Diggings Archive

Articles by our Regular Contributors

Carol Mack works at the WSU/Pend Oreille County Extension office in Newport. Along with developing and administering the Sense of Place program, she coordinates the local WSU Master Gardener program and other agriculture and natural resource educational offerings.  She gardens and chases butterflies in her spare time, and is a contributing editor to Mother Earth News Magazine.

Appreciating Brown....Beneath the Surface....Beneath the Surface of a Stream....Butterflies and Bushes....Harvesting Rain....Imagine a World Without any Plants....Living with Wildfire....A Landscape of Brush....A Natural History of the Mosquito....Nature's Balance Sheet.... Nunateks.... An Outbreak of Orange.... Pend Oreille Rain Garden Plants....Rain Gardens and Shoreline Stabilization....A River's Job...Snow in the Mountains.... Stink-friends.... Teas of the Pend Oreille Wild....That's Why We Call Them Springtails....Tundra Swans....The Way of Water.... Weeds and Change.... A Wealth of Wildlife....What's in a Name?....Which Way is North?

Jack Nisbet was raised in North Carolina and moved to eastern Washington in 1971. For the past decade he has lived with his wife and two children in Spokane. His books explore the intersection of human and natural history and include "Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson across Western North America"; "Purple Flat Top"; "Singing Grass, Burning Sage"; and "Visible Bones: Journeys across Time in the Columbia River Country".
Nisbet’s current project is an illustrated book that follows the initial contact between Inland Northwest tribal cultures and the British fur trade. "The Mapmakers Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau" will appear in the fall of 2005.

Crossing a Small Divide.... The Crossing....David Thompson's Sense of Place.... Digging with Mole Salamanders .... Indian Meadows, Indian Hemp....Looking for Wild Carrots....Remembering Alice....River Mainstays....Staunching a Wound, Starting a Fire

John Stuart, a board member of Selkirk Conservation Alliance, lives in the woods west of Newport. He organizes Pend Oreille County's annual Christmas Bird Count (started in 2003) and has completed the Cusick Breeding Bird Survey for over 15 years.  As a wildlife and forestry consultant, he assists landowners in developing habitat-oriented forest stewardship plans. He received statewide recognition as the 2004 Wildlife Habitat Steward of the Year, awarded by the Washington Association of Conservation Districts and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.      

The Big Circle of Birds.... Birdcount 2005....Bobolinks....Chronicles of Sub-Nivea....Cog and Wheel, Tooth and Claw....No Such Thing as Waste....Owls Of Pend Oreille County.... Pend Oreille Park....Pocket Gophers - the True Tunnel Visionaries

Ray Entz: Wildlife Manager, Kalispel Natural Resources Department

Frogs in Pend Oreille County,....Missing Cottonwoods

John Gross: Water Resources Manager, Kalispel Natural Resources Department

The Hyporheic Zone

Joe Maroney: Fisheries Manager, Kalispel Natural Resources Department

Pend Oreille Bass....Native Cutthroat and Non-native Fish

Deanne Osterman: Director, Kalispel Natural Resources Department

Traditional Kalispel Foods

Kevin Lyons: Archeologist, Kalispel Natural Resources Department

Small and Pretty: a Brief History of Beads

Sharon Sorby:

Pend Oreille Weeds....Wildlife and Weeds....Weeds and Disturbance....Worse than Milfoil?....The Hawkweeds....Spotted Knapweed....Managing Weeds....Bioagents....The Evil Twin

Articles by Guest Contributors

Kathy Ahlenslager: What's Rare in the Water?

