Field Reports
FISHING
Clearwater limits reduced
The steelhead catch limit on the Clearwater River will be reduced to two fish a day, six in possession and 20 per season in 2006 from Oct. 15 to Dec. 31, according to rules adopted recently by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission.
Limits for the spring spring season that opens today are three a day, nine in possession and 20 per season statewide. Only on the Clearwater will the limits be reduced next fall.
Steelhead fishing on the lower Salmon River was extended for an additional month in the spring. The season will be open from the mouth to Lake Creek Bridge, upstream from Riggins, until April 30. That area was previously closed on March 31.
Henrys Lake fishing season and fishing hours have been extended to allow anglers greater opportunity on this world- famous fishing lake. Daily fishing hours were deleted, so anglers won’t have to leave the lake at 9 p.m. each evening, and the season was extended to include the entire month of November.
Rich Landers
BOATING
New rules for boaters
New boating requirements will affect boaters throughout the region, sooner or later.
In Montana, two new decals will be required starting Jan. 1 on motorboats, sailboats or personal watercraft.
The new decals, free of charge, are required for Montana to comply with a federal statute that requires periodic vessel registration.
The decals are available on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Web site at fwp.mt.gov. Info: (406) 542-5500.
In Washington, The state’s new mandatory boating safety education rules won’t kick in until 2008. Get ahead of the requirement by taking one of the winter courses offered by the Spokane Sail & Power Squadron. Contact: 328-6165. For other courses, go to www.parks.wa.gov.
Rich Landers
MOUNTAINEERING
Peak named for Lowe
A mountain in the Gallatin Range of Montana now bears the name of Alex Lowe, the acclaimed climber and Bozeman resident who was killed in an avalanche in 1999.
Alex Lowe Peak is at the head of the South Cottonwood Drainage and southwest of Mount Blackmore, south of Bozeman. It previously was referred to by its elevation, 10,031.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved the name change last week, said Terry Cunningham, the Bozeman man who proposed the designation.
Cunningham said the idea came to him while he was researching an article about Montana’s unnamed peaks. He gathered statements of support from Gallatin County, the Gallatin National Forest, the city of Bozeman, the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation, which is run by Lowe’s widow, Jennifer.
“I am pleased and proud that this incredible honor has been given to Alex for his accomplishments as a mountaineer and for the positive, humble spirit that he shared with so many,” Jennifer Lowe said in a statement.
Alex Lowe was a celebrity in the mountain climbing community. He is on posters, in magazines such as National Geographic and on television leading the way up intimidating slabs of granite. During his 25-year climbing career, he logged alpine climbs in France, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Canada, Nepal, Pakistan and Antarctica. He twice made the summit of Mount Everest.
He died at the age of 40 in an avalanche on the slopes of Shishapangma, in Tibet.
Cunningham, who submitted the application for the name change a year ago, said several requirements first had to be met.
“They take into consideration that it should not be easy to name a mountain for all eternity,” he said.
The person must be dead for at least five years, and must have national or international significance or have a documented connection to the mountain.
Lowe qualified because he and Hans Saari were mentioned in a book that told of their first ski descent of a couloir — a deep mountain gorge — on the north side of the mountain.
The two men called the feature Hellmouth Couloir.
The name change will appear on new Gallatin Forest maps, which will be printed in 2006 at the earliest, according to spokesman Bob Dennee.
Bozeman Chronicle
WILDLIFE
Ancient bears documented
A fossilized jaw found in an Alberta gravel pit may have cleared up a mystery for researchers wondering how brown bears originally made it across North America.
They probably migrated from what’s now Alaska and the Yukon before glaciers covered the region, thousands of years before previously believed.
The findings are discussed in an issue of the journal Science.
“It’s like finding the missing link,” said Paul Matheus, lead author of the paper and a paleobiologist at the University of Alaska.
Matheus said the discovery could have interest to archeologists trying to determine when humans first arrived in North America. The first appearance of large mammals in the region has been viewed as an indicator of when humans likely migrated south along the same route.
Radiocarbon dating and DNA testing determined the fossil, discovered in 1998, was about 26,000 years old and closely related to bears that today live in southern Canada and the northern United States.
Brown bears migrated from Asia to North America through Siberia some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago across a stretch of the Bering Strait that was exposed during times of low sea level.
About 22,000 years ago, ice sheets sliding out of the Rocky Mountains and the lowlands west of Hudson’s Bay came together to render the area impassable for about 9,000 years.
Associated Press
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Bull trout area defined
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this fall said it will designate 3,780 miles of streams and 110,364 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana as critical habitat for the threatened bull trout.
The final designation is a huge drop from the amount proposed in 2002, and covers only areas that are occupied by bull trout and contain features considered essential to save the species.
Environmental groups who pushed for more habitat for the fish were disappointed by the final totals, blaming pressure from the Bush administration on the agency.
“They eliminated 82 percent of what they originally proposed for critical habitat,” said Arlene Montgomery of Friends of the Wild Swan, based in Swan Lake, Mont., which sued the government on behalf of the bull trout.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service said vast areas of the Pacific Northwest are already protected in other ways, and did not have to be designed as critical habitat.
“We found there are many areas that already have conservation efforts in place and do not need to be designated,” said Dave Allen, regional director of the service’s Pacific Region.
In Idaho, the final designation covers approximately 293 stream miles and 27,296 acres of lakes or reservoirs.
In Montana, it is 1,058 stream miles and 31,916 acres of lakes or reservoirs.
In Oregon, it is 911 stream miles and 24,610 acres of lakes or reservoirs.
In Washington, it is 1,519 stream miles, 26,542 acres of lakes or reservoirs, plus 966 miles of marine shoreline.
Bull trout were listed for protection in the lower 48 states in 1999.
Environmental groups are studying the decision before determining if they will file a court challenge, Montgomery said.
In 2002, federal biologists proposed as critical habitat more than 18,000 miles of rivers and streams and 530,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Associated Press