eastern Washington

According to the latest numbers from Washington State University, stripe rust is forecasted to be in the moderate epidemic level in the eastern Pacific Northwest, which means 20-40% yield loss in the 2023 growing season.  Those estimates come from predication models using the weather data from November 2022 to February 2023.   ...

The Washington state Department of Natural Resources announced this week it is expanding its wildfire response team across the state.  DNR will add 60 positions, including hand crews, heavy equipment operators and more.  Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz says these new positions, made possible by House Bill 1168, won’t be limited to a wildfire fighting role, they’ll also be trained to do f

These are difficult days for the Washington farmer, but despite the many challenges, from Olympia, D.C. and of course Mother Nature, Rosella Mosby, president of the Washington Farm Bureau said it’s important that agriculture sticks together.  She...

The Department of Ecology says a cool and wet spring brought relief to much of Washington following the drought of 2021, but in a few parts of eastern Washington, the drought lingers. Because of that , the Washington Department of Ecology has issued an amended drought declaration for watersheds in eight eastern Washington counties that will go into effect June 1st ...

It’s already very dry across the Pacific Northwest, which has wildland firefighters nervous about what the season ahead may look like. Because of that, the Washington DNR is encouraging property owners to prepare their land now for the season ahead. Jen ...

The 2021-2022 Washington snowpack has been consistent, consistently disappointing. According to Scott Pattee with NRCS Washington, the statewide snowpack is hovering around 80% of average as we head into the final weeks of the snow season ...

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has scheduled a host of prescribed burns for the eastern portion of the state for the month of April. The burns will take place on WDFW wildlife areas in an effort to reduce the risk of future wildfires as well as reduce the severity of wildfires when they occur ...

In an effort to help stop wildfires before they become large and unmanageable, Tom Dent has once again proposed legislation allowing for the creation of Rangeland Fire Protection Associations in Washington. The Moses Lake Representative said RFPAs would be different from fire districts, since they would not have taxing authority and would be made up of volunteers interested in attacking a fire wh

The Washington state Department of Natural Resources has launched the process of establishing the harvest levels for forested state lands on both sides of the Cascades for the next ten years. State law requires that DNR set a sustainable harvest level, the volume of timber scheduled for sale during the next decade, so that the 2 ...

Earlier this fall, the Washington state department of Natural Resources released its 2020 Forest Action Plan, which out lined more than 100 priority actions to improve and conserve forests across the state. Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said this updated Forest Action Plan, builds on existing work taking place on the east side of the state, and adds in the unique needs of western Wash