Field Reports

OFF-ROAD VEHICLES

Drinking banned at dunes

Alcoholic beverages have been banned at a second sand dunes area south of Moses Lake in action prompted by a rash of accidents last Memorial Day weekend.

Grant County commissioners last week banned the possession of alcohol at the Beverly sand dunes area, which is east of the Columbia River and south of Interstate 90 near Vantage.

On April 18, the commissioners had approved a similar ban for the dunes just south of I-90 and Moses Lake.

County sheriff’s deputies were supported by local hospital staff in requesting the alcohol ban. Extending the ban to Beverly should prevent the area from being inundated by drinkers displaced from the Moses Lake area, deputies said.

Many ORVers have thanked officials for enforcing the restrictions, according to Deputy Jason Mitchell.

Rich Landers

NATIONAL PARKS

Floods soak Yosemite

Warm weather and an unusually large, melting snowpack caused heavy flooding of the Yosemite Valley floor Monday, park officials said.

Traffic was closed and visitors were being advised to check conditions before traveling to the park.

Associated Press

HUNTING

Idaho hunter education

Hunter education for advanced students as well as first-timers is scheduled in North Idaho this summer, starting in June.

The Youth Hunting Clinic — a continuation of instruction for kids who already have completed the basic hunter and bowhunter education courses — is set for June 25, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., at Farragut State Park. The clinic is for kids 10-17 who have their hunter ed certificates and want to enhance their hunting and shooting skills.

Included is instruction in shooting shotguns, center-fire and rim-fire rifles, muzzleloaders and archery gear, as well as sessions on blood trailing, conservation, ethics and wilderness survival.

Cost is only $3 and includes a barbecue lunch. The clinic is limited to the first 40 participants who register with the Idaho Fish and Game Department regional office in Coeur d’Alene.

Another round of basic hunter education classes are set to begin July 11 and Aug. 15 and a bowhunter education class will begin June 13, all in Bonners Ferry.

Call Idaho Fish and Game Department to pre-register, (208) 769-1414.

Rich Landers

FISHING

Idaho streams open

Although most Idaho waters are open to fishing year-round, May 28 is a big day on the angler’s calendar: the opening of the general trout season for fisheries such as the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers.

Runoff is not an major issue this year and there’s a chance that stream fishing conditions could be decent if rainstorms do not continue to keep rivers flowing high.

Rich Landers

BOATING

Keeping Lake PDO clean

The 60th annual spring fishing derby is over and smiling winners have walked off with $50,000 in cash and prizes.

But the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club continues to go beyond the call of fishing contests to help improve the lake and the fishery.

The club’s latest effort, with sponsorship from Avista, is a guide to educate boaters and anglers on what they can do to keep the lake clean and attractive for humans as well as fish and wildlife.

The guide has useful information on issues such as petroleum pollution, boat speeds and wakes, boat maintenance practices, and waste disposal.

The guide also contains information on rights-of-way for boats, fish identification and the spreading threat of noxious aquatic weeds.

Locations are shown for pump-out stations, boat ramps, private and public shoreline, lake depths, camping sites and navigation markers.

The guide is available at local marinas, chambers of commerce, hotels, and sporting good stores throughout North Idaho.

Rich Landers

HUNTING

Idaho rules tweaked

Idaho’s 2005 big-game hunting rules and seasons have been published and hunters should look carefully for changes from last year, such as new white-tailed deer tag and standardized general deer seasons, as well as expanded antlerless elk hunts.

The rules pamphlet is available at license dealers and online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/hunt/ rules/bg/

Rich Landers

HIKING

New long-distance trail

The recently completed Benton MacKaye Trail, which links with the Appalachian Trail, has become the second-longest mountains-only footpath in the Eastern United States.

The culmination of 25 years of all-volunteer effort, the BMT forms a figure-eight circuit with the Appalachian trail offering new loop options of 158, 364 and 500 miles. The BMT also intersects North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail and connects the Georgia Pinhoti Trail to the Appalachian Trail in the Eastern Continental Trail route.

A more remote trail, the BMT has only two shelters. It traverses three states, five wilderness areas, three wilderness study areas, three National Forests, and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Info: www.BMTA.org.

Rich Landers