Outdoors
Outdoors
Latest reporting from the Outdoors desk.
Outdoors
View MoreOlympia whale rescue team faces 2027 funding gap
Cascadia Research Collective, the only NOAA-authorized whale entanglement response team in the Pacific Northwest, has already exhausted its 2026 budget amid a surge in entanglement reports and faces a federal funding gap starting in January after a grant cancellation.
Outdoors
View MoreCapitol Land Trust protects 218 acres on Steamboat Peninsula
Capitol Land Trust spent $5 million in grants to permanently protect 218 acres of shoreline, forest and a rare pocket estuary on Steamboat Peninsula in Thurston County, its most expensive conservation project to date.
Outdoors
View MoreToxic algae advisory expands to three Thurston County lakes
Thurston County expanded its toxic algae advisory to include Lake Lawrence alongside Clear Lake and Offutt Lake after Sept. 22 lab samples found microcystin toxin levels far above the state safety guideline at all three lakes.
Outdoors
View MoreEncampment fire near Capitol Lake burns into trees, closes I-5 lane for hours
A fire that started at an encampment near Capitol Lake spread into trees along northbound I-5 on Monday night, requiring more than 1,000 feet of hose and roughly two and a half hours to extinguish, with no injuries reported.
Outdoors
View MoreThe 125-year-old dam most Tumwater tubers never notice
The Tumwater Falls Dam, built in 1900 to power Olympia, still shapes the Deschutes River tubing experience and anchors Brewery Park, where upcoming events let residents explore the site's layered history.
Outdoors
View MorePrescribed burn planned near 93rd Avenue SW in Tumwater on Aug. 3
The Washington Department of Natural Resources, Ecostudies Institute, and Center for Natural Lands Management plan a controlled ecological burn near 93rd Avenue SW in Tumwater on Monday, August 3, weather permitting, with smoke and traffic impacts possible for west-side residents.
Outdoors
View MoreTumwater Falls park plans new History & Nature Center for 2027 opening
The Olympia Tumwater Foundation announced plans to convert an existing building at Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls into a History & Nature Center with exhibits, classrooms, and year-round programming, with construction expected to start in early 2027.
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