Jon Almack: Ghosts of the Selkirks

Gary Bock and Douglas Stienbarger: Rain Garden Basics

Jim Bottorff: Brush and Wildfire Hazards

Mary Cates: North from Metaline

Francis Cullooyah: A Conversation about Fish

Wilma Cullooyah: Cattails: the Supermarket of the Swamp Wild Teas of Pend Oreille

Meg Decker: Edgers, Floaters and Sinkers

Karen Dickson: Cattails: the Supermarket of the Swamp

Michael Duncan: Admiring Admirals

Sandie Durand: Improving with Age The Versatility of Native Grasses

Tonie Fitzgerald: Living & Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

Peter Griessman: Forest Roads

Drew Parker: This Land of Mushrooms Truffles - the Seldom Seen The Higher Fungi

Evelyn Reed & Bill Piper: Pend Oreille County Historical Society

Jan Rice: Milfoil Weevils

Vince Scartozzi: Underground at the Pend Oreille Mine

William E. Schlosser: Wildfire Protection Starts around the House

Mark Simpson: Forecasting Water Supply

by Dr. Allan H. Smith: Fish Weir

Liz Stuart: Missing Cottonwoods

Traditional: Coyote Tale Why Mosquito Wears a Spoon in his Hair

Eric Trimble: Brush and Wildfire Hazards

Ruth Watkins: Up River

Kathleen Werr: Stormwater and our Habitat The Pend Oreille Rain Garden Challenge

Michelle Wingert: Slip-Slidin' Away Timing of Spring Runoff

Steve Zender & Dana Base: Twig-Eaters

Articles by Subject

mountains, geological features, and interesting places in the Pend Oreille Valley

Forest Roads
North from Metaline
Nunateks
Pend Oreille Historical Society
Pend Oreille Park
Which Way is North?

Rivers, streams, and the importance of water

Appreciating Brown
Beneath the Surface of a Stream
Bioagents
Conservation and the Water Cycle
Forecasting Water Supply
Harvesting Rain
Milfoil Weevils
Rain Garden Basics
Rain Garden Plants
Rain Gardens and Shoreline Stabilization
River Mainstays
A River's Job
Slip-Slidin' Away
Snow in the Mountains
Stormwater and our Habitat
Timing of Spring Runoff
Up River
The Way of Water

Fish, animals, insects and other living creatures

About Songbirds
Admiring Admirals
Beneath the Surface of a Stream
The Big Circle of Birds
Birdcount Results 2005
Birds Sing Praises
Bobolinks
Bull Trout
Pend Oreille Bass
Butterflies and Bushes
Chronicles of Sub-nivea
A Conversation about fish
Digging with Mole Salamanders
Fish Weir
Forests, Wildlife, and Brush
Frogs in Pend Oreille County
Ghosts of the Selkirks
Milfoil Weevils
Native Cutthroat and Non-native Fish
Natural History of the Mosquito
An Outbreak of Orange
Owls of Pend Oreille County
Stink-friends
That's Why They Call Them Springtails...
Twig-Eaters
Tundra Swans
A Wealth of Wildlife
Cog and Wheel, Tooth and Claw

Trees, plants and other growing things

Bioagents
The Evil Twin, Managing Milfoil
Brush and Wildfire Hazards
Ghost White Pines
Hawkweeds
A Landscape of Brush
Living & Gardening in the Pacific Northwest
Living with Wildfire
Managing Weeds
Missing Cottonwoods
Pend Oreille Weeds
Spotted Knapweed
Wild Teas of Pend Oreille
This Land of Mushrooms
Weeds and Change
Wildlife and Weeds
Imagine a World Without any Plants
What's Rare in the Water?
Cattails: the Supermarket of the Swamp
Edgers, Floaters and Sinkers
The Versatility of Native Grasses
The Higher Fungi
Nature's Balance Sheet

Pend Oreille County history, the Kalispel Tribe

Coyote Tale
The Crossing
Crossing a Small Divide
David Thompson Histoy
David Thompson's Sense of Place
Digging for History
Indian Meadows, Indian Hemp
Looking for Wild Carrots
Significant Dates Affecting Pend Oreille County
Small and Pretty
Traditional Kalispel Foods
Remembering Alice