WACD Reading List

John Deere owners should soon feel free to fix their own machines. The Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general have secured a “right to repair” settlement with farming equipment company Deere & Co., known as John Deere. The company faced complaints for withholding repair software and forcing customers to use authorized dealers. It's Deere's second right to repair settlement this year, following a $99 million class-action settlement in April. Deere must now provide diagnostic and repair tools to equipment owners and independent shops, and can't retaliate against them for using alternatives. The company has denied wrongdoing but says it supports more flexible repair options.

Drastically fewer sockeye are returning to the Upper Columbia than expected. That’s why Washington isn’t allowing sockeye fishing this season there.

Firefighters have scaled back the Chelan Hills Fire to about 9,400 acres after it surged to 20,000 acres overnight, but authorities say danger remains.

A new technology could be a cost effective, simple way to help salmon. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has installed “fish bubblers” at several dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Tiny, pocket forests are sprouting up all around Washington state: on old, abandoned fields and in people’s backyards. They’re meant to mimic nature – and to grow quickly and increase biodiversity.

OMAK — Firefighters continued suppression efforts Saturday on the Kartar Fire, which has burned 11,706 acres in the Kartar Valley and Omak Lake area on the Colville Reservation since it started June 16.

The Upriver fire that broke out on Tuesday, burning 14 homes and killing one person, is 75% contained.

The Gerrard Road Fire reignited near Coulee City, growing to 500 acres and forcing evacuations and highway closures.

Firefighters in Okanogan County are finally making some progress on a blaze that's torched nearly 12,000 acres near Omak Lake.

State agency leaders received a dire warning from Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday that they’re headed toward “what will likely be the most challenging budget any of us has yet faced.”“There will be significant budget shortfalls next biennium in both operating and transportation budgets,” the governor’s budget director, K.D. Chapman-See wrote in a three-page memo.

Gov. Tina Kotek declared an emergency due to hot, windy and dry conditions throughout Oregon that could lead to wildfires.

This week, the team brings you stories about small farmers, seafarers, WSU research on processed foods, and a salmon restoration project.

A military fighter jet crash near Rimrock Lake triggered a wildfire, leading to evacuations and firefighting efforts in Yakima County.

Soon, the town of White Salmon, Washington, will be a little more prepared for wildfires. The state is building a fuel break around the town.

Firefighters were scrambling to fight fires across Benton and Franklin counties and the western edge of Walla Walla County over the weekend, with the start of summer still a week away.

State assistance was called out Sunday morning to Walla Walla County to help fight a blaze near U.S. Highway 730 that grew to more than 3,600 acres by late afternoon, according to an update from the National Interagency Fire Center.

Condition could produce warm temperatures and low snowpacks A weak El Nino has formed, but by winter it could be “very strong,” according to the National Weather Service, increasing the […]

The high-risk period for big wildfires in the West is coming early in many locations as summer’s expected above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall follow paltry snowpack and a largely dry […]

El Nino is likely to form soon The Pacific Northwest has the best chance among all U.S. regions of having a hotter-than-average summer, the National Weather Service said May 21. […]

New science is showing that nature’s vital pollinators are smarter than we ever imagined. Here’s why that discovery should change what we think about one of the world’s most important animals.

The first invasive yellow-legged hornet found on the west coast has been spotted in Vancouver. The hornet is capable of decimating honey bee colonies.

El Niño is emerging even faster than expected in the Pacific Ocean and odds are increasing that it could become historically strong — a rare “Super” El Niño — by fall or winter.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will contact more than 90,000 producers to determine crop acreage and stock levels for its June Agricultural Survey. “The June Agricultural Survey is one of […]

Thurston County issued a toxic algae advisory for Lake Lawrence after microcystin levels tested 45.9 µg/L; avoid water, keep pets away, and don't eat lake fish.