Pennsylvanians spend about as much recreation time in the state's waterways as they did two years ago, despite an increase in agricultural toxins trickling into the rivers.

In 2020, nearly 30% of the state's waterways were considered "impaired." Now, more waterways are in some way damaged, according to a biennial water quality report released ...Read more

From her outfitting business on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), Clare Shirley can't help but think the U.S. Forest Service went too far in reducing permit availability for the upcoming season.

She agrees something had to be done to curtail crowding and resource damage that burgeoned in 2020 and continued last year. But ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Jeremy Dickson knows well the sound of a phone not ringing.

The owner of Canoe Canada Outfitters in Atikokan, Ontario, Dickson until two years ago oversaw a business that flew 1,500 anglers into outpost cabins and outfitted as many as 3,000 paddlers into Ontario's 1.2 million-acre Quetico Provincial Park, which lies adjacent to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Attention waterfowl hunters who dream about moving closer to marshlands north and west. The goose capital of Minnesota will award you seven-tenths of an acre inside its city limits if you move there and build a house.

That's right: Zero down, zero interest and zero payments on a roomy 100-by-300-foot lot in Middle River, a town ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Chronic wasting disease, a fatal neurological condition that affects members of the deer family, has been confirmed in two more Idaho animals, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials confirmed last week.

In a news release, Fish and Game said a cow elk and a white-tailed doe tested positive for the contagious disease. They ...Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio — White-tailed deer are 'highly susceptible' to infection from the novel coronavirus, according to a study published in December in the journal Nature.

More than one-third of 360 deer swabbed across nine locations in northeast Ohio between January and March 2021 were found to be infected with three variants of the novel ...Read more

Make a call to the Department of Natural Resources office in Tower, in northeast Minnesota about 20 miles southeast of Ely.

Ask for the person in charge of wildlife.

Chances are you will get a recording advising you to leave a message, with a response likely from a wildlife manager in the DNR's Cook office, 25 miles west of Tower.

Or give a ...Read more

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has arrested 10 people from Atlanta who were using illegal gill nets to catch fish and sharks at the Skyway Bridge north rest area in St. Petersburg, the agency announced last week.

Officials said the nets were 1,660 feet long, “which is more than four and a half football fields of netting...Read more

Ya Ya Fofana Jr. was far from home and out of his comfort zone.

The 10-year-old watched as a 134-pound boar meandered up a Cedar Key dirt road toward him. It definitely was not a common sight for the St. Petersburg native.

Jovan McNeill stepped up, tapped Fofana on the shoulder and asked if he was ready.

After whispers of encouragement and ...Read more

Two more Idaho deer have been confirmed to have chronic wasting disease, a contagious, fatal neurological disease that was first detected in the state last month.

In a news release, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said two white-tailed deer bucks tested positive for chronic wasting disease, which is caused by malformed proteins called ...Read more

Whether you live on a dirt road, a suburban lane or in a downtown condominium, chances are good in Minnesota that you care about fish, water, wildlife and wilderness. For 2022, here are five news stories to follow about the great outdoors:

Less is more

Minnesota's walleye bag limit could drop from six to four this year if more legislators buy ...Read more

Road work can come to a screeching halt for myriad of reasons, and this fall in southeastern Minnesota it was all because of a nest of barn owls.

Crews painting the Wabasha-Nelson Bridge spanning the Mississippi River and connecting Wabasha, Minn., with Nelson, Wis., spotted five babies nestled inside the steel structure on Oct. 5 and put part ...Read more