WILDLIFE WATCHING — Things have been looking up for a pair of ospreys since groups in Sandpoint organized to relocate a nest that had to be moved at Sandpoint’s War Memorial Field during renovations.

With a web cam fixed above the nest platform, the public has been able to watch the ospreys arrive on April 10 to begin build their next (see photos above) and go through courtship.

In late April, the camera caught skirmishes between the pair that adopted this nest and a second osprey pair that was attempting to hijack the nest. (The field on Lake Pend Oreille has two osprey nests.)

The Sandpoint Osprey Cam is a collaboration of the City of Sandpoint and Sandpoint Online with corporate support by Avista and Northland Communications. Consulting biologist is Jane Fink of Birds of Prey Northwest.  Moving the nest and puting up the web cam was no easy task. Read about the project.

The Sandpoint Online web page includes a chat feature for osprey watchers to trade observations, plus  Fink is providing an interpretive blog. The number of daily page views is in the thousands and growing especially this week:

Monday at 12:48 p.m. the female laid their first egg (above left).

Soon we'll all be able to watch the hatching and raising of a brood.

Meantime, check out this incredible osprey fishing video and brief yourself with Fink's answers to osprey FAQ»

INVASIVE SPECIES — A dive team to assess an outbreak of invasive asian clams in the Hope area of Lake Pend Oreille is being organized for Monday by the Idaho Department of Agriculture and Bonner County.

The clams were detected recently during the pre-runoff lake drawdown.

• Meanwhile, Idaho boat inspection stations already have intercepted 11 boats bringing invasive species into the state.

This is serious business. Somebody let down their guard and brought these clams into the lake, probably by not cleaning their boat after using it outside the area.

The clams multiply fast, suck in algae and excrete high-nutrient pellets that can foul water and turn those famous clear-water bays green.

Apparently we need to crank up the penalties to thousands of dollars and JAIL TIME to get the message out.

Idaho Department of Agriculture’s boat inspection stations, open since March 1, already have caught 11 boats entering Idaho carrying invasive mussels into Idaho.

The department has set up 15 inspection stations across the state as a line of defense against the invasion of zebra or quagga mussels.

If you think it's an inconvenience, you're not educated on the subject.

From grizzly bears to fly fishing, several interesting outdoors related programs are scheduled tonight in Spokane, plus one biggie for anglers in Sandpoint.

It's too bad people have to choose just one to attend.  Here's a sampling of the lineup:

• Fly fishing film helps anglers “Connect” with steelhead.
• 'Grizzly Manifesto” author to speak at Gonzaga.
• Bhutan trekking slide show funds opposition to Mt. Spokane ski area expansion.
• Lake Pend Oreille “state of the lake” fisheries presentation tonight.

FISHING – The Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Recovery Task Force and Idaho Fish and Game Department will update the status of trout and kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille at the annual “State of the Lake” public meeting tonight

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. at Ponderay Events Center by the Bonner Mall north of Sandpoint.

Wisconsin-based lake trout expert Mike Hansen will offer his perspective on the program to control lake trout and restore the Pend Oreille kokanee fishery.

Presentations will summarize 2011 predator removal, including lake trout netting, telemetry, Angler Incentive Program and response of the lake’s fishery to recovery efforts.

Info: (208) 769-1414.

FISHING — The Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Recovery Task Force and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will update the status of trout and kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille at the annual “State of the Lake” public meeting next week.

to discuss the status of fish populations in Lake Pend Oreille, the progress of the fishery recovery effort, and potential rule changes for 2013. 

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 22 at the Ponderay Events Center by the Bonner Mall north of Sandpoint. 

Wisconsin-based lake trout expert Mike Hansen will offer his perspective on the progress of the program to control lake trout and restore the Pend Oreilee kokanee fishery. 

Presentations will summarize the 2011 predator removal efforts, including lake trout netting, telemetry, and the Angler Incentive Program, and the response of the lake’s fishery to the recovery effort. 

Info: (208) 769-1414. 

