecting experienced outdoorspeople with the next generation.

They're not replacing parents or grandparents. They're filling the gaps. They're making sure outdoor traditions don't fade quietly the way underused trails do.

Giving Tuesday is coming. Stay tuned.

11/29/2025

We were all at a fishing resort. No one wanted to room with Bob, because he snored so badly. We decided it wasn't fair to make one of them stay with him the whole time, so we voted to take turns.

The first guy slept with Bob and comes to breakfast the next morning with his hair a mess and his eyes all bloodshot.
We said, "Man, what happened to you? He said, "Bob snored so loudly, I just sat up and watched him all night."

The next night it was a different guy's turn. In the morning, same thing, hair all standing up, eyes all bloodshot.
We said, "Man, what happened to you? You look awful! He said, 'Man, that Bob shakes the roof with his snoring. I watched him all night."

The third night was Fred's turn. Fred was a tanned, older cowboy, a man's man. The next morning he came to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. "Good morning!" he said. We couldn't believe it. We said, "Man, what happened?"

He said, "Well, we got ready for bed. I went and tucked Bob into bed, patted him on the butt, and kissed him good night.. Bob sat up and watched me all night."

With age comes wisdom.

11/27/2025