CONSERVATION — On the south face of the Cabinet Mountains overlooking Lake Pend Oreille, 921 acres of elk and moose wintering range have been permanently secured for wildlife habitat and public access in a land-exchange signed Dec. 22.

The swap between Stimson Lumber Co. and the Idaho Panhandle National Forests was made possible in part by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Formerly owned by Stimson Lumber, area has become part of the adjoining Kaniksu National Forest. In exchange, Stimson received a similar amount of U.S. Forest Service acreage in the form of small isolated tracts that are not connected to the main body of the national forest.

All of the lands involved are in Bonner County, Idaho.

Read on for information from the elk foundation:

CONSERVATION — Jennifer Ekstrom, executive director of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper has announced she's moving on to another career opportunity. 

Shannon Williamson will step in as the new Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper on Monday, Sept. 26. 

Williamson — shannon@lakependoreillewaterkeeper.org — is a marine biologist with a distinguished academic career. 

Read on for her resume and what she brings to protecting the Lake Pend Oreille watershed, as well as notes on where Ekstrom is headed.

FISHING– High lake levels and prolonged heavy out flows this year are reason for worry about the kokanee fisheries at Pend Oreille and Coeur d’Alene lakes.

What are the impacts? “The short answer is that we don’t know, and we won’t for a couple more months,” said Jim Fredericks, Idaho Fish and Game Department Panhandle fisheries manager.

Read on for details on why he’s cautiously optimistic.

INVASIVE SPECIES – Sandpoint-area residents are organizing this week to pounce on an new unwanted aquatic invader to Lake Pend Oreille.

A public work party to stop the spread of flowering rush will begin Saturday, 1 p.m., at Sandpoint City Beach.

Like other aquatic invasive plants, flowering rush crowds out native vegetation and interferes with swimming and navigation. Yet, in some places, it's sold as a decorative plant.

According to the Bonner County Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force, the infestation is still at a manageable level, but the group is devoting the week to coordinating with school groups to tackle flowering rush infestations in Boyer slough, Denton Slough, Clark Fork Delta and Dover.

Read on for details.

STEWARDSHIP — About 40 volunteers chipped in Saturday to remove trash from the shoreline along Sand Creek in downtown Sandpoint during the annual Sand Creek Clean Up.

The helpers were organized by the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association and Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper.

The event removed a truck full of garbage in a little more than an hour, and prevented the trash from fouling Lake Pend Oreille and the beauty of the spring and summer seasons in downtown Sandpoint.

WINTER SPORTS — A Saturday trek to the top of Scotchman Peak gave three backcountry skiers a heavenly if not gusty view of Lake Pend Oreille.

Jake Ostman, Jacob Styler and Michael Lucid — along with their canine companions Coco and Mojo — skinned up their skis for the ascent and made great tracks back down through the powder and wind-packed slopes.

Ostman's Facebook page has good photos of the day that hint at why the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness are working so hard to protect the area northeast of the lake.

The photos, including the one above, also readily tell backcountry travelers that new snow and high winds have created huge cornices on ridges and avalanche danger on wind-loaded slopes.

Be careful out there.

FISHING — A Washington man has been charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly guiding fishing trips in North Idaho without an Idaho outfitters license, according to a Bonner County Daily Bee story.

Prosecutors charged 49-year-old Charles Osterholm of Deer Park last week following an undercover investigation by the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board.

Authorities launched an investigation after getting a tip that Osterholm was guiding clients without a license. In November, board investigators posed as anglers and booked a trip with Osterholm to fish for a day on Priest Lake. A subsequent search of the licensing database failed to turn up a valid license in Osterholm’s name.

WATERWAYS — Inconclusive test results showing signs of invasive mussels in Flathead Lake still have downstream interests on edge.

“Part of me still stands strong and thinking positive that it’s going to be OK,” said Erin Mader of the Pend Oreille Basin Commission in Sandpoint.

Results from a second round of tests to verify whether invasive quagga and zebra mussels have taken root in Flathead Lake could be revealed next week, according to officials from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“I’m optimistic because a similar thing resulted from initial tests on the Snake River last year and they later were deemed negative,” Mader said.